Category: Social
Comment comes as issuer Starbucks faces questions over human rights due diligence Comment comes as issuer Starbucks faces questions over human rights due diligence Comment comes as issuer Starbucks faces questions over human rights due diligence
The credibility of Starbucks' sustainability bonds is in question after it scored zero in a human rights assessment - less than a week after the label was criticised for increasing the risk of greenwashing.
The coffee shop giant is one of the 106 companies called out by investors today for scoring zero on all the human rights indicators in the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark’s (CHRB) 2020 Corporate Report. The investor group, representing more than $5.8trn, includes Aviva, NN Investment Partners and Nordea Asset Management.
As a result of its score, Starbucks' pioneering sustainability bonds - it became the first US corporate to issue a sustainability bond in 2016 and has issued two further bonds - have drawn criticism.
“Investors must be aware that, at present, sustainability bonds are failing to adequately address social issues,” said Felicitas Weber, KnowTheChain Project Director at the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre.
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