Strengthening Accountability : BHR and Investors…

11:40am – 1:00pm  Strengthening Accountability: BHR and Investors

The growth of sustainable investing and "ESG" signals progress in the financial industry as investors begin to appreciate how environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues create risks and opportunities. Yet the ESG field has been criticized, for example, for inadequate "greenwashing" strategies or for ignoring the "S". At the same time, there is often no account taken of the value of business and human rights in developing ESG approaches. As investors and stakeholders navigate these issues and seek to ensure the societal benefits of ESG, it important that a human rights-based approach to ESG investing is considered and that impacts on people are put at the centre of these approaches. This session will shed light on the content and scope of the human rights-based approach to investment and how it contributes to elevating the voice of rights-holders in investment contexts.