Shift Project

🔔  NEWS Shift is hiring a Senior Advisor for Standards, to play a key role in our small, dynamic and mission-driven team to help influence business respect for human rights at scale. Shift has helped shape new EU legislation on human rights and environmental due diligence and reporting and is committed to driving impactful implementation of these laws. We’re looking for an experienced legal professional who can work with governments, regulators, businesses and civil society organisations on developing and implementing mandatory standards grounded in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Location: UK, Netherlands or Germany (candidates must have existing permission to work in the relevant location). All Shift team members work remotely, with occasional in-person engagement. ⏰ Closing date: 11:59pm CET, Tuesday October 8 Learn more and apply 👉 https://lnkd.in/eris3BFM

With portfolios spanning various sectors and industries, investors and lenders have the potential to drive companies to respect people’s right to a life of dignity. And, with growing recognition of the importance of business respect for human rights in the market and regulatory landscape, financiers are increasingly seeing the benefits of portfolio companies that are ready to manage social risks. But, for many financiers, it can be hugely challenging to figure out whether the companies in their portfolio are taking human rights seriously. Some indicators look good on paper, but don’t stack up in practice, leaving financiers largely in the dark. So, over the last several years, Shift has been working with leading financiers and companies to drive higher quality measurement. Now, we’ll be sharing these insights in a Social Sustainability Clinic on Measurement. In this series of 4 deep dive workshops, we’ll be welcoming interested participants from right across the finance sector, to learn, share and explore better ways to assess whether companies are taking effective action on human rights risks and impacts. Whether you’re an asset owner or manager, lender, insurance company or an impact investor, we’re inviting portfolio-based financiers to take part in a series of workshops between Jan – May 2025. For more information on participation and costs, visit: https://lnkd.in/eUd7SpiW

Shift and Forvis Mazars Group are pleased to announce our first-ever training program for internal auditors. The series of webinars and in-person workshops will equip internal auditors to navigate social impacts, risks and opportunities and ensure their organizations are ready to meet EU sustainability reporting and due diligence standards. The program starts on October 9th. Register or learn more at https://lnkd.in/eX4BhpUW #csrd #esrs #csddd #ESGreporting #bizhumanrights Forvis Mazars in the UK

In the final instalment of Strengthening the S in ESG, we look at how to use and develop indicators that offer insight into companies’ contribution to achieving positive outcomes for workers, communities and consumers. Currently, many ESG outcome-related indicators focus exclusively on whether companies are addressing business risks, but say little or nothing about whether they are addressing risks to people. And, ESG indicators are also missing the opportunity to assess whether companies are addressing root causes of human rights risks in global value chains. Read our final Guideline for our key recommendations on how to use and improve outcome related indicators 👉 https://lnkd.in/e2FNBXrs

Investors need to know whether the companies they invest in are anticipating and addressing the most significant risks particular to their business operations and value chain. But most of today’s social indicators and metrics only offer a limited view of a company’s practices to identify and manage risks to people, and to the business. This week’s guideline looks at how to strengthen the S in ESG by using indicators that can offer real insight into the scope and quality of companies’ due diligence. Read it here: https://lnkd.in/eGNdWZpN And stay tuned for the final instalment, which will look at indicators that offer insight into companies’ progress towards positive outcomes for people.

How can investors and standard setters evaluate a company’s social targets? Targets feature heavily in current reporting standards and requirements - which creates opportunities for ESG data providers to look more closely at the types of targets that companies are setting. In this week’s instalment of our series Strengthening the S in ESG, we explore what meaningful social targets look like: https://lnkd.in/eycHdgGx Effective targets will be outcome-oriented, measurable, clearly scoped, time-bound, and informed by engagement with external stakeholders. Where companies have good social targets in place, this can offer greater confidence to investors that companies are actually putting in the work to drive behavior change and better outcomes for people, and businesses. Stay tuned for Guideline 2 when we’ll be looking at indicators that can provide real insight into a company’s due diligence processes.

What sorts of indicators could give investors and standard setters a clear picture of a company’s decision-making and behavior when it comes to stakeholder engagement? In this week’s guideline in our series Strengthening the S in ESG, we look at the development of indicators designed to evaluate the scope and quality of a company’s engagement with the people affected by its operations. As outlined in the #UNGPs, this is critical to preventing and addressing human rights risks across a company’s operations and value chain. Read it here: https://lnkd.in/e_sHiMUH And stay tuned next week, when we’ll look at effective indicators on social targets.

In the first Guideline in our series Strengthening the S in #ESG, we look at how to leverage indicators that are strong predictors of business decision-making and behavior in relation to three dimensions of business practice that standard setters and investors are increasingly paying attention to: - 1A: Governance - 1B: Stakeholder Engagement - 1C: Social Targets Today, in part 1A, we look at existing and potential indicators that could support a more comprehensive evaluation of companies’ governance practices. Currently, only a small number of social-related Governance indicators evaluate board-level scrutiny and oversight of sustainability commitments or programs. Where they do, visibility is greatly limited. And, data providers are not evaluating board members’ 'S' competence, nor evaluating the existence of efforts to inform the board of the company’s management of social risks. Stay tuned for the release of 1B and 1C, when we’ll explore indicators relating to Stakeholder Engagement and Social Targets. 📖 Read part 1A here: https://lnkd.in/eNSCxymR

In Guardrail 3 in Shift's new series, Strengthening the S in ESG, we look at how to steer clear of indicators that offer insight into a company’s intentions, but no insight into whether these are followed through in practice. We explore how this can inflate a company’s S score, and encourage over-simplistic box-ticking exercises that do not manage risks to people, the company or its investors. Of the almost 700 indicators used by ESG data providers that we assessed, more than 10% assessed the existence of policy commitments, without insight into whether this was backed by action. These indicators signal a company’s intentions but say nothing about the extent to which the company is translating intentions into responsible business practices. Read it here 👉 https://lnkd.in/erjPNP_V Next week, we’ll release the first of our Guidelines in this series, focused on the value of indicators that are strong predictors of business decision-making and behavior.