Human & labour rights

The case for UK legislation on human rights and environmental due diligenceBusiness is a central part of our society and vital to the lives of children. UK businesses and supply chains operate around the globe. They connect us to children labouring to produce cocoa in Côte d’Ivoire, to children of factory workers in Bangladesh producing our clothes as well as to children around the world using apps and products developed by British Tech companies.Our new report, Preventing corporate abuse and realising child rights highlights how businesses can have wide-ranging negative impacts on children and how these can be prevented or mitigated. All these impacts can have serious, long-lasting, often irreversible, consequences on the lives of children.

In the just-released publication ‘Fashioning justice’ Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) shows that non-enforceable initiatives and voluntary commitments by garment brands have failed to protect workers’ human rights and deliver justice. CCC therefore puts forward concrete proposals for binding rules aimed at ensuring responsible business conduct. The recommendations are supported with an overview of the policy context and of the current realities in the garment industry.

While many ESG efforts will incur short-term costs for firms, there are some that don’t, explains Jacopo Schettini Gherardini

NBIM is the latest investor to throw its weight behind Commission’s proposal on sustainable corporate governance

Chris Walker argues that its recent adoption is the beginning of a corporate response to a broader “crisis of capitalism.”

Investors have been doing the groundwork on ESG in the mining industry. Covid has highlighted the need to do the same in long-term care, writes Christy Hoffman

Complaint centres on UBS’ exposure to surveillance firm Hikvision

MEPs eye EU law on ESG corporate due diligence giving teeth to Ruggie Principles and OECD guidelines

The latest developments in sustainable finance

UK initiative hopes to feed into COP26 in November