CORPORATE DUE DILIGENCE AT RI EUROPE 2024
On 12-13 June, ICoCA participated in Responsible Investor Europe 2024 in London. Our Executive Director, Jamie Williamson, joined a panel to discuss corporate due diligence, alongside Gina Gambetta from Responsible Investor, Signe Andreasen Lysgaard from the Danish Institute for Human Rights and Isabella Ritter from ShareAction.
Companies across all sectors use private security services to ensure the safety of their people, activities and assets. Adverse human rights impacts related to private security can affect a business’s operational continuity, sustainability, long term value creation and short-term share price, thus threatening investment returns. As fiduciaries, institutional investors, including pension plan trustees and investment managers, are obligated to identify and mitigate these potential adverse impacts.
In partnership with the Investor Alliance for Human Rights, ICoCA developed an Investor ESG Guide on Private Security and Human Rights with the following objectives:
- Increase awareness of the human rights risks associated with investments in companies that utilise private security providers;
- Support investment firms in addressing these risks throughout the investment lifecycle with ten recommended actions.
The recently approved EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) mandates responsible business conduct and makes clear in the Annex that private security will be under particular scrutiny. With the unique mandate of conducting human rights due diligence on private security, ICoCA seeks to share best practices and strategies for investors to actively promote responsible business conduct and human rights within their investment portfolios, and to support effective implementation and compliance with the EU CSDDD.
