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USCIB Announces Leadership Change in Corporate Responsibility & Labor Affairs Work

Published on July 20, 2022
Laura Rubbo attends USCIB’s 2019 International Leadership Award Dinner
L-R: Peter Robinson (USCIB), Laura Rubbo (The Walt Disney Company), Guy Ryder (ILO), Terry McGraw (USCIB and formerly S&P Global)

USCIB has announced that after nearly eight years of outstanding leadership, Executive Director for Global Public Policy at The Walt Disney Company Laura Chapman Rubbo is stepping down from the chairmanship of USCIB’s Corporate Responsibility & Labor Affairs Committee (CR/LA).

One of the leading global practitioners in the fields of Corporate Responsibility, Labor, and Responsible Business Conduct, Rubbo has held the Committee’s Chairperson role for over seven years and served as its Vice Chair for two years as well. As an ambassador for the profession, Rubbo has constantly driven improvements and innovations in the social compliance programs of some of the world’s largest companies and across high impact industries.

“Laura’s insights and experience have served the Committee and our Members,” said USCIB Vice President for Corporate Responsibility and Labor Affairs Gabriella Rigg Herzog. “She has strengthened our engagement with key multilateral bodies like the International Labor Organization (ILO), the United Nations and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), as well as important U.S. Government Agencies like the Departments of State and Labor, the United States Trade Representative and the U.S. Mission to International Organizations in Geneva. Understanding first-hand the importance of stakeholder engagement and collaboration, Laura has also meaningfully advanced USCIB’s alliance building with its employer peers around the world via our unique global affiliations – the International Organization of Employers (IOE), the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), and Business at OECD.”

“I remain so impressed by the sophistication and depth with which USCIB helps member companies engage in critical international policy discussions related to corporate responsibility and international labor affairs,” said Rubbo. “Their global network is unparalleled. I’ve also been so enriched by the collaboration with committee staff and members, who are some of the world’s leading experts on corporate responsibility. I will continue to be an ardent supporter and cheerleader of USCIB’s work in this arena.”

USCIB expresses its sincere appreciation to Laura Rubbo for her years of service. We also welcome David Barnes of IBM and Tam Nguyen of Bechtel as Co-Chairs of the USCIB Corporate Responsibility & Labor Affairs Committee.

USCIB Hosts Reception to Endorse Doreen Bogdan-Martin as New ITU Secretary General

Published on July 19, 2022
At the July 13 in reception in NY during UN HLPF. Left to right: Barbara Wanner, Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Peter Robinson

Ahead of the upcoming election this fall of the new Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Bucharest, Romania, USCIB has joined the U.S. government and many others in endorsing the nomination of Doreen Bogdan-Martin to become the new ITU Secretary General. As part of this endorsement, USCIB hosted a reception on July 13 in New York during the United Nations High-Level Political Forum (UN HLPF), which was sponsored by Amazon, AT&T, BT, Lumen, Microsoft and Verizon.

“The outcome of this election will have important ramifications for telecommunications/ICT policies and regulations, which ultimately could affect countries’ ability to tap innovations that will boost economic and social prosperity, drive capacity building, and help to realize the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” said USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson.

Bogdan-Martin, who currently serves as Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau, has shared her vision for the long-term success of the ITU, which includes: aiming high to achieve universal digital connectivity that is safe, inclusive and affordable; collaborating for impact to transform delivery; and excelling as an institution with integrity and accountability.

“By virtue of her leadership of the ITU Development Bureau, we believe that Ms. Bogdan-Martin possesses both substantive knowledge and leadership skills that would make her a superb ITU Secretary General and place the Union at the forefront of global efforts to meet connectivity needs and expand digital opportunities for the people of your country and around the world,” added USCIB Vice President for ICT Policy Barbara Wanner. “Importantly, she understands what business needs: effective policies and standards that attract investment and support innovation. And perhaps most important, Ms. Bogdan-Martin will ensure that the ITU continues to embrace multi-stakeholder input into the development of the ITU’s regulatory practices and technical standards, and that those practices and standards directly relate to the ITU’s core mission.”

