Library | ESG issues
Social
The social pillar in ESG (environmental, social, and governance) assesses a organisation’s impact on people and society. It covers labour practices, diversity and inclusion, human rights and community engagement. Prioritising social responsibility not only benefits society but also mitigates risks, strengthens reputation, and creates long-term value for businesses and investors.
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Institutional investment in addictive industries: An important commercial determinant of health
The study examines how Tobacco-Free Finance Pledge signatories apply exclusion policies to addictive industries. Investors show diverse thresholds, with European institutions more likely to exclude alcohol, gambling, and cannabis. Reputational and compliance considerations dominate justifications, highlighting investment decisions as significant commercial determinants of health.
The Other Half of the Transition: Why Livestock Deserves as Much Attention as Energy
This article highlights the major climate impact of livestock and explains why the absence of clear roadmaps, metrics, and financing strategies has left the sector far behind the energy transition. It proposes policy reforms, mitigation hierarchies, and justice-centered pathways to unlock effective and equitable change.
Conservation International (CI)
Conservation International (CI) is a global non-profit that champions nature conservation to benefit both biodiversity and human societies. It uses science, fieldwork, policy and finance to protect critical land and marine ecosystems. Since 1987, CI has helped safeguard 13 million km² of land and sea across more than 70 countries.
Brighter Green
Brighter Green is a New-York-based public policy action tank advocating for equity, sustainability and rights. It conducts research and promotes policy reform addressing environmental protection, animal welfare, biodiversity, climate and food-system justice — especially in the global South.
Emerging market perspectives on business and human rights measures and economic development
The report examines how business and human rights measures affect emerging-market suppliers, highlighting benefits such as market access and worker protections, alongside major compliance burdens and unintended consequences. It recommends bottom-up design, fairer contracting, capacity support and collaborative implementation to improve outcomes.
FiftyEight
FiftyEight delivers research-driven technology solutions to ensure ethical working conditions across global supply chains. It partners with businesses, NGOs and governments to tackle modern slavery, forced labour and child labour. Its platforms including a mobile app for migrant workers, support transparent recruitment, safe migration and human rights compliance.
Advancing women’s financial inclusion: Guidelines to adopt a gender perspective in financial institutions
The report outlines guidelines for financial institutions to integrate gender perspectives across governance, management, staffing, communications, and product design. It promotes data-driven policies, bias reduction, inclusive culture, tailored financial solutions for women, and strategic partnerships to enhance women’s financial inclusion and strengthen institutional performance.
Indigenous and local communities’ initiatives have transformative potential to guide shifts toward sustainability in South America
The study examines 127 Indigenous and local community initiatives in Ecuador, Peru and Colombia, identifying three clusters with strong transformative potential. These initiatives use co-designed knowledge and relational values to advance cultural and ecological stewardship, demonstrating significant capacity to influence sustainable, just development pathways.
Business frameworks and actions to support human rights defenders: A retrospective and recommendations
The report reviews how businesses can better respect and support human rights defenders by strengthening policies, due diligence, and accountability. It outlines emerging frameworks, examples of company action, implementation challenges, and recommendations for companies, investors, multistakeholder initiatives, and States to safeguard civic freedoms and address risks linked to business activities.
The price of work: A brief on widespread migrant worker recruitment fees in Taiwan’s manufacturing sectors
The report outlines evidence of high recruitment fees and related labour abuses faced by migrant workers in Taiwan’s manufacturing sectors. It summarises interviews, company responses, and emerging remediation efforts, highlighting ongoing risks of debt bondage and recommending that buyers adopt and enforce no-fee recruitment policies across their supply chains.
Mana Kai: A framework for korero on enhancing Aotearoa New Zealand's food system
The report outlines a framework to guide discussion on improving Aotearoa New Zealand’s food system. It highlights current health, environmental, economic and community challenges and presents a Māori-informed approach to support sustainable, equitable and resilient food outcomes through shared values, collaboration and long-term system stewardship.
The Mana Kai Initiative: The purpose and values of Aotearoa New Zealand’s food system
The report outlines a Te Ao Māori–led framework for Aotearoa New Zealand’s food system, highlighting environmental regeneration, equitable food access, cultural values, health outcomes and economic resilience. It presents tensions within the current system and proposes collaborative actions to guide a sustainable, inclusive and nationally aligned approach to producing, distributing and consuming kai.
The Mana Kai initiative: Priority action areas plan
The report outlines eight priority actions to strengthen Aotearoa New Zealand’s food system. It emphasises shared values, collaboration, equitable access to nutritious kai, sustainable production, improved school food provision, updated dietary guidance, ocean and land regeneration, and an informed national conversation on biotechnology.
Sustainable Finance Roundup November 2025: Transition Turning Points and Rising Accountability
This month’s sustainable-finance roundup highlights faster transition momentum, rising physical risks and a tightening focus on accountability. COP30 reinforced expectations for stronger 2035 targets, while national actions underscored diverging paths toward decarbonisation. Markets continued shifting toward clean energy and resilience, and new science made climate harms more visible. With regulatory scrutiny and litigation increasing, transition credibility and real-economy resilience are becoming core drivers of financial risk and investment decisions.
Social benchmark 2024 insights report
This benchmark series assesses the world’s most influential companies on their human rights, decent work and ethical conduct practices. It provides a comparative view of corporate social performance, supporting stakeholders to understand progress, identify gaps and inform actions that contribute to a more inclusive and sustainable global economy.
From field to fabric: Enhancing due diligence in Cotton supply chains
This report investigates labour conditions on cotton farms in Madhya Pradesh, identifying child labour, forced labour indicators, and wage issues. It traces links to supplier and buyer supply chains and urges strengthened due diligence, remediation, and improved traceability to reduce risks and support more ethical cotton sourcing.