Library | ESG issues

Business Ethics

Business ethics encompass the moral principles and values guiding corporate conduct, extending beyond legal requirements to promote integrity and trust among stakeholders. Key considerations include corporate governance, conflicts of interest, insider trading, bribery, discrimination, human rights, social responsibility, and fiduciary duties.

Refine
Resource type
Sustainable Finance Practices
ESG issues
SDGs
SASB Sustainability Sector
Finance relevance
Asset Class
Location
TAG
140 results
REFINE
SHOW: 16

Ethical & impactful usage of AI

This report by Do Harvey outlines an ethical framework for AI usage, highlighting environmental impacts, security risks, and bias concerns. It advocates for transparent, client-opt-in adoption underpinned by human oversight, and summarises five modes of AI use to guide teams in making values-aligned, informed decisions.
Research
12 August 2025

Responsible AI in practice: 2025 global insights from the AI Company Data initiative

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
This report analyses publicly disclosed data from 2,972 companies across 11 sectors, revealing a significant gap between AI adoption and governance maturity. Only 13 per cent align their strategy with a formal framework, and few demonstrate adequate worker protections, ethical impact assessments, or training data oversight.
Research
31 March 2026

Weapons, dual use tech and financial institutions

Power Shift Africa
This Shift briefing examines how financial institutions should approach human rights due diligence in relation to weapons and dual-use technologies. It identifies four key challenges, six anchors grounded in international humanitarian law, and six practical approaches to support responsible defence-related lending and investment decisions.
Research
14 April 2026

Ranking digital rights: The 2026 Telco giants edition

Ranking Digital Rights
Ranking Digital Rights' 2026 Telco Giants Edition scores 12 major telecom companies on governance, freedom of expression, and privacy. Telefónica leads overall with 57%, while Ooredoo ranks lowest at 14%. Historical data from 2017 to 2026 shows varied progress, with scores dipping in 2020 due to new indicators.
Research
29 June 2026

Mindful Money Fund Checker

Mindful Money
Free NZ tool to check and compare KiwiSaver funds against ethical issues of concern using publicly available data and portfolio analytics.
Online tool/database

Rankings of America's Most Just Companies

JUST Capital
The Rankings of America's Most Just Companies evaluate the largest publicly traded US corporations on stakeholder performance and ethical behaviour.
Online tool/database
17 March 2026

Exposing tobacco companies’ retail presence and highlighting regulatory options

The report outlines how tobacco companies use retailer incentives, targeted in-store marketing, and retailer lobbying to sustain product visibility and influence regulation. It reviews policy options, including retail licensing, outlet restrictions, and sales limitations, aimed at reducing tobacco availability and countering industry presence in retail settings.
Research
11 April 2026

Monitoring internal whistleblowing systems: A framework for collecting data and reporting on performance and impact

Transparency International
Transparency International sets out a framework for monitoring internal whistleblowing systems, covering data collection, reporting, confidentiality, stakeholder accountability, performance indicators, retaliation complaints, trust and awareness measures, and resource tracking to help organisations assess effectiveness and improve protections and governance.
Research
29 April 2025

The business case for “speaking up”: How internal reporting mechanisms strengthen private-sector organisations

Transparency International
Explains how internal whistleblowing systems help organisations detect misconduct early, reduce legal and financial risks, and strengthen compliance, culture and reputation. It outlines key features of effective mechanisms and demonstrates their role in improving risk management, preventing losses and supporting long-term value creation.
Research
31 July 2017

Human rights due diligence in the financial sector: A compendium of industry case studies and practice

Business for Social Responsibility (BSR)
Examines how financial institutions implement human rights due diligence, aligned with UNGPs and OECD guidelines, using case studies. Highlights challenges in data, prioritisation and leverage, and emphasises integrating human rights into governance, risk processes and client engagement to manage impacts across lending, investment and insurance activities.
Research
14 November 2025

Communicating climate change and migration: A user’s guide to navigating the research

Climate Outreach
This report guides practitioners on communicating climate-linked migration, highlighting research gaps, biases and limited diversity. It emphasises critical engagement with academic literature, improved representation of affected communities, and the need for nuanced, interdisciplinary approaches to inform effective, ethical communication strategies.
Research
12 April 2024

Corporate enablers of Russia’s war in Ukraine: A closer look at multinational taxes and revenue in Russia in 2023

Kyiv School of Economics (KSE)
Examines multinational companies’ revenues and taxes in Russia (2021–2023), showing continued corporate activity generated significant tax contributions supporting the Russian state. Highlights sectoral drivers, limited exits, and rising fiscal pressures, concluding that ongoing operations pose financial, legal, and human rights risks.
Research
16 January 2025

You Built This

This article argues that modern investment strategies fuel economic extraction while often underperforming simpler alternatives. It calls on investors to realign portfolios with productive, community-oriented investments that generate real economic and social value.
Article
23 March 2026

Columbia Journalism Review (CJR)

Specialist News Services
Columbia Journalism Review (CJR) is a media analysis and journalism review publication produced by Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Founded in 1961, CJR examines news industry trends, press freedom, and media ethics, providing reporting, commentary, and criticism to help journalists and media professionals understand developments shaping global journalism.
Organisation
1 research item

Towards sustainability position on defence investments

Towards Sustainability Labelling Agency (CLA)
The report sets a pragmatic policy on defence investments for Towards Sustainability-labelled funds, permitting defensive, non-lethal and dual-use activities with strict ESG due diligence, while excluding weapons producers. It affirms defence funding as primarily a government responsibility.
Research
26 June 2025

Guidelines for observation and exclusion of companies from the government pension fund global (GPFG)

Norwegian Ministry of Finance
The guidelines define ethical criteria for observing or excluding companies from Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global. They cover prohibited products, unacceptable conduct, coal thresholds, governance roles of the Council on Ethics and Norges Bank, and transparency requirements for decisions and reviews.
Research
5 September 2022
PREV
1 of 9
NEXT
Join or sign in to use Alma, Altiorem’s AI Agent. While the Altiorem library is free, Alma is exclusive to paying subscribers.