USCIB Policy Experts Contribute to The Economist Impact’s Global Trade Week

Published on July 13, 2022

The Economist Impact kickstarted its four-day, second annual Global Trade Week (GTW) in London on June 27. The summit commemorated the supply-chain resilience day on June 28, amid other thematic issues, and had a melee of high-profile speakers including European Commission Director-General for Trade Sabine Weyand, office of the United States Trade Representative Senior Advisor Beth Baltzan and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile Director General of Multilateral Economic Affairs Marcela Otero Fuentes. USCIB policy experts – Senior VP, Innovation, Regulation and Trade Brian Lowry, Director, Investment, Trade, and China Alice Slayton Clark and Senior VP, Policy and Global Strategy Norine Kennedy moderated crucial panels during the week that focused on technology, data and supply-chain resilience.

The summit aimed to connect supply-chain, procurement, manufacturing and finance executives with high-level government representatives including ministers, policymakers and advisors. According to the organizers, the summit allows for the new reality of trade to be understood in its entirety, including geopolitical and climate-change risks.

Clark moderated the June 27 panel, “Changing tariffs and trade barriers – are you prepared?” under the theme geopolitical dynamics impacting supply chains and was chaired by Mayra Souza (TradeExperettes), Darya Galperina (Pernod Ricard), Fernanda Herrmann (Diageo) and Stewart Paterson (Hinrich Foundation).

On June 30, Lowry moderated the panel “How to eradicate forced labor in global supply chains” and participants included Romain Chambre (French Treasury), Gemma Brierley (Danone), Desirée LeClercq (Cornell University) and Evan Smith (Altana).

According to Lowry, key issues discussed was how countries, multilateral institutions and businesses can collaborate better to eradicate forced labor from global supply chains and the role of trade policy in facilitating and addressing these issues.

Kennedy moderated the panel “Delivering a greener, fairer global economy” with panelists: Aik Hoe Lim (World Trade Organization), Marion Jansen (OECD) and Elisabeth Tuerk (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe).

Key issues discussed included links between trade and the environment and how trade could offer solutions to enforcing international climate agreements.

USCIB Welcomes New Leadership to 2022-2024 Board of Trustees and Board of Directors  

Published on July 12, 2022

Following recent membership elections, USCIB is pleased to welcome new members to the Board of Trustees and Board of Directors for the 2022-2024 term and to congratulate reelected members: 

New Trustees include Michael Froman, Mastercard Vice Chairman & President, Strategic Growth; and Timothy Ryan, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Senior Partner & Chair. PepsiCo, Inc Chairman & CEO Ramon Laguarta was reelected.  

New Directors include Dorothy Attwood, The Walt Disney Company Senior Vice President, Global Public Policy;  Sahra English, Mastercard Vice President, Global Public Policy; Tam Robert Nguyen, Bechtel Corporation Global Head of Sustainability; and Chris Sharrock, Microsoft Corporation Vice President, UN Affairs and International Organizations. Salesforce Executive Vice President, Government Affairs Eric Loeb and PMI Global Services, Inc Vice President, External Affairs J.B. Simko were reelected. 

USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson also expressed his appreciation to the Nominating Committee: USCIB Trustee Ester Baiget (Chair), president and CEO, Novozymes; Trustee Paul Knopp, U.S. chair and CEO, KPMG LLP; and USCIB Vice Chair and Trustee Michele Parmelee, deputy CEO and global chief people & purpose officer, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. 

USCIB Welcomes New Associate for Corporate Responsibility and Labor Affairs – Jose Arroyo

Published on July 6, 2022
Jose Arroyo

USCB welcomed a new policy and program colleague at the end of June – Jose Arroyo, who joins USCIB as a Policy & Program Associate to help cover Corporate Responsibility & Labor Affairs as well as Corporate Governance. Jose will be based in USCIB’s New York office.

