Social Impact
Index
See also "SDG" section
Notable News
Research & Tools
Social Impact Guidance & Evaluation
Human Rights Guidance, Tools & Evaluation
Collaboration
Integrating Climate and Health
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Notable News
Business Action for Social Impact
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Rise Ahead Pledge — Launched by Schwab Foundation’s Global Alliance for Social Entrepreneurship, this initiative will mobilize private sector commitments on social innovation to help meet the estimated $1.125 trillion in funding required by social enterprises for their transformative work. Over a dozen companies have endorsed the pledge as early signatories, including CEF Member Microsoft, and have committed to increase their engagement in social innovation and the social economy by 2030. (Jan 2024)
WALMART — Announced it will provide “sensory-friendly” hours at its stores in the U.S. and Puerto Rico from 8-10am every day, after a successful pilot over the summer. This will include lower lighting and TV walls tuned to a static image to make stores more inclusive for those with sensory disabilities, including autism, ADHD, and PTSD. (Nov 2023)
FMC CORPORATION — Agricultural sciences company FMC Corporation committed $30.5 million to the Zero Hunger Private Sector Pledge, a pledge to align companies with a global movement to end hunger by 2030. FMC committed to expanding its farm intelligence platform to nine countries by 2030, which helps to proactively address pest outbreaks, and provide it to smallholder farmers. It will also expand its extension services and community engagement program in Asia Pacific, and invest in development initiatives in Kenya, India, and Brazil. (Aug 2023)
PFIZER — Expanded its initiative, “An Accord for a Healthier World,” to provide its full portfolio of medicines and vaccines on a not-for-profit basis to enable better health for 1.2 billion people living in 45 lower-income countries. This includes around 500 products, up from 23, and includes chemotherapies and a wide range of antibiotics. (Jan 2023)
FIDELITY — Launched Invest in My Education, a new initiative committing $250 million to provide access to education and support for up to 50,000 Black, Latinx, and historically underserved post-secondary education students. The program will focus on financial wellbeing, bringing together scholarships, mentoring, student success and education expertise, as well as experienced nonprofit partners to improve the long-term outcomes of these students. (Jan 2023)
GLOBAL HEALTH EQUITY NETWORK —39 organizations signed the Global Health Equity Network Zero Health Gaps Pledge at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting and committed to take concerted action to narrow health disparities between and within countries and advance health equity globally. The pledge includes 10 key commitments to embed health equity principles throughout their operations, workforce, and guiding philosophies. CEF member Kaiser Permanente is among the signatories. (Jan 2023)
DELOITTE — Announced a $1.5 billion investment in social impact over a 10-year period, focused on three areas vital to helping create equity in society: education and workforce development, financial inclusion, and health equity. To launch the investment, Deloitte invested in the following organizations: OneTen, The Black Economic Alliance Foundation, and New Profit’s Health Equity Catalyze Cohort. (Oct 2022)
The US Corporate Response to Recent Supreme Court Decisions (The Conference Board) — Reveals survey results from 300 US public, private, and nonprofit corporations about their public and internal responses to hot-button social and political issues since January 2020. The survey was sent following two recent controversial Supreme Court decisions on a) gun regulation (New York State Rifle and Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen (“Bruen”)), which overturned NY state’s law restricting concealed carry); and b) women’s reproductive rights (Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (“Dobbs”)), which overturned the constitutionally protected right to abortion services). Among the survey’s findings (July 2022):
- The three issues on which the most companies have made public statements are racial equality (61%), LBGTQ+ rights (44%), and vaccinations/other COVID-related issues (40%).
- The three issues on which the fewest companies have made public statements are economic equality (15%), gun safety (12%), and immigration (6%).
- Only 10% of companies have made, or plan to make, a public statement about abortion in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision overturning Roe v. Wade. By contrast 51% of companies have either made or plan to address the issue internally.
- Most pressure to issue statements about the Supreme Court’s Breun and Dobbsdecisions came from individual staff (78%) or employee resource groups (55%). Only 12% of companies reported pressure from customers.
