Investor Briefing: How are Financial Institutions in Europe Addressing Human Rights in Their Core Business Activities?

Organized in collaboration with the Investor Alliance for Human Rights (IAHR) and Finance and Human Rights (FaHR), we will host an interactive investor briefing exploring how financial institutions are integrating human rights into their core business practices.

The webinar will feature our new publication presenting the results of the latest iteration of a longitudinal study conducted since 2020 that assesses the current state of human rights at financial institutions in Europe. The study identifies key trends, persistent challenges, and opportunities of the integration of human rights in financial decision-making.

Key findings of the study include that while financial institutions increasingly recognize their impact on human rights, they often lack systematic structures and incentives to address human rights proactively, effectively implement human rights due diligence, and measure impacts. The lack of standardized, reliable human rights data on investee companies remains a critical challenge. The study offers recommendations for investors, industry leaders, policymakers, and other stakeholders committed to advancing responsible finance.

Through this event, the IAHR, GCBHR and FaHR, together with guest speakers from the finance industry, aim to support investors in:

• Discussing the key insights of the study and recommendations to strengthen internal human rights management capacity, increase leverage over investee companies, improve standards and data, and engage a wider range of stakeholders to strengthen human rights in finance.
• Gaining knowledge of concrete approaches and key challenges to systematically embedding human rights into financial decision-making, from the perspective of finance professionals in Europe and North America.
• Reflecting on the role, opportunities and limitations of policy and legislation in the EU and U.S. as well as existing industry standards in creating an enabling environment for financial institutions to integrate human rights into their core business activities, in light of recent developments in the discourse around ESG in the U.S. and in the EU.

Date: Tuesday, May 20, 2025
Time: 4 – 5pm
Location: Online
Registration link