The EU Green Deal’s ambition that ‘sustainability should be further embedded into the corporate governance framework’, is followed up most recently in the European Commission's Sustainable Corporate Governance initiative. In this initiative, the environmental and notably climate change focus of the Sustainable Finance Initiative is merged with the push for mandatory human rights due diligence, informed by the UN Guiding Principles, supported by the European Parliament and a range of national legislative initiatives. A legislative proposal is expected in the second quarter of 2021.
Due diligence has therefore come high up on the agenda of sustainability-oriented scholars, business and civil society. From the perspective of the now concluded SMART project, due diligence should not be limited to environmental or human rights issues. Rather, it should be a comprehensive 'sustainability due diligence'.
In this lunch seminar, Beate Sjåfjell will present work-in-progress research, drawing on the SMART Project reform proposals, on what 'sustainability due diligence' should encompass and how it can be regulated in a way that ensures a shift away from greenwashing and box-ticking, and towards a true integration of sustainability into business.
Presentation
See Beate Sjåfjells presentation in .pdf.
Registering
Please register your participation and we will send you the link to Zoom.