EU negotiators reached a provisional agreement on a bill for the bloc's first quota for women on corporate boards. The draft bill would require listed companies with 250 or more employees, in all 27 EU member countries, to have women take up at least 40% of non-executive board seats, or 33% of executive and non-executive roles combined. Pending final approval by the European Council and Parliament, the compliance date for companies will be June 30, 2026. Those that fail to meet the requirement will be subject to fines and possible annulment of selected board members by a judicial body. (June 2022)
DELL TECHNOLOGIES — Announced plans to partner with Intel, Computer Aid, and Microsoft to create Solar Community Hubs (“the Hubs”) that will bring infrastructure, technology, and services to meet the most pressing needs of remote communities around the world. The Hubs will be built with Dell technology solutions and will also provide communities with technical skills training, entrepreneurship support, education and career guidance, and revenue-generating services, as well as more fundamental things like electricity, clean water, and healthcare. Critically, each hub will be managed by the community and will offer services based on each community’s unique needs. “Research shows that the greatest impact starts with empowering local communities,” said Cassandra Garber, VP of Environmental and Social Governance, Dell Technologies. (May 2022)
MACY’S — Committed to spending $5 billion by 2025 and launched a new social purpose platform called “Mission Every One” to “help create a more equitable and sustainable future” with “representation for all.” The platform has three pillars of impact (people, communities, and planet), and plans include (March 2022):
- “[I]ncrease its digital assortment by 5,000 product pages” on the Macy’s sustainability website to help customers find and choose more sustainable products.
- Conduct social and environmental audits of 100% of its Strategic Tier-1 private brands supplier facilities.
- Start a fully funded education benefit program for all Macy’s colleagues this month.
- Support diverse business owners and invest in diverse retail development programs.
- Achieve 30% “ethnically diverse representation” at the workforce director level and above by 2025.
NESTLÉ — Committed to tripling its annual spend on cocoa supply chain sustainability to approximately $1.4 billion by 2030 in order to reduce the environmental impact of all cocoa-farming families in its global supply chain, improve traceability, and tackle gender inequality and child labor. It will also launch an income accelerator program that offers farmers financial incentives for enrolling children in school and engaging in agroforestry activities. Payments will be transferred directly to farmers and divided evenly between the male and female heads of household. (Jan 2022)
List of Business Action for Social Impact, 2021-2019 (PDF)
Business Action for Human Rights
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24 investors with more than $1 trillion in assets under management have written a letter urging the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) to prioritize researching human capital and human rights disclosure standards in its upcoming two-year work plan. The letter, coordinated by ShareAction, argues these two issues are interwoven and should be considered together, and will improve the integrity of social disclosure frameworks. (Sept 2023)
Human Rights Campaign, an international advocacy group for LGBTQ+ rights, has enlisted 173 large companies with a combined total of more than 5 million US employees to sign a letter calling on the U.S. Senate to pass the Respect for Marriage Act. The Act, which passed a bipartisan vote in the House and would nationally codify marriage equality, needs 60 votes in the senate. The letter states, in part, “Inclusive business practices improve our bottom lines and lead to more productive and engaged employees, increased customer satisfaction, and, ultimately, improved competitiveness and financial performance.” Among the signatories are CEF members Amazon, Apple, Bank of America, BASF, Bloomberg, Comcast NBCUniversal, Dell Technologies, Dow, Ecolab, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, HP, Hyatt, Johnson & Johnson, JPMorgan Chase, Liberty Mutual, Marriott, McKesson, Meta, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, Siemens USA, The Walt Disney Company, Tiffany & Co., TPG, and Unilever United States. (Aug 2022)
CHEVRON / TOTALENERGIES — Will stop operations in Myanmar, citing human rights violations and a deteriorating rule of law since the military coup last year. (Jan 2022)
SALESFORCE — Announced it
will help Texas-based employees and their immediate family relocate if they are concerned about access to reproductive health care,
following the new Texas abortion law that recently went into effect. (Sept 2021)
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Nearly 100 leaders of companies, associations, and organizations—including CEF members
Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Amazon, Alphabet, General Motors, Mastercard, HP Inc., Cisco,
and
TPG Capital—sent a letter urging Congress to pass legislation to create a pathway to citizenship for the “Dreamers”—who would benefit from the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The leaders were organized by the
Coalition for the American Dream. (Aug 2021)
