Sustainability & ESG in Taxation

Taxpayers, policy makers, and investment managers come together in this panel session to provide an overview of responsible tax principles and practices, identify common obstacles to the implementation of these principles and suggest ways in which obstacles to tax responsibility can be overcome or minimised. What is the total tax contribution of the business? What pressures are they under? Investors will also contribute their views to the debate and discuss Effective Tax Rate versus paying a Fair Share: a session not to be missed.

This panel considers how companies can balance multiple stakeholder expectations around data transparency, because all groups want it for different purposes. How can tax professionals respond to the different needs and requirements from tax authorities, investors, civil society bodies and NGOs when these stakeholders require data for different purposes? How can multinational groups publish consistent, robust data that addresses all of these legitimate concerns? Our expert panellists will answer these and many other questions.

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards are the most widely adopted standards for sustainability reporting of businesses economic, environmental and social impacts. In 2019 the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB), introduced its GRI 207 reporting standard with the stated objective of enabling organisations to better understand and communicate information about their tax practices publicly. This panel considers how widely these standards are being adopted, discusses best practice and provides the investor’s perspective on the importance strong tax governance.

Leading tax policy bodies and industry representatives present and discuss the latest policy initiatives in environmental taxation, both at UK and EU level, that multinationals should be aware of, and the context in which tax policy, as well as intragroup policies, can be harnessed to help support the decarbonisation of the economy and net zero by 2050. The panel will discuss the latest research papers pointing the way on how best to achieve net zero goal through tax reform, not least CBI’s paper on Greening the tax system and its nine guiding principles in designing greener tax policies.

This session will explore which tax systems and incentives are best working across Europe to deliver on the green agenda. It will also cover instruments, other than tax, that the EU Commission and UK Government are using to realise their plans, as described in the EU “Green Deal” and UK’s “10 Point Plan to a Green Industrial Revolution”, to transform Europe into a fair and prosperous society, with a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy where there are no net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2030 and where economic growth is decoupled from resource use.

This session delves into the progress made so far, both nationally at EU level, on environmental (non-carbon) indirect taxes, with specific reference to Plastic taxes. Speakers  will explain and contextualise the EU approach to Plastic taxes and VAT and what impact these are designed to have. Corporate speakers will also share their experiences on navigating the current plastic and environmental taxes landscape, including the challenges as well as opportunities they encountered.