The UK Financial Conduct Authority (the “FCA“) recently published its Discussion Paper (DP23/1) on ‘Finance for positive sustainable change’ (“DP23/1“) as part of its ongoing effort to promote sustainable finance and align the financial sector with the UK’s environmental, social, and governance (“ESG“) goals. DP23/1 draws on the Task
The impact of climate change on human rights is considerable and complex. Air pollution can contaminate the air we breathe; droughts can result in hunger and famine; floods can impact housing and access to potable water. If it is indeed accepted that climate change has an impact on human rights, then by extension businesses will not be able to prevent adverse human rights impacts unless they integrate climate change into their human rights due diligence processes.
This imperative is being driven among other things by approaching mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence legislation (see our Blog posts here and here) and expanding reporting requirements on environmental and sustainability matters expand (see, for example, our Blog posts here, here and here).
Continue Reading Business and Human Rights: The Environmental Dimension – climate change
In May 2021, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) published a report setting out a series of tools investors can use to identify and address human rights risks, including modern slavery risks, in their portfolio companies. The report includes a sectoral analysis of modern slavery rights in four sectors – Tourism, Construction, Food and Beverage, and Textile and Footwear – and adds to the growing toolkit of ESG-related resources available to investors (see, for example, our briefing Asset Managers: Mastering Non-Financial Risk – The Evolution of Human Rights Due Diligence).
Continue Reading Business and Human Rights – Analysing modern slavery risks in portfolio companies: practical considerations for investors