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A $2 trillion, 85-member investor group led by Fidelity International submitted an open letter to the UN highlighting the “unfolding humanitarian crisis at sea” for marine workers stranded due to border closures and restrictions imposed by Covid-19. (January 2021)
The World Benchmarking Alliance released the “2020 Corporate Human Rights Benchmark,” which analyzes more than 200 companies from the agricultural, automotive, apparel, extractives, and ICT manufacturing industries and ranks them based on their human rights performance. (November 2020)
“2019 Corporate Human Rights Benchmark” (APG, Aviva Investors, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, Eiris Foundation, Institute for Human Rights and Business, Nordea, and VBDO) analyzes 200 companies from the agricultural products, apparel, extractives, and ICT manufacturing industries and ranks them based on their human rights performance. Top performers included Unilever, Marks & Spencer, Adidas, Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, Freeport McMoRan, and Repsol. (Mar 2020)
Marriott International announced that it has now trained 500,000 hotel workers to identify the signs of human trafficking in its hotels and how to respond if they do. The company has a mandatory human trafficking awareness training program for on-property staff in both managed and franchised properties. (2019)
Hanesbrands has partnered with nonprofit Free The Girls to help women rescued from human trafficking re-establish their lives. The company will collect new and gently used bras at its more than 200 retail stores, and donate them to the nonprofit. (2019)
Research & Tools
Climate Change & Health
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The 2024 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: facing record-breaking threats from delayed action (The Lancet) — Finds that of the 15 indicators monitoring climate change-related health hazards, exposures, and impacts, 10 reached “concerning new records” in their most recent year of data. Heat-related mortality of people over 65 increased 167%. 48% of global land area was affected by at least one month of extreme drought in 2023 and 61% saw an increase in the number of days of extreme precipitation between the periods of 1961-90 and 2014-23. Extreme weather and climate-related health impacts are also affecting labor productivity, with heat exposure leading to arecord high loss of 512 billion potential labor hours in 2023, worth $835 billion in potential income losses. These effects are being exacerbated by increasing CO2 emissions; loss of forests; and the continuation of fossil fuel subsidies (present in 84% of countries), which is expanding fossil fuel use and slowing down the transition. (Nov 2024)
Climate change is having adverse effects on youth mental health and wellbeing, according to a study in The Lancet Planetary Health. The study surveyed nearly 16,000 youths, and found 85% are at least moderately worried about climate change (and 58% extremely worried). 43% said climate change was affecting their mental health, and 38% said their feelings about climate change negatively affect their daily lives. 72% agreed that climate change made them think “I don’t want to participate in a social and economic system that harms the planet.” (Oct 2024)
Navigating New Horizons: A global foresight report on planetary health and human wellbeing (United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)) — Presents insights on eight critical global shifts that are accelerating the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity and nature loss, and pollution and waste. Together the eight, including inequality, increased resource competition, mass forced displacement, AI, and others, are creating a polycrisis in which global crises are amplifying and synchronizing. The report also identifies 18 signals of change that offer a deeper glimpse into potential disruptions that the world needs to prepare for. These range from surging fossil fuel subsidies and corruption in carbon offsetting, to solar geoengineering, unforeseen impacts of chemical contamination, eco-anxiety, and an “uninsurable future.” The report also recommends embracing the view of more diverse stakeholders to better address these challenges, as well as better guiding governance through increased knowledge, data, and monitoring. (July 2024)
Ensuring safety and health at work in a changing climate (International Labour Organization (ILO)) — Presents critical evidence related to the impacts of climate change on global occupational safety and health, to bring attention to the global health threat workers are currently facing. The report addresses the following threats: Excessive heat; Ultraviolet (UV) radiation; Extreme weather events; Workplace air pollution; Vector-borne diseases; and Agrochemicals. Key findings include (June 2024):
- 70% of the global workforce of 3.4 billion people are at risk of climate-related health hazards.
- Excessive heat leads to 22.85 million occupational injuries and 18,970 work-related deaths each year.
- 1.6 billion workers are exposed to UV radiation, causing more than 18,960 work-related deaths from skin cancer annually.
- 1.6 billion workers (particularly outdoor workers) breathe polluted workplace air, resulting in up to 860,000 work-related deaths of outdoor workers each year.
- Over 300,000 deaths of agricultural workers annually from pesticide poisoning.
- 15,170 work-related deaths each year stem from parasitic and vector-borne diseases, such as malaria.
