Target 16.8: Developing-country participation in global governance
Broaden and strengthen the participation of developing countries in the institutions of global governance
Owners voting their values help. Others must carry most of it.
Why shareholder democracy is helpful
Developing-country voice in global governance is set by treaties, quota formulas and voting rules, so it is mostly outside a shareholder lever. Business lobbies do intervene in the inclusiveness of rule-making. In the UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation negotiations, the International Chamber of Commerce circulated a report against Article 12AA on cross-border services. The Tax Justice Network characterized the report as flawed lobbying against provisions championed by developing countries, including the African Group. Since multinational members of such associations are listed companies, owners voting for lobbying-alignment disclosure can help at the margin.
How this was scoredHelpful
Helpful. Owners voting their values help. Others must carry most of it.
We have not yet written down the two answers behind this rating. Recording them on every item, so a reader can check the reasoning and not only the conclusion, is work in progress.
Every rating is the higher of two answers, one for what companies do and one for what they spend to stop the outcome, because the same vote reaches both. See the full method.
Sources
What civil society organizations are helping owners on this
Coordinates member and allied investors filing public country-by-country tax reporting proposals at US listed companies, and petitioned the SEC on behalf of 87 investors holding over 2.3 trillion dollars to require jurisdiction-level tax disclosure.
Investors with $2.3T in Assets Call for Enhanced Tax Transparency, The FACT Coalition, 2024-08
Filed tax transparency shareholder proposals at Chevron and Kosmos Energy asking for country-by-country reporting of revenues, profits and taxes paid.
Investors with $2.3T in Assets Call for Enhanced Tax Transparency, The FACT Coalition, 2024-08
Carries the tax transparency resolution in its resolutions database, asking boards to issue a tax transparency report prepared in consideration of the Global Reporting Initiative Tax Standard.
Tax Transparency Report (Amazon.com, Inc), Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, 2023
2 campaigns on record
Publish country-by-country reporting aligned with GRI standards.
Result: 14 percent of outstanding shareholders at Exxon Mobil, 14 percent at Chevron and 17 percent at ConocoPhillips.
Adopt public country-by-country tax reporting following the GRI Tax Standard, showing where the company earns revenue and pays tax.
Result: Supported by shareholders representing 144 billion dollars, over 21 percent of independent shareholders; did not pass. Backers included Norway's state pension fund and the New York City Comptroller.
How this rating was made
Every item on every one of our maps is read against one question: how far does this depend on the people who own companies voting their values? We answer it twice, once for what companies do and once for what they spend to stop the outcome, and take whichever answer is higher, since the same vote reaches both. The score carries its reasoning and its sources so that a reader can check it rather than take it.
- Pivotal. Owners voting their values can deliver most of the outcome.
- Necessary. Owners remove an obstacle nothing else removes, and others must also act.
- Helpful. Owners voting their values help, and others carry most of it.
- Independent. This moves without owners. Other levers carry it.
The advocacy record on this page holds only what a source we opened says happened. Where we searched and found nothing, the page says so rather than leaving a silence. Where a campaign names a filer the source does not name, it says that too. Ratings are ours; the list of subjects is UN Sustainable Development Goals's, and we link to their original.
How we score dependency, in full.