Listen to Allan Jorgensen, Head of the OECD Centre for Responsible Business Conduct.
In this episode we discuss the recent update of the OECD Guidelines on multinational enterprises.
The guidelines are the world's principal soft law instrument on responsible business. The OECD describes them as the most comprehensive international standard on responsible business conduct. They are the only one which is multilaterally negotiated, endorsed by governments and having the unique system to hear complaints known as specific instances, The National Contact Points or NSPs.
You will hear more about:
“The risk-based approach is a concept in the updated guidelines that encourages companies to look across their entire supply chain and really try to focus in on where we see the greatest sustainability challenges, where we see the greatest likelihood and severity of potential impacts, whether that be on human rights or climate, for example, in terms of emissions hotspots in the supply chain.”
Is it really is possible for companies to "do the right thing"?
There's very little pressure being applied to companies by investors looking at how they're actually behaving and treating human rights as a core business priority. This needs to change.
Investors shouldn't just take companies' word for what they're doing; they should investigate what the companies are actually doing regarding human rights.