Human-driven change is contributing to the rise in emerging infectious diseases (both human and non-human diseases), according to a new meta-study in Nature. These changes include biodiversity loss, climate change, chemical pollution, landscape transformations, and species introductions. However, the study could not determine which global change drivers most increase disease and under what contexts. (May 2024)
Ensuring safety and health at work in a changing climate (International Labour Organization, April 2024) — Presents critical evidence related to the impacts of climate change on global occupational safety and health (OSH), to bring attention to the global health threat workers are currently facing. The report addresses the following key issues: Excessive heat; Ultraviolet (UV) radiation; Extreme weather events; Workplace air pollution; Vector-borne diseases; Agrochemicals. Highlights:
- 70% of workers are at risk of climate-related health hazards.
- 1.6 billion workers exposed to UV radiation, causing more than 18,960 work-related deaths from skin cancer annually.
- 1.6 billion workers breathing polluted workplace air, resulting in up to 860,000 work-related deaths of outdoor workers each year.
- More than 870 million agricultural workers in contact with dangerous pesticides, causing more than 300,000 deaths annually from pesticide poisoning.
- 15,000 work-related deaths each year due to parasitic and vector-borne diseases, such as malaria.
Quantifying the Impact of Climate Change on Human Health (World Economic Forum, January 2024) — Provides an in-depth economic analysis of how climate change will reshape health landscapes over the next two decades. It highlights increased risks from new pathogens, pollution and extreme weather events and shows how these will exacerbate current health inequities, disproportionately impacting the most vulnerable populations. Highlights:
- By 2050, climate change is likely to cause an additional 14.5 million deaths and $12.5 trillion in economic losses worldwide. Climate-induced impacts will account for a further $1.1 trillion in extra costs to healthcare systems, creating a significant additional burden on already strained infrastructures and medical and human resources.
- Floods to pose the highest acute risk of climate-induced mortality, accounting for 8.5 million deaths by 2050. Droughts, indirectly linked to extreme heat, are the second-highest cause of mortality, with an anticipated 3.2 million deaths. Heat waves, which constitute a prolonged period of extreme temperatures and humidity, take the highest economic toll at an estimated $7.1 trillion by 2050 due to the loss in productivity.
- Climate change will trigger a catastrophic rise across several climate-sensitive disease outcomes, including vector-borne disease.
- Private-sector financing is crucial given the variety of capital sources from which it can draw. For example, in 2020, Bank of America issued a $1 billion environmental, social and governance (ESG) bond to lend to not-for-profit hospitals, nursing homes and manufacturers of healthcare equipment
- Four crucial incentives will drive action by the private sector: direct economic incentives, financial enablement, regulation and awareness.
The 2023 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change (The Lancet) — Tracks the relationship between health and climate change across five key domains and 47 indicators. The report details the effects of climate change on: heat-related mortality; mosquito-borne diseases; air pollution; food security; economic losses, among others. It explores how cities are assessing risks, as well as scientific and public engagement. Some key findings (Nov 2023):
- Heat exposure-related losses in labor capacity resulted in income losses equivalent to $863 billion in 2022.
- Heat-related deaths of people over 65 increased by 85% from 2000-2004 to 2018-2022.
- Only 70% of countries reported a high level of implementation of health emergency management capacities.
- 27% of cities revealed concerns over their health systems being overwhelmed by climate change.
Mitigating Methane (The Global Climate & Health Alliance (GCHA)) — This series of four reports addresses the knowledge gap on the intersection of methane and human health. The overview report provides a high-level discussion of how methane affects human health. Three additional reports focus on the energy sector; the food and agriculture sector; and the waste sector. Each sector-specific report includes information on methane sources; health impacts; methane reduction strategies at the local, national, and international level; and relevant case studies. (Sept 2023)
Actions After Impacts (UN Climate Change High-Level Champions) — Based on a series of dialogues with non-state actors, this discussion paper reveals the wide range of actions non-state actors are taking to address all forms of climate losses and damages, from loss of biodiversity to impacts on people’s mental and physical health. It provides an in-depth look at these actions while also exploring how to accelerate these actions — such as through increased public, private, and foundation funding; policy change; access to data; and capacity building. (Nov 2022)
Driving Co-benefits for Climate and Health (Forum for the Future) — This update to guidance published last year highlights the intrinsic link between planetary health and human health and aims to enable businesses to leverage their net zero and health strategies in a way that simultaneously accelerates change across these interlinked challenges. The report provides recommendations for businesses, investors and philanthropists, and policy makers, based on the findings of over 5,000 research papers. This includes suggestions like reducing emissions, investing in green buildings, educating customers and employees, and considering environmental and health outcomes when designing products. (Nov 2022)
A Practical Guide for Business: Air Pollutant Emission Assessment (Stockholm Environment Institute, IKEA, Climate and Clean Air Coalition) — The Alliance for Clean Air, launched by the World Economic Forum at COP26, released a guide to help businesses deliver on their commitments to reduce air pollution across value chains and get ahead of sustainability reporting standards. This new guide enables alliance members to quantify the air pollutant emissions along their value chains from key sectors, including electricity generation, transport, industrial processes, agriculture and waste. As air pollutants are also often greenhouse gas emissions, this can help assess both climate and health impacts. (Nov 2022)
Groundswell Part 2: Acting on Internal Climate Migration (World Bank)
—
The sequel to the March 2018 “Groundswell” report examines the impacts of slow-onset climate change by 2050 under 3 scenarios with different degrees of climate action and development. Reports that
climate change could push up to 216 million people in 6 world regions to migrate within their countries by 2050, with hotspots of internal migration potentially emerging as soon as 2030 and intensifying by 2050. The
most climate-friendly scenario could see 44 million climate migrants, an 80% reduction.
