Investor Webinar: Navigating Portfolio Exposure to Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas
Amid a steady increase in the number and intensity of global conflicts and associated human rights harms, investors are seeking guidance on how to manage portfolio exposure to conflict-affected and high-risk areas (CAHRA). To that end, the Investor Alliance for Human Rights launched with partners Heartland Initiative and PeaceNexus Foundation the Investor Engagement on Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas Pilot Project and are pleased to share a new report detailing its findings. The 18-month project sought to build the capacity of institutional investors to engage portfolio companies in the tech and renewable energy sectors on how to address CAHRA-related risks in their operations and value chain relationships.
The report, Navigating Portfolio Exposure to Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas: Practical Guidance for Investor Engagement with Companies, is a practical, rights-based contribution to the limited guidance currently available for investors seeking to take a systemic approach to managing CAHRA risks across their portfolios and to those companies pursuing better policies, practices, and governance measures in response to today’s volatile geopolitical landscape.
Specifically, the report offers three sets of learnings:
practical guidance on how investors can identify, assess, and prioritize CAHRA risks in their portfolios, including by addressing the intersections between salient human rights impacts and material financial risks
- practical guidance to enhance investor-company interactions on CAHRA-related risks
- promising practice and lessons learned from a series of corporate dialogues with tech and renewable energy companies, highlighting emerging policies, practices, and governance measures to address CAHRA-related risks and associated gaps and challenges
On Wednesday, April 30th, at 10am ET / 3pm UK / 4pm CET the Investor Alliance for Human Rights with project partners Heartland Initiative and PeaceNexus will host a 60-minute webinar that includes a short presentation of the report’s findings, a panel discussion with investors who participated in the Pilot Project, and an open Q&A with the audience.
Our speakers include:
- Camille Bisconte de St Julien, Human Rights and Social Lead, La Banque Postale Asset Management
- Therese Sandmark, Senior ESG Analyst, Skandia
- Tulia Machado-Helland, Head of Human Rights and Senior Sustainability Analyst, Storebrand Asset Management
- Moderator: Rebecca DeWinter-Schmitt, Associate Director, Investor Alliance for Human Rights
Register here for this free event.
Background materials:
Private Businesses and Armed Conflict: An introduction to relevant rules of international humanitarian law, International Committee of the Red Cross, Australian Red Cross, French Red Cross, November 2024
The Saliency Materiality Nexus, Heartland Initiative, Wespath Benefits and Investments, and Schroders, September 2024
The Investor ESG Guide on Private Security and Human Rights, ICoCA, Investor Alliance for Human Rights, Enact, Autumn 2023. (Also available in French and Spanish.)
Business and Human Rights in Challenging Contexts: Considerations for Remaining and Exiting, United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, August 2023
Investor Toolkit on Human Rights and Armed Conflict, Responsible Investment Association Australasia, May 2023
Heightened Human Rights Due Diligence for Business in Conflict-Affected Contexts: A Guide, United Nations Development Programme and United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights, June 2022
Business, human rights and conflict-affected regions: towards heightened action, United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights, July 2020
Doing Responsible Business in Armed Conflict: Risks, Rights and Responsibilities, Australian Red Cross and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University, 2020