Investor support for human rights reporting grows to $5trn

Investor support for mandatory human rights reporting is gaining momentum, with new organisations, managing nearly $1trn collectively, joining the Investor Alliance for Human Rights campaign on the issue since it was announced last week. 

The Investor Alliance is coordinating letters to governments calling for mandatory human rights due diligence for companies. It announced the initiative last week, backed by 101 investors managing $4.2trn and including, unusually, mainstream finance giants such as Legal & General Investment Management, the UK’s largest asset manager.  

Today, there is $5trn in investor support for the initiative. New signatories include Aberdeen Standard Investors, the UK’s top fourth asset manager, ASN Bank, Boston Common Asset Management, Impax Asset Management, MP Pension and Storebrand Asset Management. 

ESG data provider Sustainalytics, which last week was taken over by Morningstar, is also a signatory, alongside Canada’s Shareholder Association for Research and Education. 

Phil Bloomer, Executive Director at the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, said: “The current pandemic has exposed the harm and suffering created by companies’ lack of human rights due diligence. The harm is felt especially by the millions of women and migrant workers dismissed and abandoned at the bottom of supply chains. 

“Results are showing that responsible companies perform better in the pandemic – for their workers and suppliers as well as for their investors. The investor voice is now critical to persuade governments to set human rights due diligence as a minimum floor of corporate behavior.”

Additional investors who would like to sign on to the statement can do so by filling out this form.