(Sept 2021)
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Climate Change and Social Vulnerability in the United States (US EPA) — Analyzes how 6 types of projected climate change impacts could affect the American public. Concludes that climate change disproportionately impacts “underserved communities.” Key data includes (Sept 2021):
- Black and African American individuals are projected to see higher impacts for all 6 categories
- Hispanic and Latino individuals are “more likely to currently live in areas with the highest projected reductions in labor hours due to extreme temperatures” (43%) and “with the highest estimated increases in traffic delays due to increases in coastal flooding” (50%).
The average person will lose 2.2 years off their life if global particulate air pollution is not cut to meet the WHO guideline, with people in the most polluted countries potentially losing over 5 years,
according to the
Air Quality Life Index. (Sept 2021)
MORE »
A projected 83 million excess heat-related deaths will occur between 2020 and 2100,
according to a
study on the
“mortality cost of carbon” published in Nature Communications. Every 4,434 metric tons of CO2 added to the atmosphere in 2020 will cause 1 death, equal to the lifetime emissions of 3.5 Americans or that of 146.2 Nigerians. (Aug 2021)
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Air pollution caused 160,000 premature deaths and led to $85 billion in economic loss among the five of the most populated cities in the world—Delhi, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Shanghai, and Tokyo—in 2020, according to an analysis by Greenpeace and Swiss air quality technology firm IQAir. Delhi, the world’s most polluted city, filthy air killed five times more people than COVID-19. (February 2021)
Roughly 18% (8.7 million) of global deaths in 2018 were linked to breathing polluted air containing particles from fossil fuel combustion, according to a new study in Environmental Research. The report finds that as many as 30.7% of deaths in Eastern Asia, 16.8% in Europe, and 13.1% in the US can be attributed to fossil fuel pollution. (February 2021)
Social Impact Guidance & Evaluation
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Closing the Women’s Health Gap: A $1 Trillion Opportunity to Improve Lives and Economies (World Economic Forum (WEF)) — Analyzes the health conditions that disproportionately affect women and quantifies the current health gap today and the economic benefits of bridging it in the future. Addressing that gap could improve health outcomes of over 3.9 billion people and add $1 trillion to the economy annually by 2040 (unlocking $3 in economic growth for every dollar invested). The report charts several ways to close the gap, from incentivizing new financing models to implementing more inclusive health policies. Specifically, the private sector could increase research investments, establish business policies that support women’s health, and increase private equity and venture capital investments in women’s health, such as new digital health solutions, that could “disrupt the healthcare market.” (Jan 2024)
The Corporate Social Innovation Compass: Accelerating Impact through Social Enterprise Partnerships (Schwab Foundation’s Global Alliance for Social Entrepreneurship) — This new complementary report provides an in-depth analysis of best practices for corporate engagement in social innovation and outlines 11 mechanisms for effective partnerships with social enterprises. (Jan 2024)
Rise Ahead Pledge — Launched by Schwab Foundation’s Global Alliance for Social Entrepreneurship, this initiative will mobilize private sector commitments on social innovation to help meet the estimated $1.125 trillion in funding required by social enterprises for their transformative work. Over a dozen companies have endorsed the pledge as early signatories, including CEF Member Microsoft, and have committed to increase their engagement in social innovation and the social economy by 2030. (Jan 2024)
Making the Case for Corporate Social Impact 2023 (Association of Corporate Citizenship Professionals (ACCP)) — This online toolkit includes curated statistics from over 30 sources and presents them in easy-to-use data points and infographics. The toolkit contains data from ACCP and other corporate social responsibility researchers, nonprofits, and foundations, framed around five key themes regarding the value of corporate responsibility initiatives, including: competitive advantage, people and workforce, risk mitigation, revenue and sales, and context for action. (April 2023)
