Climate change, business and human rights

The Paris climate talks are underway. What does this mean for the 'business and human rights' field?

Does presenting climate issues as human rights issues necessarily increase the urgency, likelihood or comprehensiveness of corporate and financial activity and proactivity?

One assumption of advocacy in the BHR field is that framing the social responsibilities of business by reference to recognized, established human rights standards lends a certain urgency, persuasiveness, or imperative to businesses to act.

The assumption is that describing business conduct as having a human rights impact or potential human rights dimension brings some special galvanising force to the equation that other approaches do not.

(It is also thought that overlaying gives more virtuous businesses a stable framework of standards against which to plan their efforts to create social value and reduce negative enviro, social and governance impacts. Of course, business responsibilities are not just framed in rights terms for strategic reasons, but for reasons of principle: business activities can violate or at least impair, but also protect or enhance, various fundamental rights).

There are very sound reasons for believing that, in strategic terms, addressing the societal role and impact of business and financial activity in the lexicon and vocabulary of human rights may have some profound and positive effects.

But is it obvious and undeniable that this is so?

Are there some ways in which deploying human rights concepts and language might undermine the goal of more rights-aware, rights-based, rights-compliant business and finance?

For instance, could framing business-oriented campaigns in human rights terms sometimes lead to a defensive, litigatory mindset rather than a problem-solving, cooperative one? Could labeling something a 'Business and Human Rights' issue make some politicians and others less likely to champion it, for example in more conservative polities, than labeling something a 'responsible business issue' (the same norms still apply)?

I just do not think it is self-evident that invoking human rights on an issue necessarily makes everyone stop and say 'Oh OK, well in that case, lets all fix this!'

I do not think it is necessarily the case in relation to the nexus of business, human rights and climate change.

As the Paris talks proceed, this post simply refers to a guest blog I wrote this week where I developed these thoughts: here.

Jo