Wise Response has submitted to the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment’s Conduct of Financial Services review.
The submission is available as a PDF: Wise_Response_Submission_on_Conduction_of_Financial_Institutions_2019
A summary of the submission is available on the Carbon News site:
Company directors should have a duty of care to the environment
DIRECTORS should bear as much personal responsibility for the environmental damage their companies cause as they now do for the health and safety of their workers, the Government has been told.
It is considering requiring companies to put more focus on their duties of care to customers as part of a review of the requirements of financial institutions.
But a group of influential New Zealander’s working on climate issues says the Government is ignoring the responsibility companies have to not damage the environment.
“It is not conceivable to say that the financial sector is caring for its customers when the natural resources by which customers are dependent for life are being destroyed by the investments of those financial institutions,” the Wise Response Society says in a submission to the review.
“Any risk-analysis that excludes these factors is inadequate. The duties should include a duty to care for the environment. The Government takes the climate crisis seriously, and this financial review is out of step with this.”
…Wise Response wants financial institutions – including the Reserve Bank and the Government’s Financial Markets Authority – to be held accountable for actions that damage the environment in the same way that they are accountable for the safety of their employees.
“After the Pike River mine disaster, changes were made to hold directors and officers personally accountable for their actions in regard to health and safety requirements,” it says.
Remainder of story is available on the Carbon News site