Advancing the “S” in ESG: A Primer for CFOs (WBCSD and Shift) — Provides an overview of the what, the who, and the how of corporate social performance and key recommendations of improving the measurement of that performance. Six action areas include: board and senior leaders’ actions to embed commitments into company practices and corporate culture; quality of risk assessment; assessing whether actions are driving sustained behavior change; setting social targets and indicators; focusing on inequality-related workplace metrics, and using qualitative data to shape stakeholder metrics. (March 2023)
Community-First Environmental Action (Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC)) — This white paper discusses how corporations across the world are interfacing with surrounding communities on issues related to sustainability, conservation and education. It explores opportunities for minimizing unavoidable impacts, rectifying impacts, repairing relationships and creating new approaches for working in and with host communities. It details key steps in community-first environmental action, including effective community engagement, knowledge exchange, and long-term connection, and provides case studies of several WHC-certified programs exemplifying these actions (including from CEF members Boeing, Dow, General Motors, and WM). (Jan 2023)
Global Estimates of Modern Slavery: Forced Labour and Forced Marriage (International Labour Organization, Walk Free, and International Organization for Migration) — 49.6 million people live in modern slavery on any given day, either forced to work against their will or in a forced marriage. (Sept 2022)
- Forced labor accounts for 56%, or 27.6 million, of the total. This is an increase of 2.7 million over the 2016 estimate.
- Women and girls make up 11.8 million of the total in forced labor, and children 3.3 million. Regionally, Asia and the Pacific host more than half of the global total of those in forced labor (15.1 million), followed by Europe and Central Asia (4.1 million), Africa (3.8 million), the Americas (3.6 million), and the Arab States (0.9 million).
- 86% of forced labor occurs in the private economy, with 87% of adult forced labor found in services, manufacturing, construction, agriculture, and domestic work.
- Migrants are three times more likely to be in forced labor than non-migrants.
Earth for All: A Survival Guide for Humanity (Earth4All) — Analyzes global inequality, updating the 50-year-old Limits to Growth computer model. The analysis finds that left unaddressed, rising inequality over the next 50 years would erode social trust, making climate change and other shared threats more difficult to address. The book maps out two scenarios: the “Too Little Too Late” scenario where the wellbeing of the average worker continues to decline until 2050; and the “Giant Leap” scenario, in which fossil fuels are phased out, pensions increased, and the richest 10% are taxed more allowing for wellbeing to rise and global temperatures to stay at a 2°C increase. (Sept 2022)
Introduction to Just Transition — A Business Brief (UN Global Compact) — The UN Global Compact launched new guidance for business to help understand and apply the principles of a just transition, which “leverages the net-zero transition to advance decent work, promote social inclusion and eradicate poverty.” The brief outlines seven priority actions including: setting policies to respect rights at work; engaging with worker organizations; integrating just transition principles into long-term business plans; measuring actions; and partnering with governments and regional/sectoral initiatives. (Sept 2022)
Assessing the Impact of Fairtrade on Poverty Reduction and Economic Resilience through Rural Development (Mainlevel Consulting on behalf of Fair Trade Germany and Fair Trade Austria) — Assesses how Fairtrade certification has impacted four areas: economic resilience, social well-being, good governance and environmental integrity. Examining the past decade, it focuses on Fairtrade certified and non-certified Small Producer Organizations (SPOs) in three product settings: cocoa in Central Ghana, banana in Northern Peru, and coffee in Central Peru. Key takeaways from the report include (June 2022):
- Fairtrade Standards, Fairtrade pricing and producer support programs positively impact certified farmers and their communities, economically and in terms of stronger governance, greater transparency, and democratic decision-making.
- Despite benefits, many of the gains have been undercut in recent years due to the challenges of COVID-19, climate change, and increasing costs of production, especially related to farmers’ incomes and farm investments.
- Nine improvements are recommended targeting SPOs, Fairtrade Regional Networks, as well as Fairtrade Germany and Austria.
