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:
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?”
Why is the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive coming up against intense lobbying by US politicians and businesses? Listen to Abrial Gilbert-d'Halluin, Policy Advisor for MEP Raden Kanev and Professor Michael Mehling, Deputy Director of the Centre for Energy and Environmental Policy Research at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
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What are the most important elements of a strong corporate human rights due diligence strategy? Listen to Niklas Wehner, Director of Corporate Responsibility International for ALDI South Group
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What progress has been made on real living wages? Listen to Petter Forslund, Engagement Manager at AP2 and Steering Committee Member of the Platform Living Wage Financials
