Companies are increasingly recognizing climate change as an issue that can result in financial risks (and opportunities) for their business performance. There is also growing recognition that climate change is integrally related not only to other ‘environmental’ issues (water stress, biodiversity loss, etc.) but also to a range of ‘social’ and ‘governance’ factors under the ‘ESG’ components of sustainability. With regard to ‘social’ factors, as the impacts of climate change become more evident, the human rights impacts of climate change, and of business responses to climate change are becoming increasingly clear. Climate change is complex and many businesses find it challenging to develop an integrated approach to managing climate change and human rights risks. In a workshop held during Shift’s 2022 Business Learning Program (BLP), we explored how the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) can provide a framework to help companies bring these critical aspects of risk management together. This paper is informed by the findings of that workshop and provides a practical overview of how the UNGPs can help companies to layer a human rights lens into their climate change strategies.

Climate Action & Human Rights: How the UN Guiding Principles can help companies respect human rights when responding to climate change

Resource Key: F2KPP6Q7

Document Type: Report

Creator:

Author:

  • Shift

Creators Name: {mb_resource_zotero_creatorsname}

Place: New York

Institution: Shift

Date: February 2023

Language: en

Companies are increasingly recognizing climate change as an issue that can result in financial risks (and opportunities) for their business performance. There is also growing recognition that climate change is integrally related not only to other ‘environmental’ issues (water stress, biodiversity loss, etc.) but also to a range of ‘social’ and ‘governance’ factors under the ‘ESG’ components of sustainability. With regard to ‘social’ factors, as the impacts of climate change become more evident, the human rights impacts of climate change, and of business responses to climate change are becoming increasingly clear. Climate change is complex and many businesses find it challenging to develop an integrated approach to managing climate change and human rights risks. In a workshop held during Shift’s 2022 Business Learning Program (BLP), we explored how the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) can provide a framework to help companies bring these critical aspects of risk management together. This paper is informed by the findings of that workshop and provides a practical overview of how the UNGPs can help companies to layer a human rights lens into their climate change strategies.

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