#49 Heidi Hautala: Reflecting on Three Decades of Business and Human Rights Policy in the EU

Listen to Heidi Hautala, MEP and Vice-president of the European Parliament

In this Frankly Speaking episode, Richard Howitt welcomes MEP Heidi Hautala, vice president of the European Parliament, founder of the EP’s working group for Responsible Business Conduct and former development minister of Finland.

In 2024, Heidi declared that she will step down at the forthcoming European elections. As one of the foremost advocates of business and human rights in Europe and a lead campaigner for the new European corporate sustainability due diligence law (CSDDD), who better and what better time to ask about what has been achieved and what still needs to happen.

In this episode, you’ll hear more about:

How Heidi first got into sustainability and her political career
What has changed in the last 30 years in the European Parliament
How has the business and human rights agenda and concept have evolved over the years
What is due diligence and the unprecedented support from companies for Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD)
The behind the scenes of the CSDDD

A warm thank you to Heidi Hautala not only for coming on the podcast but for all the work done on the business and human rights agenda in the past 30 years.

“This kind of support, of worry and concern that many actors expressed when the Council was trying to still challenge the CSDDD in the early months of this year, I don't think I've ever seen anything like that. It was remarkable that these statements came from the UN High Commissioner for Human rights, from companies, from civil society, from labour unions, it was really unprecedented. And I hope that this kind of coherence now stays because I believe that we are only at the end of the beginning. So now the whole thing is, how can we make this happen in reality?”

Heidi Hautala in Frankly Speaking