Our purpose

Progress on our Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Efforts

By Thomas Kim, Chief Legal Officer, and Mary Alice Vuicic, Chief People Officer

Earlier this year, we launched our Purpose – Inform the Way Forward. Not only does this unite our commercial and societal responsibilities. It also anchors our environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategy.

As a business that stands for trust, we are building on our commitment to ESG for our customers, colleagues, and communities. Our own research of our customers in the legal and tax professions shows the importance they place on the role of business in society, with most surveyed feeling that their work has a positive impact on their community and wider society.

The bar is certainly rising. ESG measures are increasingly important to stakeholders in all industries. We are fortunate to be building on a strong foundation, but the work is never complete.

To advance our ESG strategy, last year we initiated a comprehensive global ESG materiality assessment, exploring not just how ESG topics affect our business, but how our business affects the economy, environment, and people – including the significant positive impact we have as a company.

Although the work is ongoing, we are pleased to announce that Thomson Reuters has aligned with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs).

The UNGPs are the global standard addressing the risk of adverse impacts on human rights linked to business activity, and they provide the internationally accepted framework for enhancing standards and practices with regards to business and human rights.

This decision augments our longstanding commitment to the UN Global Compact, the UN Declaration on Human Rights and other international standards. It also reaffirms our commitment to respecting human rights throughout our operations, and reflects our increased focus as we continue our transition from a holding company to an operating company.

We believe the interest and focus on ESG will continue to build. Conducting business in a principled manner – transparently disclosing relevant targets and metrics related to our ESG programs – not only allows our stakeholders to be informed on our progress, but also encourages others to drive positive change.

As we continue our work to inform the way forward, we will share an update in our upcoming social impact and ESG report.

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