What are the Risks? 

Human rights due diligence (HRDD) is a key element in corporate respect for human rights. Without appropriate HRDD processes, companies cannot identify and address the risks they pose to rights-holders, such as children, women, indigenous peoples, and other vulnerable communities. To reach the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, companies must change their behavior and ensure they respect human rights throughout their value chains, as human rights and sustainability are inextricably linked. The Corporate Human Rights Benchmark (CHRB) compares the human rights performance of the largest and most influential companies in five high-risk sectors (apparel, food & beverage, technology, automotive manufacturing, and oil & gas), assessing the policies, processes, and practices they have in place to meet their human rights responsibilities and respond to serious allegations. CHRB's indicators are based on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). 

How are Businesses Connected? 

Under the UNGPs, companies have the responsibility to undertake HRDD to identify, prevent, mitigate, and account for how they address their human rights risks and impacts connected to their own operations or through their business relationships. HRDD, along with a human rights policy commitment and provision of access to remedy, are the three cornerstones of the corporate responsibility to respect. 

How can Investors Respond? 

Investors are responsible for ensuring their portfolio companies respect human rights, including undertaking HRDD. Repeated zero-scores on HRDD-related indicators evidence a lack of attention by a company's board to its human rights risks. Collective investor leverage, enabled through coordinated corporate engagement, allows investors to target industry laggards to implement the policies and processes needed to improve their human rights performance and outcomes for rights-holders.