Public Affairs is the art of bringing together the different pieces of the puzzle between public and private interests to generate mutually beneficial outcomes serving society at large.

What public affairs professionals choose to promote has consequences for society. For that reason, and because we work the intersection between public and private interests, #SustainablePublicAffairs’ attaches the highest importance to acting transparently.

We were therefore surprised when we saw our agency incorrectly included on a list of external stakeholders having carried out external correspondence with the European Commission’s Regulatory Scrutiny Board (‘the Board’) on the subject of the Sustainable Corporate Governance initiative (SCGi).

The list was disclosed on 14 January in a letter from the Board as part of a reply to an Access to Documents request from the European Parliament Working Group on Responsible Business Conduct who has raised legitimate concerns about the three successive delays to the SCGi proposal on the part of the European Commission, including two negative opinions from the Board itself.

The SCGi proposal is important for sustainable frontrunners, which is why we decided to send an email to the European Commission on 13 October 2021. We asked the same question on everyone’s mind: What is the procedure, here? What are the next steps for this proposal? 

The Commission unilaterally made the decision to forward our email to the Board, whom we would have never approached. On Thursday 2 December 2021, we received a reply from the Board’s secretariat, noting that the requested information is confidential and would remain so until the draft initiative would be adopted by the Commission. 

We never replied to that. So there has never been any correspondence or exchange between the Board and us. 

With this in mind, we have sent a letter to the European Commission requesting the letter be factually corrected.

We do not work for any organisation listed as being in contact with the Board on this matter, and we fully respect the impartial and independent nature of the Board. 

Transparency is important to us, and we are happy to share the emails in question with any interested party.

We lobby for climate positive impacts and we also operate climate positively.

Aiming for policy-driven growth? Get in touch!

#SustainablePublicAffairs (B Corp)
P/A: #SustainableHub - Rue du commerce 72 | Brussels
+32 (0)4 70 12 16 48
info@sustainablepublicaffairs.com