Originally from Costa Rica, Arroyo started his career in 2011 as a policy and financial auditor of the National Comptroller of Costa Rica. He audited the use of public funds according to financial and legal regulations. Then, he applied to work for the Foreign Service of Costa Rica and was appointed as a diplomat in New York City in 2013. He worked at the Consulate in New York for five years implementing foreign policy, with a particular focus on sustainability and immigrant protection, in partnership with multiple agencies and local officials.

As a diplomat, Arroyo tracked policy and legislation developments and fostered cooperation between the Government of Costa Rica, U.S. officials, and multinational organizations.

After leaving the Consulate and settling in New York City, Arroyo became a consultant with UNEP, advising on economic growth under a decarbonization strategy.

He brings expertise and experience in communications, project management, and partnership building.

USCIB’s Annual OECD Tax Conference Focuses on Pillars One and Two

Published on June 29, 2022
OECD’s Pascal Saint Amans

Following a landmark OECD/G20 statement and implementation plan announced on October 8, 2021, multinational companies are now facing a global minimum corporate tax on their operations with multilaterally agreed limitations on said tax. The implementation plan at national levels, known as Pillar Two, seeks to address the tax challenges arising from the digitalization of the economy and was endorsed by G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors at their October 2021 meeting.

Such was the backdrop and main focus of USCIB’s 15th annual OECD International Tax Conference at the Four Seasons in Washington DC earlier this week (June 27-28), where more than 200 tax experts, OECD officials, multinational companies, as well as foreign and domestic government representatives gathered for the two-day event to discuss pressing global tax issues and developments, including Pillars One and Two.

“This conference took place at another critical point in the 2022 OECD timeline for designing Pillars One and Two for consensus in the Inclusive Framework and, eventually, implementation at the national level,” said USCIB Vice President and International Tax Counsel Rick Minor.

According to Itai Grinberg, deputy assistant secretary for multilateral tax office of tax policy at the U.S. Treasury, ““Pillar Two helps level the playing field. It will ensure that all U.S. and foreign headquartered MNCs face a common level of minimum taxation. And in doing so, this deal, as it has come to be, really answers the single most frequently heard international tax policy request made by the U.S. multinational business community for the entire course of the 21st century.”

“The stability of the international tax architecture is at stake here,” said Martin Kreienbaum, director general of international taxation at Germany’s Federal Ministry of Finance. “I think the international tax architecture is the predictability of tax burden for tax payers from a tax payer perspective. But it’s also the avoidance and absence of double and multiple taxation. I think that is the main objective, the main purpose, under which we have the discussions in the inclusive framework.”

Many questions still remain around Pillar One however, especially in terms of better multilateral coordination around multiple and double taxation and how to build trust with tax payers.

“Together with the agreement on October 8, we had a detailed implementation plan with an extremely ambitious political timeline,” reflected Pascal Saint Amans, Director of the OECD Center for Tax Policy and Administration. “Keep in mind that the overall debate and the deal was still concluded against the background of transatlantic tensions with the previous administration and the need to show that we are restoring better relationships among the countries at stake and cooling down on threats of multilateral measures or trade sanctions.”

Other panels during the conference focused on the tax implications of an increased global mobility of workers arising from the pandemic, tax and climate change, a global minimum tax, dispute prevention and resolution, and much more.

USCIB members from Deloitte, Google, Procter & Gamble and Ernst and Young, among others, joined as panelists to contribute their companies’ perspectives on these pressing taxation issues.

More information on the agenda, speakers, and topics of discussion can be found here.

USCIB is the national affiliate of Business at OECD (known as BIAC), the official multi-jurisdictional business advisor the to OECD.

