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GBI is pleased to announce the launch of What “good” looks like: Compendium of practice-based insights. This single resource brings together all guidance briefings in our What “good” looks like series. Drawing on more than 15 years of practice-based insights from multinational companies implementing the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), the compendium sets out what “good” looks like across the full spectrum of human rights and environmental due diligence (HREDD).
As regulatory expectations, stakeholder scrutiny and mandatory due diligence requirements continue to evolve, companies and policymakers alike are asking what is realistic and effective in practice. This compendium responds to that need. It provides practical direction for embedding respect for human rights across business functions and value chains, and offers concrete recommendations to policymakers working to design or implement HREDD frameworks that are aligned with the UNGPs and OECD Guidelines.
“The What ‘good’ looks like series can help businesses to navigate a period of uncertainty created by legislation, by focusing on existing frameworks and on understanding what their peers are doing to implement human rights and environmental due diligence.” - Heidi Hautala, GBI Special Advisor and former Vice-President of the European Parliament
Among the key themes explored in the compendium you will find:
- Embedding human rights in governance and processes – what it takes to translate high-level commitments into enterprise-wide policies, governance structures and day-to-day decision-making, including leadership accountability, cross-functional coordination, and internal training and capacity building.
- Identifying and addressing human rights risks and impacts – how companies can focus on risks to people, look across the full value chain (including downstream), prioritise salient risks without ignoring others, and use impact assessments, internal systems and collaboration to drive meaningful action.
- Meaningful stakeholder engagement – practical approaches to engaging affected rightsholders and other stakeholders, including in challenging or high-risk contexts; designing inclusive and safe engagement processes; and integrating stakeholder input into business decisions, mitigation measures and remedy.
- Engaging suppliers as partners – moving beyond a narrow audit mindset to long-term, trust-based relationships with suppliers; clarifying expectations through contracting; building capacity; using worker-voice tools; and leveraging collaboration to address risks beyond tier one.
- Grievance mechanisms and access to remedy – how companies can strengthen grievance channels, ensure accessibility and non-retaliation, and work with suppliers and other partners to support effective remedy where adverse impacts occur.
- Heightened human rights due diligence in high-risk and conflict-affected contexts – when heightened due diligence is required, how it differs from standard processes, and how to build conflict-sensitive approaches into governance, stakeholder engagement, decision-making and, where necessary, responsible exit
Each briefing in the compendium also includes key considerations for policymakers. These sections draw on company practice to highlight how legislation can support outcome-oriented due diligence, encourage prioritisation without exclusion, strengthen leverage and collaboration, and embed meaningful stakeholder engagement and access to remedy in regulatory frameworks.
The new compendium forms part of GBI’s ongoing What “good” looks like series, which shares practice-based insights to support companies and policymakers in strengthening responsible business conduct in line with international standards.