Rainforest Action Network (RAN) released its annual ranking of major brands and banks on human rights- and forest-related risks associated with commodities produced in the world’s remaining tropical rainforests. According to RAN's analysis, none of the 17 brands and banks evaluated have taken sufficient action to address challenges in supply chains, including deforestation, land disputes, and violence against local and Indigenous communities. While some improvements were noted over past years, only Unilever (a CEF member) was recognized for adopting a “credible policy to address its impact across all forest-risk commodity supply chains” and disclosing its initial forest footprint. (June 2022)
“12 Competencies for Measuring Health and Well-being for Human & Social Capital” (International WELL Building Institute, IWBI) — A new framework to help companies better integrate health, well-being, and other aspects of human and social capital into their strategy, corporate reporting, and organizational culture. The Competencies include metrics organized across five scales of impact: Individual, Organizational, Environmental, Community, and Global. (March 2022)
List of Social Impact Guidance & Evaluation, 2021-2019 (PDF)
Human Rights Guidance, Tools & Evaluation
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The Converged Human Rights & Environmental Due Diligence (HREDD) Assessment Tool and Guidance Manual (AIM-Progress and The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) Human Rights Coalition) — This open-source tool is designed to help businesses across a range of industries to proactively identify, prevent, and address potential risks to human rights and the environment across their business operations and supply chains. This tool expands and further develops the HREDD Tool initially created by the Fair Labor Association and Proforest. (Nov 2024)
Recharge for Rights: Ranking the Human Rights Due Diligence Reporting of Leading Electric Vehicle Makers (Amnesty International) — Investigates how the world’s leading electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers are not adequately demonstrating how they address human rights risks in their mineral supply chains, potentially exposing communities to health, social, and environmental risks. It compiles several criteria (such as supply chain mapping, risk identification process, and commitment to human rights policies) to assess 13 major EV manufacturers. The average score was 31.8 (out of 90), with no company scoring higher than 51, and one scoring as low as 11. While most scored highly on human rights policies, few identified actual and potential human rights risks across their supply chains, or exerted leverage over suppliers to respect human rights, and most made minimal mention of remediation activities. The report concludes with recommendations to states (both where EV manufacturers are headquartered and where mining operations take place) and to EV manufacturers. (Oct 2024)
A total of 510 allegations of human rights abuse have been made associated with the mining of transition minerals from 2010 to 2022, including 65 new allegations for 2022, according to Business & Human Rights Resource Centre’s Transition Minerals Tracker. 26% of these represent attacks against Human Rights Defenders; 26% are related to either water pollution, water access issues, or both; 22% relate to impacts on the environment and the communities that live there; and 10% are related to abuses against Indigenous Peoples. 82% of allegations are associated with at least two types of impact. Corruption cases related to transition minerals are also growing, with 10 new allegations recorded in 2022. More than two-thirds of all recorded allegations include just 14 companies. (June 2023)
The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) Human Rights Coalition – Working to End Forced Labour — In partnership with AIM-Progress, the coalition released new “Guidance on the Repayment of Worker-paid Recruitment Fees and Related Costs” to support corporate action around the topic of remediating worker-paid recruitment fees and related costs. This is to help support businesses prevent worker coercion, debt bondage, and forced labor exploitation. (Oct 2022)
Tackling Inequality: The Urgent Need for Business Action (Business Commission to Tackle Inequality) — The first output of the Business Commission to Tackle Inequality (BCTI), a cross-sector and multi-stakeholder coalition of organizations and their leaders who have come together to “put addressing inequality at the heart of business’ agenda for sustainable growth” argues that there is an emerging business rationale supporting corporate action on inequality.
- Corporate action can include “using assets and capabilities to level the playing field, create opportunities for all people, and ultimately narrow social and economic divides.”
- Companies can mitigate systemic risk while helping ensure business will thrive into the future, by enabling greater trust in the system, contributing to social and political stability, and strengthening the economy
- Benefits to business can include securing license to operate, attracting and retaining talent, winning consumers, enhancing access to capital, building resilient supply chains, and staying ahead of policy and regulatory change.
Businesses are invited to join the BCTI to shape the agenda which will include actions in 5 areas: 1) respecting human rights 2) enhancing access to essential products and services 3) Creating jobs and economic opportunities for all 4) distributing value and risk equitably, and 5) enabling government action. (July 2022)
‘The Energy of Freedom’?: Solar Energy, Modern Slavery, and the Just Transition (University of Nottingham) — Urges the solar industry to address concerns about slave labor in its supply chain—specifically, polysilicon (for photovoltaics) from China’s Xinjiang Uyger Autonomous Region and cobalt (for lithium-ion batteries) from Democratic Republic of Congo. The report presents (April 2022):
- A new model for estimating forced labor risk in the solar energy value chain.
