Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD) approaches have been increasingly embedded into Fast Moving Consumer Goods company business operations for several years. To meet ambitious decarbonisation targets, some companies have begun integrating climate action into their supply chain work, with some working on embedding climate into their more established frameworks and actions on HRDD.
As a member-led forum supporting companies on human rights in supply chains, AIM-Progress recognised the need to make links between climate work and human rights and has been working alongside Human Level and Proforest to help member companies take this step. In order to be efficient and avoid duplication we wanted to understand our role versus other initiatives. Proforest interviewed eight collaborative initiatives, consultancies and think-tanks,[1] to understand how they are working on the topic of Just Transition or on the human-rights-climate interface. These organisations generously shared information on their relevant programmes, challenges and opportunities for greater collaboration, which are summarised below.
1. Collaborative initiatives highlight shared challenges among member companies
Collaborative initiatives indicate that many companies lack practical understanding of how to implement a Just Transition. This is compounded by siloed working practices, which hinder effective cross-departmental collaboration. Company representatives often struggle to engage at the human rights-climate interface, with climate leads lacking clear mandates or incentives to embed a Just Transition agenda and to work with their human rights colleagues. Teams frequently have separate objectives and targets, making it difficult for human rights teams to leverage engagement with climate teams, even if they have identified risks in their HRDD work of climate change and action on climate mitigation or adaptation.
2. It’s early days for company collaboration on the Human Rights-Climate interface
For many collaborative platforms, the intersection of human rights and climate remains relatively new, with several expressing uncertainty about how best to engage with it. Emerging legislation, such as the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, was considered by some as helping build a narrative for stronger integration on environmental and human rights due diligence. However, interest in this intersection often appears to be driven more by the secretariats of collaborative platforms rather than by their member companies.
3. Starting with a Human Rights Due Diligence lens
Since many of the collaborative organisations we interviewed have a strong business and human rights focus, they had typically started working on Just Transition through the lens of human rights due diligence (HRDD) frameworks. This approach helps identify both risks of climate change itself (via business as usual) and risks of actions to meet climate targets, but it risks appearing to climate teams as a burden. A small number of initiatives are now developing specific Just Transition programmes with a clearer connection to climate targets and greater engagement from climate teams. These efforts are primarily concentrated in the energy sector, though there is interest in expanding into the context of agricultural commodities. Responsible sourcing of raw materials, however, remains a less common focus.
4. Ambition versus practice in connecting human rights and climate
There is considerable ambition to adopt an intersectional approach that links climate, nature, and human rights. However, both collaborative organisations and companies report significant challenges in putting this into practice. Several collaborative organisations are now working to connect previously separate thematic groups (e.g. on human rights and on net zero), create new cross-themed workstreams on Just Transition, or starting to include HRDD work into existing supply chain efforts on deforestation. Meanwhile, a few companies are considering restructuring or commissioning work on integrated KPIs – especially in relation to action in production regions.
5. Beyond issue-specific work
Many collaborative organisations took their first steps on human rights and climate via case studies on the impact of climate change on people – such as the effects of heat stress on manual workers or water scarcity, to name a few. However, far less work is taking place identifying and acting on broader Just Transition impacts – e.g. looking at the impact of shifts in sourcing regions (due to mitigation), considering risks to smallholders of major weather events (adaptation) or the impacts on the most vulnerable when seeking to drive suppliers to implement mitigation actions (e.g. supporting a Just Transition to climate-smart agriculture).
6. Strong interest in continued sharing
Nearly all collaborative organisations consulted expressed a strong desire to join forces—sharing resources, organising joint events, and encouraging greater company engagement in initiatives such as compiling Just Transition case studies or identifying opportunities for collective action. AIM-Progress is sharing the detailed information gathered with participating initiatives to maximise synergies and efficiencies; ultimately driving more impact for the companies.
A call to action for company-collaboration spaces for integrated approaches on climate, people and nature.
The need for a more integrated approach to action by companies on climate, nature and people is an urgent one. As companies are pushing forward on net-zero work, and on the resilience of their supply chains in the face of climate change, this must include consideration of a Just Transition for the most vulnerable producers, communities and workers. There is a need for collaborative organisations and companies to work together more closely on resources, guidance and learning and to be more open about their successes and challenges.
AIM-Progress will continue to champion collaboration and practical guidance to help member companies integrate human rights and climate commitments in ways that drive long-term, inclusive impact.
The call to action from Proforest and AIM-Progress is:
In the short term
- Collaborative initiatives to develop practical guidance for climate teams to take account of people in their work.
- Collaborative initiatives to maximise efficiencies by working jointly to share best practice, learnings and challenges, such as via webinars or publications.
- Companies and collaborative initiatives to work together to drive stronger integration and alignments of businesses’ climate and human rights commitments.
In the medium term
- Collaborative initiatives and companies to develop strategic priorities for integrated actions that generate positive outcomes for people and nature and share those priorities with each other.
- Collaborative initiatives to work together on practical projects that show how climate and human rights teams can collaborate effectively.
- Collaborative initiatives to align on the metrics which are used to define success and impact e.g. by suggesting Just Transition KPIs as part of company climate target action reporting.
- Collaborative initiatives to bring companies together to share good practice on how to enable their teams to align actions and reduce the risk of unintended impacts, e.g. via harmonised objectives, targets and incentives between climate and human rights teams.
For more information, please contact info@aim-progress.org and info@proforest.net
[1] The organisations contacted were: Global Business Initiative (GBI), World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), Consumer Goods Forum (CGF), Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), Food Network for Ethical Trade (FNET), United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), and Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB)