scholarly journals Business and human rights implications of climate change litigation: Milieudefensie et al . v Royal Dutch Shell

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Macchi ◽  
Josephine Zeben
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Royal Dutch Shell

Climate Change as a Business and Human Rights Issue: A Proposal for a Moral Typology

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Kristian Høyer TOFT
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Moral Philosophy ◽  
Critical Discussion ◽  
Legal Principles ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Moral Duties ◽  
Rights Issue ◽  
Forward Looking

AbstractTo explore the emerging and contested issue of business and human rights in the area of climate change, this article provides a critical discussion from the viewpoint of moral philosophy. A novel typology of businesses’ human rights duties (‘duty’ is considered synonymous with ‘responsibility’ here) is proposed. It claims that duties are both forward- and backward-looking. Cases of human rights litigation seeking remedy for climate-related harms are backward-looking, and duties should be determined on the basis of proportion of historical emissions, culpable knowledge and counter-acts to abate climate harms. Businesses’ forward-looking duties, however, depend on their power, privilege, interest and collective abilities. The typology is then assessed against the background of recent legal principles and instruments. It is concluded that moral duties of business reach beyond mere respect for human rights and national jurisdictions in the context of climate change.

scholarly journals Business, Human Rights and Climate Due Diligence: Understanding the Responsibility of Banks

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 8391
Author(s):  
Chiara Macchi ◽  
Nadia Bernaz
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Corporate Responsibility ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Form Part ◽  
Normative Standard ◽  
Human Rights Due Diligence

Under the 2011 UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), banks, like all businesses, have a responsibility to respect human rights and to carry out human rights due diligence. Although climate due diligence is not explicitly included in the UNGPs, tackling an enterprise’s direct and indirect climate change impacts is arguably a dimension of the corporate responsibility to respect human rights and should form part of the human rights due diligence process. At present, it is unclear how such responsibility applies to banks, whose contribution to climate change is mostly indirect. This article addresses the research question: how should the law be interpreted to form a coherent climate due diligence standard for banks? To address it, the article first maps out the climate responsibility of banks under international soft law standards and assesses privately developed guidance. It then elucidates the emerging concept of climate due diligence, reading climate change responsibilities into the now well-established corporate responsibility to respect human rights as authoritatively elaborated in the UNGPs. Finally, it explains how such normative standard applies to banks and unpacks the key elements that a bank’s climate due diligence process should include.

scholarly journals Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Sustainable Development Goals, and Duties of Corporations: Rejecting the False Dichotomies

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-41
Author(s):  
Danwood CHIRWA ◽  
Nojeem AMODU
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Current State ◽  
Formal Level ◽  
Development Goals

AbstractThe attention that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has given to public–private partnerships in solving global concerns including poverty, sustainable development and climate change has shed new light on the question of duties of corporations in relation to economic, social and cultural (ESC) rights. At the same time, objections to recognizing the obligations of corporations in relation to human rights in general and to ESC rights in particular have continued to be made. At the formal level, these objections are reflected in new distinctions such as between the duties of states and responsibilities of corporations, between primary duties of states and secondary duties of corporations, and between obligations of compliance and obligations of performance. All these objections and distinctions are untenable and serve only to stultify the discourse on business and human rights. The current state of human rights is dynamic, not static; commodious, not stale. There is ample space in it to accommodate duties of corporations regarding ESC rights.

scholarly journals The Climate Change Dimension of Business and Human Rights: The Gradual Consolidation of a Concept of ‘Climate Due Diligence’

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Chiara MACCHI
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Business Process ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Human Rights Due Diligence

Abstract This article makes the case for a ‘holistic’ approach to human rights due diligence, arguing that such a standard must be interpreted in the light of mutually reinforcing principles of environmental law, climate law and human rights law. Through a review of emerging climate change-related litigation, it shows how a concept of ‘climate due diligence’ is gradually consolidating. Building on the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the article explores climate due diligence both as a standard of conduct and as a business process, presenting its main features. It argues that corporations should integrate climate due diligence into their processes and policies to be best prepared for likely regulatory and judicial developments, such as the upcoming European Union’s regulation on human rights and environmental due diligence.

Human Rights and Climate Change

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siobhan McInerney-Lankford ◽  
Mac Darrow ◽  
Lavanya Rajamani
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Rights

Can Multinational Corporations be responsible for human rights violation of its outsourcee company? Response of national or international law?

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-179
Author(s):  
Alessandro Suppa ◽  
Pavel Bureš
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Corporate Law ◽  
International Economy ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Original Question ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Human Rights Violation

SummaryNowadays, an important role in the world is played by Multinational Corporations (MNCs). They hire, produce, and influence the international economy, but also, they exploit, pollute. Their business activities might have a worldwide effect on human lives. The question of the responsibility of MNCs has drawn the attention of many scholars, mainly from the study field labelled “Business and Human Rights”. The present paper does not examine the topic under the same approach. The authors aim at presenting the issue in a broader perspective, exploring the concept of due diligence both in international and corporate law. In this paper, authors strategically use the uniformity of national legislations as a possible and alternative solution to the issue. They are aware of three fundamental factors: 1) the definition of MNCs needs to be as clear as possible, so to avoid any degree of uncertainty; 2) the outsourcing phenomenon interacts with that definition; 3) in case of no possibility to include outsourcing in the definition of MNC, the original question arises in a significant way.

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