scholarly journals Corporate responsibility reporting in promoting social license to operate in forestry and sawmilling industries

2016 ◽  
Vol 89 (5) ◽  
pp. 525-541 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katja Lähtinen ◽  
Anne Toppinen ◽  
Mirja Mikkilä ◽  
Matti Toivio ◽  
Olli Suur-Uski
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 667-697 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Bright ◽  
Axel Marx ◽  
Nina Pineau ◽  
Jan Wouters

AbstractThe corporate responsibility to respect human rights was formally introduced in 2011 with the unanimous endorsement of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) by the UN Human Rights Council. It is grounded in social expectations and forms part of the companies' “social license to operate.” This paper argues that this responsibility is progressively turning into a legal duty for lead companies to respect human rights in those types of value chains which are characterized by a high level of control by a lead company over its business partners. Our argument rests on two recent legal developments. Firstly, the article analyzes the judicialization of the corporate responsibility to respect in the case law on parent company liability in various jurisdictions, which, we argue, is highly likely to have some implications in relation to certain types of value chains so as to trigger the liability of lead companies for the human rights harms arising out of the activities of entities over which they exercise sufficient control. Secondly, the article delves into the legislative developments which increasingly require lead companies to exercise due diligence so as to prevent and address adverse human rights impacts in their own activities and global value chains.


2021 ◽  
pp. 102831532110162
Author(s):  
Svetlana Kostrykina

The article investigates the concept of internationalization in higher education for society (IHES) and discusses the role of social license to internationalize, its contextual variations, and implications for internationalization practices in New Zealand and Indonesia. The notion of social license to operate is common in the extraction and some service industries; however, the concept of social license to internationalize constitutes an innovative direction for research concerned with IHES and the global international education industry. Social license to internationalize emerged as a pivotal feature of internationalization practices in New Zealand and Indonesia. It reflected the public recognition of IHES, manifested in the cultural and social value of internationalization. The construction of social license to internationalize presented itself as a strategic priority for the governments and higher education institutions (HEIs) in both research settings. The conceptual underpinnings of social license to internationalize, and hence the means of constructing the latter varied depending on the local context, but they served a common purpose of reification of internationalization practices. The study of social license to internationalize contributes to a broader discussion on IHES and sheds lights on the mechanisms of building meaningful and mutually beneficial connections between the stakeholders of the global international education industry and the wider public.


2018 ◽  
pp. 165-175
Author(s):  
Nicole J. Olynk Widmar

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Balazs Bodo ◽  
Luis Lopes ◽  
Claudio Rossi ◽  
Giorgia Stasi ◽  
Christian Burlet ◽  
...  

<p>ROBOMINERS is developing an innovative approach for the exploitation of currently non-feasible mineral deposits. The approach entails the use of a robot-miner - a bio-inspired reconfigurable robot with a modular nature - in a new mining setting where the activities are nearly invisible and where mining presents less socio-environmental constraints, thus contributing to a more safe and sustainable supply of mineral raw materials.</p><p>The main aim is to design and develop a robotic prototype that is able to perform mining related tasks in settings including both abandoned, currently flooded mines not accessible anymore for conventional mining techniques; or places that have formerly been explored, but whose exploitation was considered as uneconomic due to the small-size of deposits, or their difficulty to access.</p><p>ROBOMINERS’ innovative approach combines the creation of a new mining ecosystem with novel ideas from other sectors, particularly robotics. At this point, work has been done to understand the best methods for the robotminer’s development in 1) biological inspiration, 2) perception and localisation tools, 3) behaviour, navigation and control, 4) actuation methods, 5) modularity, 6)autonomy and resilience, and 7) the selective mining ability. All these aspects combined aim to provide the robotminer XXI Century tools for mineral exploration and exploitation of (currently) unfeasible deposits.</p><p>At the same time, for the vision of a new vision of a mining ecosystem, work is involving studies on 1) developing computer models and simulations, 2) data management and visualisation, 3) rock-mechanical and geotechnical characterisation studies, 4) analysing ground/rock support methods, bulk transportation methods, backfilling types and methods, and 5) sketching relevant upstream and downstream mining industry analogues for the ROBOMINERS concept.  </p><p>After design and development, based on the previously mentioned studies, the robot-miner is set to be tested at targeted areas representatives which include abandoned and/or operating mines, small but high-grade mineral deposits, unexplored/explored non-economic occurrences and ultra depth, not  easily accessible environments. Possible candidates for testing purposes include mines in the regions of Cornwall (UK), mines in the Kupferschiefer Formation (e.g. Poland) or coal mines in Belgium.</p><p>When compared to usual mining methods the ROBOMINERS approach shows: 1) no presence of people in the mine, 2) less mining waste produced, 3) less mining infrastructure, 4) less investment, 5) possibility to explore currently uneconomic resources and 6) new underground small-sized mines, practically “invisible”. Altogether, ROBOMINERS can contribute to solve some of the main issues that make mining’s social license to operate so difficult to get in Europe: land-use, environmental limitations, and socio-economic aspects.</p>


2021 ◽  
pp. 259-324
Author(s):  
Erika George

This chapter examines what corporations say they are doing to address human rights risks presented by particular business practices in particular contexts. It offers an overview of the different strategies being used by transnational business enterprises to respond to concerns expressed by investors, consumers, and affected communities. Among the self-regulation strategies used by businesses examined are participation in multistakeholder initiatives designed to address human rights issues, human rights impact assessments, audits and certifications, supply chain contract provisions, and corporate responses to ratings and reports by concerned stakeholder constituencies. The chapter presents the findings of a discourse analysis of codes created by competing corporations in selected industry sectors assessing over time the extent to which codes incorporate reference to human rights standards and refer to emerging self-regulation strategies. Corporate responses to allegations of complicity in abuse are analyzed. The chapter argues that the discursive frame asserted by corporate responsibility incorporating rights increasingly treats voluntary norms as obligatory to maintaining a “social license” to operate.


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