WWF - OECD guidelines applied to institutional investors

30 Mar 2017 10:33 AM

WWF welcomes the launch of a new OECD report on ‘Responsible Business Conduct for Institutional Investors’, that details how the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises [1] will apply to the global investment sector.  

• We may see an increase in NGO’s using the OECD Guidelines against irresponsible companies, WWF says as they welcome new report
• New applications of the guidelines mean investors have responsibility of human rights and environmental violations of the businesses they own

The report helps institutional investors understand what steps they need to take in carrying out due diligence to identify and respond to environmental and social risks. The report also identifies what factors investors should be taking into account, how they should be responding to risk, and how they need to engage with companies they own to protect themselves from business and reputational risk.

Welcoming the report’s launch Raymond Dhirani WWF-UK’s Head of Sustainable Finance & Extractives, who was a member of the multi stakeholder advisory group who produced the paper, commented:

“We welcome this report.  Global investors need to read the detail of this paper to understand how they are accountable under the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.  All shareholders, including minority shareholders, have responsibilities under the guidelines to engage companies that may be doing harm to minimise and protect themselves from business risk. This is a great specific example of how investors can and should help achieve positive environmental and development outcomes by following this approach.  

“When companies choose not to respond to legitimate concerns expressed, this report clarifies the rights of civil society groups such as NGOs and Trades Unions to engage with shareholders of companies under the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.  Through action, we must now see this paper help to deliver positive change on the ground.” 

Roel Nieuwenkamp, Chair of the OECD Working Party on Responsible Business Conduct commented:

“Investors have an important role to play in driving up responsible business conduct globally.

If investors really direct their money towards responsible business it can change the way globalization works.”

Notes to the editor

1. The OECD report can be found here http://mneguidelines.oecd.org/rbc-financial-sector.htm
2. WWF is one of the world’s largest and most respected independent conservation organizations, with over 5 million supporters and a global network active in over 100 countries. WWF's mission is to stop the degradation of the Earth's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by conserving the world's biological diversity, ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable, and promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption.
3. The mission of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world. More information on the OECD can be found here.
4.  [1] The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises are standards on corporate social responsibility agreed by OECD countries and an additional eleven non-OECD governments. The guidelines are recommendations from governments to corporations about how they should make positive contributions to economic, environmental and social progress worldwide. In total, 45 countries ascribe to the guidelines.
5. Visit https://www.wwf.org.uk/what-we-do/projects/working-investors for more information on WWF working with investors.
6. Visit wwf.org.uk for latest news and media resources and follow us on Twitter @wwf_uk.

For further information, please contact:

Joanna Trinick  |  01483 412429  |  jtrinick@wwf.org.uk