Sustainable Finance Techniques and Taxonomies From a Human Rights Perspective

Abstract

This article reviews 18 sustainable finance instruments for their human rights compatibility, using as a standard the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and the various OECD Guidance on human rights due diligence. It finds that only three instruments show some alignment with human rights standards, and that no instrument complies with on-the-ground verification of the information disclosed by companies or finance institutions. No instrument provides for grievance mechanisms to challenge the methodology used to construct the instrument, and its application.

Keywords: human rights; sustainable finance; taxonomies