This report explores how institutional investors can apply risk-based due diligence as recommended by the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct and help them prevent and mitigate adverse climate impacts associated with their investee companies on society and the environment.

This guidance sets out elements of credible corporate climate transition plans, which aim to align with the temperature goal of the Paris Agreement. Such plans are needed to address the growing risk of greenwashing in transition finance and facilitate a global, whole-of-economy climate transition.

This book weaves together a comprehensive legal analysis of sustainable finance regimes governing Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) derivatives, with insightful sociological perspectives on risks and uncertainties. Sustainable finance offers a unique chance to channel capital towards sustainability goals, with ESG derivatives emerging as potent catalysts for a transition to a more sustainable economy. Beyond amplifying capital flow, they strategically align with effective ESG risk and uncertainty management. The book explores how integrating ESG derivatives can strategically serve sustainable investment, offering insights into optimal risk management. The work not only outlines challenges but presents potential solutions, highlighting ESG derivatives’ role in addressing market failures affecting sustainable finance, which is an aspect often overlooked by regulators in the EU, the UK, and the US. Serving as a strategy guide for countries adopting a diverse sustainable finance portfolio, the book targets policy practitioners and advocacy specialists, catering to a broad multidisciplinary audience amid the increasing interest in ESG-related products. The book’s dual emphasis on financial derivatives for ESG risk management and sociological perspectives positions it as an ideal resource for scholars, experts, practitioners, researchers, and curious minds across law, business, management, and sociological studies.

In a dramatic departure from its voluntary origins, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is rapidly shifting to hold multinational companies accountable for more than traditional shareholder performance. This CSR movement is embracing new environmental, social and governance (ESG) frameworks that both promote global sustainability goals and enhance accountability for negative impacts businesses can have on ‘planet and people’. This collection of essays by leading businesspeople, international civil servants, legal practitioners, academics, and other experts offers a forward-looking and pragmatic perspective that illuminates the major themes in this movement towards increasingly sustainable, transparent and accountable business practices. The collection shows how CSR has evolved to account for societal pressures, environmental, climate change and human rights impacts, international policy imperatives and the practical challenges of regulating commercial activity that transcends borders. The chapters offer an in-depth examination of current issues including: international frameworks and multistakeholder initiatives catalysing foundational change; the shifting emphasis on corporate imperatives to avoid harm to third parties; trends in CSR, focused on assuring the planet's future sustainability and social stability; regulatory initiatives around the globe, including Europe, North America, Asia and Africa; and extended accountability for activities of corporate group members and supply chains. The pressure and business case for companies to incorporate CSR into corporate governance is intensifying with each quarter, shareholder meeting, and regulatory agenda. The integration of CSR and new ESG frameworks into multinational corporate strategy and operations is key to sustainable business models that can generate long-term value for the organization and all stakeholders. Their acceptance as cornerstones of 21st century business practice appears inevitable. Taking full account of the imperative for companies and their lawyers to grapple with the practical and legal challenges in this area, this volume is an invaluable and pragmatic addition to the practitioners’ toolbox at this important juncture in an ever-more dynamic field.

The OECD Business and Finance Outlook is an annual publication that presents unique data and analysis on the trends, both positive and negative, that are shaping tomorrow’s world of business, finance and investment.

This report sets the economic and business case for urgent and ambitious action on biodiversity. It presents a preliminary assessment of current biodiversity-related finance flows, and discusses the key data and indicator gaps that need to be addressed to underpin effective monitoring of both the pressures on biodiversity and the actions (i.e. responses) being implemented. The report concludes with ten priority areas where G7 and other countries can prioritise their efforts.

