This Way Up: Unpacking human rights for business

More than 60% of companies assessed by the World Benchmarking Alliance are improving their human rights practices, but there’s still a long way to go. Live from #UNForumBHR, Namit Agarwal spells out what he believes companies and governments must do next.

“We need more implementation to make sure that what’s already there can help us get somewhere.” A positive perspective from Mutuso Dhliwayo, Executive Director at Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association on the huge difference that effective implementation of pre-existing regulations and frameworks could make towards a just transition.

How should investors continue to press their portfolio companies to engage with just transition issues, and what role do governments have to play in a shifting and uncertain future environment? Fascinating insight from Chavi Keeney Nana at the Interfaith Centre on Corporate Responsibility live from #UNForumBHR.

“There is not a just transition if you don’t bring workers into the negotiations from the beginning.” Live from #UNForumBHR 🎧,

As female workers in Bangladesh are increasingly uprooted from traditional agricultural work to industrial jobs, worker involvement in how the just transition unfolds will be essential, as Sunzida Sultana from Karmojibi Nari tells us at #UNForumBHR.

Fascinating perspective from Kudakwashe Manjonjo at Power Shift Africa at COP29 on how financing green industrialisation won’t just support the world’s action on climate change, but if done properly could also help 1.3 billion people in Africa move out of energy poverty.

A must-listen interview from #COP29 with Joan Carling, Executive Director of The Indigenous Peoples Rights International, as she explains why human rights due diligence and centring the rights of Indigenous Peoples must at the centre of any conversation around the just transition.

Earthworks Executive Director

Talking live from #COP29 sessions happening today on transitional minerals and mining standards, Indigenous rights advocate Bryan Bixcul from SIRGE Coalition tells us why the words remain the same from global companies, but we are yet to see the necessary actions to back them up.

In the latest in our series of civil society interviews from #COP29, we spoke with the UN Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders Michel Forst on what he’s hearing from human rights defenders who have come under threat from companies operating overseas, and how his mandate can help to protect those defenders.

In just a few years, transition minerals have moved firmly into the spotlight, and as we report live from #COP29 - and look ahead to COP30 - Suneeta Kamal, President and CEO of Natural Resources Governance Institute, tells us why this is an exciting inflection point for the conversation.

“Climate finance can become the next assault for Indigenous Peoples if it is not directly supporting their efforts.” We spoke to Cristina Coc, a Mayan Q'eqchi leader and Advocacy and Policy Coordinator at Indigenous Peoples Rights International at #COP29 to ask her about the aspirations for the Indigenous movement from this latest round of hugely important conversations and negotiations.

LIVE from COP29! 🎧 Hear our Executive Director Phil Bloomer set the scene for this week’s conference in Baku, as he discusses why human rights is an essential precondition for climate action, and why a just transition to clean energy must be a fair one if it is to be fast.

How can we advance the human rights agenda in private equity? Private capital markets have seen enormous growth in recent years, and their largely unregulated, under-scrutinised nature creates conditions for exploitative practices and human rights risks. But private equity funds have significant leverage over portfolio companies, and investors have a unique opportunity to push for better practice and advance respect for human rights. For this special episode from BHRRC and BSR, Áine Clarke is joined by Paloma Muñoz Quick from BSR, author and corporate accountability advocate Benjamin Cokelet, and Michael Musuraca, Strategic Advisor on ESG and Labour at Blue Wolf Capital. Episode glossary ESG investing – Environmental, Social & Governance PE – Private Equity LPA – Limited Partner Agreement LP – Limited Partners GP – General Partners

How much do we need the energy we produce? How can we change our energy systems—from the bottom up—to better serve all sections of society? The global push for the energy transition cannot mean uprooting communities and cutting off water access. We’re joined by Gregory Thomas of the National Heritage Institute and Dr. Noah Kittner from the University of North Carolina for a discussion on examples including the proposed Sambor Dam on Asia’s Mekong River. For full details of the backing tracks and soundbites used in this episode, please see this reference document .

While hydropower has successfully provided significant amounts of power around the world and played a important role in meeting the intermittency challenge of solar and wind, it is not a purely clean and green source of energy. Dr. Noah Kittner and climate scientist Ilissa Ocko explore the costs of hydropower including loss of food sources for local communities affected by dams, and increased methane emissions from reservoirs. For full details of the backing tracks and soundbites used in this episode, please see this reference document.

Proposed alternatives to traditional land mining include space mining, deep sea and urban mining. The feasibility of space mining in the near enough future for the energy transition is unlikely, so scientists are giving more attention to deep sea mining. Helen Rosenbaum from the Deep Sea Mining Campaign and Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mike Brown shed light on social risks and logistical roadblocks to this solution, leaving urban mining as a potential emerging solution. Andy Whitmore from the London Mining Network explains that more than changing our sources of energy, a broader change in our energy use throughout the supply chain is needed. For full details of the backing tracks and soundbites used in this episode, please see this reference document.

This episode explores the capacity for communities to hold companies accountable when their rights are violated by transition mineral mining. Helen Rosenbaum from the Deep Sea Mining Campaign and Manson Gwanyanya, Researcher & Representative for Southern & Anglophone West Africa at the Resource Centre, discuss how examples from the Ok Tedi mine in Papua New Guinea and the Konkola Copper Mine in Zambia prove the devastating environmental and human rights resulting from insufficient access to remedy. For full details of the backing tracks and soundbites used in this episode, please see this reference document.

Over the past decade, scientists and policy makers have noted how the climate crisis will exacerbate social, environmental and economic factors which increase the risk of conflict – particularly for the countries and regions most vulnerable to the impacts of the climate crisis. This episode poses an important question – will the measures we take to tackle the climate crisis drive conflict? Andrew Whitmore, Co-Chair of the London Mining Network, joins Elizabeth to give context to how a large-scale mining operation can perpetuate violence with high-profile government contracts. Excerpts from an interview with 2001 Goldman Environmental Prize winner Yosepha Alomang of the Amungme people show how detrimental operations can be for Indigenous communities. For full details of the backing tracks and soundbites used in this episode, please see this reference document.

Reducing the world’s carbon footprint is no simple task, and while the need for a transition to renewable energy is urgent, the cost of extraction of transition minerals cannot be ignored. Human rights abuses are widespread in the growing extractives sector, alongside significant environmental damages. The first episode in our new series on the 'Cost of Clean Energy' tackles the social impacts associated with the transition minerals boom, with reports of abuse including child labour, modern slavery and violence. Our host Elizabeth Dykstra-McCarthy, a former member of the BHRRC Natural Resources team now consulting on climate action and environmental issues, is joined in this episode by: Jessie CatoEmmanuel Umpala Nkumba For full details of the backing tracks and soundbites used in this episode, please see this reference document.