- The Business and Human Rights Resource Centre has released its fourth edition of the Renewable Energy and Human Rights Benchmark which sheds further light on the human rights policies and practices of 35 leading companies across the renewable energy supply chain.
The report finds that despite political and financial headwinds, the sector is making steady progress on improving their core human rights policies and practices. Key findings included:
- Progress on core human rights policies and practices across the board: 18 out of 27 (67%) companies having improved or maintained their scores from the 2023 Benchmark.
- Embedding human rights due diligence into operations and supply chains: Five out of six solar panel manufacturers, 12 out of 18 project developers, and two out of three wind turbine manufacturers improved their scores.
- Commitment to providing remedy and/or providing access to appropriate grievance mechanisms for workers and affected communities: Five out of six solar panel manufacturers, 12 out of 18 project developers, and one out of three wind turbine manufacturers have improved their scores.
- Project developers based in Europe are leading on core human rights policies and practices, including Ørsted, Iberdrola and Enel Green Power.
- Solar panel manufacturers are lagging behind their wind turbine counterparts; but they are making steady progress. Vestascontinues to stand out among wind turbine manufacturers.
- Fast progress on respect for human rights defenders: Eight companies have policies on zero-tolerance on attacks or threats against human rights defenders – including one new company.
However, some crucial gaps still remain:
- mineral sourcing remains a nascent practice: Although this is critical to avoiding disruptions and delays, only one solar panel manufacturer and only three wind turbine manufacturers have sufficient policies in place.
- No company in the Benchmark currently publicly discloses its full solar supply chain, which is a critical element in responding to risk of exposure to the severe issue of forced labour in Xinjiang Autonomous Uyghur Region (XUAR), as referred to by UN experts.
- Critical gaps on Indigenous Peoples’ rights: Only 2 out of 22 companies have sufficient policies in place on Indigenous Peoples’ rights and only one company has a policy on free, prior and informed consent (FPIC).
- An encouraging start on shared prosperity, but this must translate into achieving the needs and aspirations of communities. While there has been clear improvement on meaningful engagement with communities, companies must make progress on benefit sharing agreements that will see tangible results for communities.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
