Norges Bank reveals ratings of global companies’ children’s rights disclosures

Norges Bank Investment Management, the arm of the central bank which manages the NOK3.1trn (€395bn) Government Pension Fund, has for the first time made public its assessment of companies’ children’s rights disclosures.
Just nine out of 527 investee companies in sectors with high exposure to children’s rights/labour risks scored the maximum 10 out of 10 – and 232 rated zero.
According to NBIM’s new Children’s Rights Disclosure Rating, the nine with top marks are: Motorola Inc.; Intel Corp.; Anglo American Plc; Walt Disney Co.; Phillips-Van Heusen; Gildan Activewear ; Xstrata Plc; Hennes & Mauritz; and Ericsson. The report is NMIM’s third annual assessment.

The average score, based entirely on companies’ public reporting, was 2.2 out of 10.

“In the three years since we began examining how companies manage child labour risks, we’ve seen an increase in the number of businesses that address these issues,” said Anne Kvam, global head of ownership policy at NBIM.“However, the overall level of reporting on these issues is still far too low and companies need to step up efforts if the international community is to meet targets for eliminating hazardous child labour by 2016.”
NBIM said it was disclosing the company names for the first time in conjunction with the World Day Against Child Labour on June 12.
It hopes that by naming the good companies it can encourage others to follow. The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that about 115m children worldwide are involved in hazardous work that is likely to harm their health, safety or morals.
“The use of child labour in companies’ operations and supply chains is of increasing concern to investors,” Kvam said.

Children’s rights are one of NBIM’s six strategic focus areas for its ownership activities. The others include: equal treatment of shareholders; shareholder influence and board accountability; efficient markets, climate change and water.
Link to NBIM