22 March 2021

How to use a rights-based approach in ESG and sustainability with Women in Sustainable Finance

Women in Sustainable Finance Workshop

Do you want to build a strong sustainability strategy to show your asset owners or investors that you are at the forefront of what happens at the regulatory level on sustainability? Do you want to be ready for consumer pressure when an unprecedented amount of wealth changes hands to a generation that puts sustainability at the core of their decisions?

There is a common framework that can be used to help you in your governance, reporting, and engagement!

We will discuss how to build robust Sustainability Strategies, report on real effects of investments or production, go beyond “impact” and address sustainable investment in a systematic fashion. We will also look at how to actively and meaningfully engage in policymaking so you can be proactive in the regulation setting as well as multi-stakeholder engagement, including policymakers, regulators, and NGOs. A rights-based approach is a conscious and systematic integration of human rights and rights principles into all aspects of activities and policies. We focus on implementation. 

 

Topics to be covered: 

What are the most relevant international standards we have to consider as a business? Why are they relevant? 

What does it means in an ESG context to have a norms-based approach?

What does it means to think norms-based? 

Where do the SDGs fit in? Where does traditional CSR fit in? What are the huge advantage of seeing the "S" as anchored in and an expression of international norms?

Indicators: how to use norms to measure, including how to set medium- and long-term goals

Going way beyond supply chain compliance when understanding social sustainability 

Engagement in policymaking with government counterparties and communities

Using a rights-based language in communication

Reporting beyond a compliance game and beyond filling out any number of questionnaires structuring a report around rights-based impact/sustainability 

Setting common standards for what we mean when we say “impact” and “sustainability” The linking of E and S and G to rights - cross-cutting!