Keep Good Company

People and our earth are of more value than anything we could buy. We want to see laws in the UK and EU that make companies...

• Accountable - Broader responsibilities for directors of companies so that if they do not take all the necessary steps possible to limit the negative social and environmental impacts of their businesses they are legally accountable for damage they cause.
• Careful - Allowing communities harmed by UK companies' overseas operations to bring cases against them in the UK, if justice fails them in the country in which an abuse took place.
• Transparent - All companies should report annually on their global social, human rights and environmental impact to clear standards with the effectiveness of this monitored.

Where we're up to...

We made great progress as a result of campaigning with the CORE coalition in the first stage of the Big Dress Campaign:

• Real improvements in UK company law, including a requirement for major companies to report on environmental matters, employees, social and community issues and risks down company supply chains.
• Over 100,000 people contacted their MP on this issue
• A new level of awareness of the need for corporate accountability in the media and Parliament
• Widespread support amongst MPs for the campaign

The Financial Times encouraged us all by commenting on the changes made to the Companies Act in 2006: ‘Business had been comprehensively outmanoeuvred by environmental and corporate responsibility campaigners, in a stunning lobbying victory.'

This year we will be...

• part of monitoring how the Companies Act 2006 works in practice and targeting its weaknesses.
• asking the government to finish what they started by collecting 24 hours of audio messages to form an MP3 petition.

• Taking our goals of making companies accountable, careful and transparent to a European level, in our 'Cost of Disconnection' Pray & Post campaign.