Key areas of consideration for the development of a roadmap to transition global solar production to be forced-labor free: Human rights due diligence; Opportunities for leverage; Withdrawal from markets with high forced labor risk; Treatment of suppliers selling both high-risk and low-risk products; New supply planning; Remedy for harm done.
“Business & Human Rights Navigator”
(UN Global Compact and the German Helpdesk on Business & Human Rights and Verisk Maplecroft) — A new
online resource to help global companies better understand and address human rights impacts in their global operations and supply chains. The BHR Navigator is informed by and
aligned with the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) and will offer users clear and actionable guidance as well as in-depth analysis of key human rights issues and case studies to guide corporate action. (April 2022)
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Tackling Child Labor: An Introduction for Business Leaders (WBCSD and UNICEF) — Provides the latest data and insights on global issues of child labor and articulates tangible steps companies can take to support the elimination of child labor in business operations and supply chains. (Dec 2021)
Collaboration
Working Conditions Collaboration
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Care Economy Business Council — A new coalition of over 200 businesses advocating for comprehensive US care infrastructure and workplace policies to help people, particularly women, reenter the workforce. Led by advocacy organization Time’s Up, companies engaged include JPMorgan Chase and McDonald’s. (May 2021)
BASF partnered with BMW Group, Samsung SDI and Samsung Electronics to launch “Cobalt for Development,” a cross-industrial pilot project aimed at improving working conditions at an artisanal cobalt mine site in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Mastercard has partnered with Levi Strauss & Co., Marks & Spencer and VF Corporation to test a hybrid payment solution in Egypt and Cambodia that enables factories to pay garment workers digitally. The global effort aims to “improve the wellbeing of factory workers who currently lack access to the financial tools and services that can help them and their families thrive.”
Working Wages Collaboration
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Better Business through Better Wages — A global call to action by 10 companies—including L’Oréal and Unilever—and the IDH Sustainable Trade Initiative to build a living wage economy. Signatories will work with the IDH’s Roadmap on Living Wages to develop and scale solutions for workers in global supply chains with the ultimate goal of achieving a living wage. Companies may join the call to action here. (April 2021)
Integrating Climate and Health
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The World Health Organization is launching the development of a global research agenda to catalyze research to inform the integration of climate and health action. The Research for Action on Climate Change and Health agenda (REACH 2035) will establish research priorities in protecting against and responding to the health impacts of climate change. REACH 2035 will serve as a global roadmap for those who lead and fund research: guiding research towards high priority, actionable questions; aligning research with the needs of communities and decision makers; and supporting the translation of evidence into policy and practice at all levels. (June 2023)
International sustainability non-profit Forum for the Future and leading healthcare businesses Bupa, Haleon, Reckitt and Walgreens Boots Alliance have formed a new Climate and Health Coalition, which aims to address the health impacts of the climate crisis by offering detailed guidance for private sector actors to better integrate climate and health strategies including through better coordination of existing efforts and via recommended actions for government, investors and philanthropy. The Coalition plans to share guidance at Climate Week 2022, COP27 and other key forums. (Aug 2022)
Public Prosperity
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The Long-term Investors in People’s Health Initiative (LIPH) — 35 investors managing $5.7 trillion have formed a new alliance committed to building healthier, fairer societies. LIPH will provide investors with a list of best practice approaches and opportunities to collaborate on corporate engagement. Signatories are asked to commit to embed health into their ESG policies and practices and use their influence to improve health outcomes. Investors and asset managers can learn how to join here. (Oct 2022)
The World Economic Forum and UN-Habitat established The Global Partnership for Local Investment, which aims to increase the prosperity of 100 cities and 100 million people by 2030. The new initiative provides a platform for city leaders, business leaders, and other stakeholders to coordinate efforts, commit expertise and mobilize action — with the goal of scaling successful models of public-private collaboration, building local government capacity, and piloting new approaches for joint planning and co-investment. The partnership is also setting up an Urban Transformation Hub that will include a library of case studies, city assessment tools, searchable finance solutions, and other tools. (Oct 2022)