Featured speakers included:

  • Grace Perez-Navarro – Deputy Director, Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, OECD
  • John Peterson – Head of Unit, Aggressive Tax Planning, OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration
  • Achim Pross – Head of International Cooperation and Tax Administration Division, Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, OECD
  • Pascal Saint-Amans – Director, Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, OECD
  • Rick Minor – Vice President & International Tax Counsel, USCIB
  • Itai Grinberg – Deputy Assistant Secretary (International Tax Affairs), U.S. Treasury
  • John Hughes – Director of Field Operations, Northeastern Compliance Practice Area (Mid-Atlantic) (LB&I), IRS
  • Rebecca Kysar – Counselor to the Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy, U.S. Treasury
  • Michael Plowgian – Co-Chair, OECD Task Force on the Digital Economy and Counsellor, Office of Tax Policy, US Treasury
  • Isaac Wood – Attorney-Advisor, Office of Tax Policy, US Treasury
  • Martin Kreienbaum – Director General, International Taxation, Federal Ministry of Finance, Germany
  • Fabrizia Lapecorella – Director General of Finance of the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance and Chair of OECD Committee on Fiscal Affairs
  • Gaël Perraud – Co–Chair, OECD Task Force on the Digital Economy; Director of International Taxation and European Affairs, Ministry of Economy and Finance, France
  • Mike Williams – Director, Business and International Tax, HM Treasury, United Kingdom
  • Barbara Angus – Global Tax Policy Leader, Ernst & Young LLP
  • Mary Bennett – Senior Counsel, Baker & McKenzie
  • Ryan Bowen – Senior Manager, Washington National Tax Office, Deloitte
  • Nate Carden – Partner, Skadden
  • Liz Chien – Global Head of Tax and Chief Tax Counsel, Protocol Labs Inc.
  • Tracee Fultz – Global Transfer Pricing Leader, Ernst & Young LLP
  • John Harrington – Partner, Dentons US LLP
  • Hannah Hawkins – Principal, KPMG Washington National Tax, KPMG
  • Harris Horowitz – Managing Director, Global Head of Tax Policy & Innovation, BlackRock, Inc.
  • Tom Hutchinson – Vice President, Finance, Google
  • Mark Martin – Principal, Washington National Tax, KPMG
  • Tim McDonald – Chairperson, USCIB Tax Committee and Senior Vice President, Finance & Accounting, Global Taxes, The Procter & Gamble Company
  • Alan McLean – Chairperson, Business at OECD Committee on Taxation and Fiscal Affairs and Executive Vice President, Tax and Controller, Shell International Limited
  • Will Morris – Deputy Global Tax Policy Leader, PwC
  • Loren Ponds – Member and Co-Lead of the Tax Policy Practice, Miller & Chevalier
  • Tom Roesser – GM, Tax Policy Counsel, Microsoft
  • Danielle Rolfes – Co-Partner in Charge, Washington National Tax-International Tax, KPMG
  • Sonja Schiller – Head of Global Tax Controversy, Netflix
  • Daniel Smith – Director, International Tax Planning & Policy, Google
  • Liz Stevens – Member, Caplin & Drysdale
  • Bret Weaver – Partner, KPMG
  • Louise Weingrod – Vice Chairperson, USCIB Tax Committee and Vice President, Global Taxation, Johnson & Johnson
  • Lisa Wolski – Head of Government Affairs and Senior Executive Counsel, General Electric

USCIB Participates in ICC Sweden’s Sustainability Committee Meeting in Stockholm

Published on June 22, 2022

On the margins of the UN meeting, Stockholm+50, on June 3, ICC Sweden opened up their Sustainability Committee Meeting to the public and invited a group of speakers to discuss current environmental policy trends from a global perspective.

Representing USCIB, Agnes Vinblad, policy associate for sustainability, presented on key environmental policy developments of special importance to U.S. Business, including the recently agreed upon UNEA resolution on plastic pollution, and the preparations leading up to the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 27). In delivering her remarks, Vinblad emphasized the importance of USCIB’s guiding principles of open markets, competitiveness and innovation, and sustainable development and corporate responsibility for and by U.S. companies. Vinblad further mentioned the newly formed UN High Level Experts Group (HLEG) on Net-Zero Emissions Commitments on Non-State Entities, and what this development could mean for businesses and their voluntary net-zero carbon emissions pledges.  

For the section on Global Outlook on Sustainability Developments & New Regulations, Vinblad was joined by Mats Pellback Scharp, head of sustainability at Ericsson and Gabriel Lundstrom, head of ESG Investments at SEB. 

