Investor-backed Corporate Human Rights Benchmark opens consultation prior to June 2016 launch

The Corporate Human Rights Benchmark (CHRB), a new investor-led initiative including Aviva Investors and Calvert Investments, has today launched a public consultation on the first draft indicators that will be used to rank companies on their human rights performance. The CHRB’s aim is to use a competitive approach to incentivise better human rights performance by companies through developing a ranking.
The pilot rank is planned for June 2016 and will benchmark the top 100 globally listed companies best performing on human rights policies, processes and practices. Over the next three years, the CHRB will expand to cover the top 500 global listed companies. The companies in the list will span three sectors: food & beverage/agriculture, apparel and extractives.The online consultation on its 50 proposed draft indicators will close 31st August 2015. Further consultation will be held through September 2015. Bennett Freeman and Mike Lombardo from Calvert Investments said: “The Benchmark will be a critical tool for investors to assess how companies address human-rights related risk. Participation in these consultations from investors is crucial to ensure we deliver a benchmark fit for this purpose.”
The CHRB is an initiative of Aviva Investors, the Business & Human Rights Resources Centre, Calvert Investments, EIRIS, The Institute for Human Rights and Business, and VBDO, a Dutch association of investors for sustainable development.