CHRB A.2.1.S2 Commitment from the top
Do Board members or the CEO clearly signal the company’s commitment to human rights (eg, speeches, presentations or other communications) by discussing why human rights matter to the business or any challenges to respecting human rights encountered by the business?
About the data
This metric is from the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark (CHRB), part of the World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA), which has been assessing the human rights disclosures of some of the largest global companies since 2017. By ranking these companies on their policies, processes and practices, as well as how they respond to serious allegations, the CHRB aims to create a race to the top through which companies strive to fulfil their responsibility to respect the human rights of the individuals and communities that they impact.
Board Level Accountability
What do the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights expect?
The development and implementation of a company’s approach to human rights should be guided from the top of the business, which for larger companies is the Board. Companies need to strive for coherence between their responsibility to respect human rights and policies and procedures that govern their wider business activities and relationships. This should include, for example, policies and procedures that set financial and other performance incentives for personnel, procurement practices or lobbying activities where human rights are at stake. A Board committee is often the best placed to ensure such coordination.
Why is this important?
Signals from and attention to human rights issues by the Board indicates that top management considers respect for human rights to be a minimum standard for conducting business with legitimacy.
Board Level Accountability
What do the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights expect?
The development and implementation of a company’s approach to human rights should be guided from the top of the business, which for larger companies is the Board. Companies need to strive for coherence between their responsibility to respect human rights and policies and procedures that govern their wider business activities and relationships. This should include, for example, policies and procedures that set financial and other performance incentives for personnel, procurement practices or lobbying activities where human rights are at stake. A Board committee is often the best placed to ensure such coordination.
Why is this important?
Signals from and attention to human rights issues by the Board indicates that top management considers respect for human rights to be a minimum standard for conducting business with legitimacy.
Methodology
The benchmark uses publicly available information from the company’s website(s), its formal financial and non-financial reporting or other public documents, plus statements such as those related to its policy commitments. These could be codes of conduct, policies, values, guidelines, FAQs and other related documents. The CHRB also considers reports, such as annual, corporate social responsibility and sustainability reports, or human rights reports if these are available, or other reports written for other purposes if these contain information applicable to the CHRB indicators. Full methodology for each sector can be found here.
Scoring:
Most CHRB indicators operate using 'OR' and 'AND' rules. Where two or more requirements are separated by 'AND', companies being benchmarked are required to complete both or all of the options listed in order to obtain a full point but they can score half points if they meet at least one of the requirements. Where two or more requirements are separated by 'OR', companies being benchmarked are required to complete one of the options listed.
Scoring:
Most CHRB indicators operate using 'OR' and 'AND' rules. Where two or more requirements are separated by 'AND', companies being benchmarked are required to complete both or all of the options listed in order to obtain a full point but they can score half points if they meet at least one of the requirements. Where two or more requirements are separated by 'OR', companies being benchmarked are required to complete one of the options listed.
Value Type
Category
Options
Yes
No
Research Policy
Designer Assessed
Report Type
Aggregate Data Report