Fair and equitable benefit-sharing is a diffuse legal phenomenon in international law. The continued proliferation of benefit-sharing clauses can be explained by their appeal as an optimistic frame in addressing sustainability and equity concerns related to bio-based innovation, the use of natural resources, environmental protection, and knowledge creation. In principle, fair and equitable benefit-sharing serves to recognize, encourage, and incentivise sustainable human relationships with the environment by focusing on equity issues arising from the most intractable challenges of our time, such as loss of biodiversity, climate change, poverty, and global epidemics. Empirical evidence, however, indicates that, in practice, benefit-sharing rarely achieves its fairness and equity objectives, and ends up entrenching or worsening inequitable relationships with little to no benefit for the environment. Instead of focusing on fair and equitable benefit-sharing in sub-specialist areas of international law in isolation, Elisa Morgera assesses the phenomenon from a general international law perspective and through comparison-across international environmental law, international human rights law, international health law, and the law of the sea. Strengthened by insights from local-level case studies in different regions and sectors, this book looks toward overcoming the limitations inherent in individual international regimes and addressing the shortcomings in benefit-sharing implementation. Morgera's topical and comprehensive analysis reveals opportunities to advance fairness and equity in benefit-sharing through a mutually supportive interpretation of international biodiversity law and international human rights law, as well as opportunities to contribute to future research in areas such as international health law, international law on outer space, and international economic law. This is an open access title. It is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International licence. It is available to read and download as a PDF version on the Oxford Academic platform.

Corporate Social Responsibility in the Arctic considers the new trends and frontiers of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) studies that are shaping the future of global business strategy and ethics. This book systematically approaches the CSR framework of internal and external factors and their impact on the social responsibility of businesses within the sensitive environment of the Arctic. It presents traditional and contemporary models of CSR through case studies of the eight Arctic nations and explores the debates concerning social responsibility and ethical dilemmas related to social and environmental aspects of business operations, society, and ecosystems. Arruda and Johannsdottir also review approaches for engaging stakeholders in social responsibility, socio-environmental standards, and sustainability, according to frameworks like the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the UN Global Compact, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the Global Reporting Initiative, but also according to the new CSR strategy in the Arctic based on circular economy, blue economy, smart specialization, knowledge-intensive entrepreneurship, and new parameters of education. Overall, this book examines the ways in which the changing climate and rich natural resources of the Arctic provide unique opportunities and challenges for businesses and societies. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of CSR, sustainable business, and business ethics.

Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) has made significant headway on its development path over the past three decades. The country’s sustained economic growth has been led by booming commodity exports and substantial inflows of external financing. Many Laotians have seen significant improvements in their well-being. Poverty has declined as household income has increased, and many important development goals in education and health have been achieved. In the face of macroeconomic challenges, a shift from commodity-driven growth to a more inclusive prosperity paradigm that emphasises the creation of broad-based opportunities, human capital development and green sustainability can unlock Lao PDR’s future development. This report presents priorities for overcoming the country’s current fiscal constraints and finding ways to fund this shift. Recommendations address strengthening Lao PDR’s sustainable finance and debt management, revenue generation and tax reform, investment promotion, and data capacity in order to tap into green finance mechanisms.

Understanding how to build and manage a sustainability business plan has become a business imperative as investors demand, regulators require, and stakeholders increasingly expect companies to report their financial economic sustainability performance (ESP) and non-financial environmental, social, and governance (ESG) sustainability information. This book provides both the rationale for and key practical steps in how to approach business sustainability factors of planning, performance, risk, reporting, and assurance. This comprehensive book covers all the areas that a business would need to embed, articulate, and execute a strategy of profit-with-purpose in promoting shared value creation for all stakeholders. It addresses drivers, sources, and international guidelines (GRI, IIRC, SASB, FASB, PCAOB, IAASB, ISSB) for prioritising business sustainability factors, and establishing the link between ESG performance and financial performance. It presents key performance indicators (KPIs) of ESP and ESG dimensions of sustainability performance. It also provides templates for performance, risk, and disclosure; presenting cases and examples of why to disclose ESG performance, what to disclose, and where and how to disclose ESG performance information. For businesses wanting a detailed understanding of how to deliver on these important areas, including boards of directors, senior management, financial officers, internal auditors, external auditors, legal counsel, investors, and regulators, this book is an invaluable resource.