Justin Perrettson, chair of the Global ICC Commission on Environment & Energy, and co-chair of the USCIB Environment Committee, opened the meeting with an overarching presentation on global developments pertaining to sustainability and environmental policy and the role and work of ICC in these areas. 

Head of Delegation to UNFCCC at the Swedish Ministry of Environment Mattias Frumerie also participated in the meeting, speaking on goals and expectations ahead of COP27.  

“After two years of pandemic disruption, in-person meetings like this one are critical and offers valuable opportunities for discussion and collaboration,” said Vinblad, reflecting on a successful meeting. “As the U.S. affiliate of ICC, USCIB especially appreciated this meeting with ICC Sweden’s Sustainability Committee and the great value of coming together to compare challenges and opportunities across the EU and the U.S. as they pertain to environmental policy and regulation.”

Vinblad Speaks on Panel Co-Organized by ILO, UNEP and UNICEF at UN Stockholm+50

Published on June 22, 2022
Center: USCIB’s Agnes Vinblad

USCIB participated in the high-level international meeting, UN Stockholm+50 from June 2-3 in Stockholm, Sweden, joining over 4,000 other participants. The meeting was planned as a key milestone en route to the United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP27) in Egypt later this year. Furthermore, Stockholm+50 served as a means to reinvigorate and renew international environmental multilateralism after the worst impacts of the pandemic. The meeting commemorated the first UN Conference on the Human Environment held fifty years ago, also in Stockholm, in 1972. Topics such as the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution took center stage with plenty of references to the UNEA 5.2 resolution on plastics pollution, and, to principle 1 of the 1972 Stockholm Declaration – the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. 

Representing USCIB, and as one of the few U.S. business representatives on hand, was Policy Associate for Sustainability Agnes Vinblad. Vinblad was joined by Co-Chair of the USCIB Environment Committee Justin Perrettson (Novozymes), as well as Melissa Kopolow and Melissa Estok – USCIB members from Albright Stonebridge Group.  

The U.S. Government delegation was led by Special Presidential Envoy for Climate (SPEC) John Kerry and Assistant Secretary Monica Medina. USCIB was in regular contact with the U.S. Delegation in the lead-up to Stockholm+50 and Vinblad met with members of the delegation during the conference emphasizing the need to consider U.S. business views in these critical conversations.   

Nominated by IOE, Vinblad joined a panel co-organized by the International Labor Organization (ILO), the UN Environment Program (UNEP), and UNICEF on the role of private sector engagement in green jobs creation for youth. This panel was part of an official side event at Stockholm+50 titled Green Jobs for Youth and some of the key messages emphasized during the panel included: 

  • the green and circular economy may create 100 million jobs by 2030 – the private sector will stand at the core of this transition; 
  • the transition will have to be just to ensure that there will be a transition at all; 
  • green jobs in renewables and environmental protection are rapidly growing – a development clearly driven by the private sector.   

Vinblad was joined on the panel by Naoko Ishii, former chief executive of the Global Environment Facility and chairperson of the Global Advisory Board of the University of Tokyo; Vladislav Kaim, Children and Youth constituency to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (YOUNGO) Green Jobs focal point and UN Secretary General Youth Advisor on Climate Change; and Nate Williams, senior director, Economic Graph partnerships, LinkedIn. 

“Overall, Stockholm+50 furthered the trend toward convergence of current legally binding environmental deliberations, for example the development of a new Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework via the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the recently adopted UNEA resolution on plastic pollution,” said Vinblad in summarizing the outcomes of the high-level UN meeting. “By allowing space to discuss all these critical topics and agreements in one joint forum, it yet again emphasized the need to act on the triple planetary crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution in a cohesive manner, guided by the true interconnectedness of these issues.” 

To find more details on the outcomes of Stockholm+50 and the ten Key Recommendations presented by the co-chairs Sweden and Kenya, please review this document.  

