From Principles to Practice | Finance at 15 Years of the UNGPs

About this Event

In June 2011, the UN Human Rights Council unanimously endorsed the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), establishing for the first time an authoritative global framework on the respective duties and responsibilities of states and businesses to protect, respect and remedy human rights impacts linked to business activity. Fifteen years on, in 2026, the UNGPs remain the reference framework shaping how governments, companies, investors and civil society understand and address these impacts, and are now more important than ever.

What was once dismissed as a radical vision – that companies, not just states, bear a responsibility for human rights – has become an established principle. The anniversary has prompted wide reflection across the business and human rights community on the UNGPs’ legacy and on what comes next. The UNGPs have also fed directly into binding legislative mechanisms, such as the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) and a growing number of national human rights and environmental due diligence laws, translating what began as voluntary expectations into binding obligations.

In the financial sector while there is a longstanding history of FI’s engagement with human rights issues, the shift toward aligning investment and lending practices with international standards such as the UNGPs has only begun in earnest more recently. Since the UN Working Group’s “UNGPs 10+” project at the ten-year mark, the role of financial institutions – as investors, lenders and enablers of economic activity – has been increasingly recognized as a critical leverage point for advancing corporate respect for human rights.

For financial institutions, embedding the UNGPs is no longer only a matter of principle: it has become a source of trust with investors, regulators and clients, and a point of risk exposure where it is missing. UNEP Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) has supported this shift directly, through efforts like its UNEP FI Human Rights Toolkit, which helps financial institutions translate the UNGPs’ Protect, Respect and Remedy framework into practice, and through its Human Rights Community of Practice, which brings members together to share experience and align with the UNGPs.

Leading experts joining this event discussed how we are moving forward, and which challenges and opportunities lie ahead for the sector.

This event was co-organized by the UNEP Finance Initiative and the Geneva Environment Network, and co-sponsored by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, and Swiss Sustainable Finance.

Speakers

Fernanda HOPENHAYM

Vice-Chairperson, UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights

Mauricio LAZALA

Chief, Business and Human Rights Section, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

Aki UEDA

Stakeholder Engagement Manager, Japan Center for Engagement and Remedy on Business and Human Rights (JaCER)

Elaine O'BRIEN

Head of Sustainability Risk Management, Swiss Re

Caroline PUTMAN CRAMER

Director Romandie, Swiss Sustainable Finance (SSF)

Michael CLEMENTS

Director, Business and Human Rights Centre

Edoardo VIGNOTTO

Sustainable Investment Stewardship Specialist, Bank J. Safra Sarasin

Ulises QUERO

Business, Land and Environment Programme Manager, International Service for Human Rights

Joana PEDRO

Head of Social, UNEP Finance Initiative | Moderator

Video

Highlights

Links

• Business and Human Rights, Environment, and the Role of Geneva