Stakeholder Capitalism

Australia Appoints Examiner of Overseas Corporate Rights Abuses

August 07, 2019

The nongovernmental organization Human Rights Law Centre is applauding the move by the Australian government to appoint an “independent examiner” to monitor alleged overseas human rights abuses committed by Australian companies as part of the country’s reform of its OECD National Contact Point.
Academics Find State Duty to Regulate Labor in Supply Chains

August 07, 2019

A group of professors from Australian universities has published research on mandatory corporate forced-labor reporting schemes recently passed by such countries as Australia and the UK concluding that public authorities “cannot entirely outsource” their duties to regulate human rights in global supply chains.
Author Laments Corporate “Capture” of Certification Process

August 01, 2019

Author Samanth Subramanian warns that global companies that are exchanging what were once external certification schemes monitoring their global supply chains into in-house compliance mechanisms are moving toward “unfairer trade” and pushing farmers “back towards the exploited miseries of the past.”
Companies Embrace Initiative on Setting Emissions Targets

July 26, 2019

28 companies have announced their adherence to the demands of the UN Global Compact’s Science Based Targets initiative, under which businesses set goals to limit their greenhouse gas emissions to help fulfill the UN’s Paris climate accord.
UN Local Networks Seek Corporate Action on SDGs

July 26, 2019

At a recent review of the “local dimension” of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Executive Director of the UN Global Compact (UNGC) Lise Kingo highlighted the role of the nearly 70 UNGC Local Networks in pushing businesses around the world to embed the SDGs in their operations.
NGO Critiques Phase-in Process of Jewelery Standards

July 25, 2019

A Human Rights Watch press release illustrates the complexities involved in complying with activist demands in adopting standards for business conduct, criticizing the Responsible Jewellery Council for a delayed phase-in of due diligence standards for the diamond industry.
Report Finds Increasing Resort to Climate Litigation

July 24, 2019

A research institute at the London School of Economics has published a report finding that activists are increasingly turning to strategic litigation to force governments and the “highest greenhouse-gas-emitting companies” to reduce emissions to prevent global warming, often using a human-rights basis for their lawsuits.
NGOs File OECD Complaint Against Dutch Bank

July 24, 2019

A coalition of nongovernmental organizations related to the activist group Friends of the Earth has filed a complaint with the Dutch National Contact Point for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises accusing Dutch bank ING Group of fueling rights violations by funding three palm-oil companies.
UN, UAE Partner on Business Roundtable on Climate

July 19, 2019

The UN recently partnered with the government of the United Arab Emirates on a roundtable meeting with business, government, and activist organizations on how to achieve a “just transition” to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in compliance with the UN’s Paris climate accord.
Canadian, UK Courts Adopt New Theories on Foreign Suits

July 17, 2019

The Financial Post reports that courts in Canada and the UK are increasingly warming to legal theories permitting them to hold parent companies liable for the alleged human rights violations of their foreign subsidiaries, given a certain level of involvement by the parent in the affairs of the subsidiary.