USCIB Comments on Proposed SEC Climate Risk Disclosure Rule, Emphasizing Considerations for Global Companies

Published on June 22, 2022

USCIB filed comments on June 17 on a proposed Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rule on climate risk disclosure applicable to public companies. USCIB Committees on Corporate Responsibility and Labor Affairs, Corporate Governance and Environment all contributed to the development of USCIB’s SEC submission.

USCIB members support enhancing and standardizing climate-related disclosures, with due attention to ensure disclosures are material. In addition, USCIB members have made important commitments and are mobilizing action and investment to reduce GHGs and plan for near- and long-term risks, including those due to climate change.

The far-reaching proposed SEC rule has implications far beyond disclosure, according to USCIB Senior Vice President for Policy and Global Strategy Norine Kennedy. “The proposed rule will significantly impact private sector climate change planning and management practices in a variety of ways, including how companies oversee, manage, assess and mitigate climate risk and impacts of climate change, the data companies collect as well as how companies assess and validate that data,” stressed Kennedy.

Kennedy also stated: “these wider considerations raise several key questions for companies doing business internationally, and therefore warrant careful consideration, and an inclusive discussion with the business community as this proposed SEC rule is further developed.”

USCIB comments concentrated on five priority areas in the proposed rule as especially relevant to American companies across a wide range of sectors doing business in the global marketplace:

  • Inter-operability of the proposed SEC Rule with current and emerging regulations, standards, and initiatives abroad
  • Tracking and reflecting greenhouse gas emissions involved in complicated supply chains, including outside the U.S.
  • Tracking and reflecting Scope 3 Emissions, including outside the U.S.
  • Unintended consequences for future voluntary climate initiatives and goals
  • Assessing Climate and Transition Risks in multiple jurisdictions abroad

“The five areas indicated are significant considerations for the effectiveness of the proposed Rule, and if not addressed, would entail substantial costs and other burdens for U.S. business, while confusing investors with copious, non-material information,” added Kennedy. “Clarification and revision in these areas would benefit the viability of the proposed rule, while reducing unnecessary burdens on U.S. companies.”

USCIB Represents U.S. Business at United Nations Preparatory Meetings on COP27

Published on June 21, 2022

The United Nations concluded two weeks of preparatory meetings in advance of the next Climate Summit, known as COP27, which will be held November 8-18 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.  As the first official negotiations since Glasgow in 2021, this meeting brought all UN member states, UN bodies, business and other groups to discuss urgently accelerating implementation of the Paris Agreement.

According to USCIB Senior Vice President for Policy and Global Strategy Norine Kennedy, who was on the ground representing U.S. business, the intense session included special presentations of the most recent scientific findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and technical roundtables under the “global stock take,” which will assess the need for and degree of additional greenhouse gas emissions reductions required to keep global temperature rise well below 2 degrees C. The session also took up further development of “Article 6” measures to allow carbon trading and offsets under the Paris Agreement. Working on the ground with Kennedy was also USCIB Policy and Program Associate for Sustainability, Agnes Vinblad.

In addition, new attention is now being directed toward the private sector with respect to voluntary pledges and initiatives, such as those announced last year at the Glasgow Summit. The UN Secretary General and the UNFCCC High Level Champions have each recently announced new initiatives to review such voluntary announcements to ensure they are being put into practice.

At a meeting with members of the U.S. Government delegation at Bonn, Co-Chair of the USCIB Environment Committee Justin Perrettson (Novozymes) called out the “importance of private sector innovation to tackle the inter-linked challenges of climate change, food security and energy transitions,” and went on to highlight the need to include business in the implementation phase of the Convention.

The most contentious issues in Bonn concerned mobilizing financial resources for adaptation to impacts of climate change, and the establishment of a fund to provide compensation for loss and damage caused by climate change.

As the host of COP27, Egypt is expected to place particular emphasis on food and water security, just transition, and adaptation for resilience. The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), serving as the official focal point for business in the UNFCCC, has already begun dialogue with Egyptian government authorities on key topics relating to carbon markets, the role of SMEs and ways to further increase ambition across private and public sectors.