Human rights abuses not allowed

23-09-2010 | What does doing business have to do with human rights? This is what Triodos Bank thinks a company should be responsible for. Triodos Bank is a sustainable bank and is committed to investing in a socially, environmentally and financially responsible way. This means that we only invest in businesses that give all of these aspects some serious thought. Respecting human rights is a challenging criterion. If a company doesn’t meet our minimum standard on human rights, we will not select it for investment by Triodos SRI funds or Triodos Bank private banking.

Triodos’ approach to investment and human rights

Triodos expects the companies it invests in to respect human rights in their own operations, which means they need to have strong policies and systems in place. However, it is also important that a company uses its influence to protect and promote human rights in its supply chains and in the communities in which it operates. Triodos Bank considers these responsibilities to go beyond respecting local and international laws. A company’s impact on society, as an employer and as a supplier of products and services, should extend to its moral and ethical obligations as well.

How to analyse a company’s human rights approach

First, we look carefully at a company’s human rights policy and labour practices. Then we research a variety of news sources and policy reports from non-governmental and intergovernmental organisations. Since controversies are not always visible, we make use of an additional list of high risk countries and industries for which we set requirements that assess whether a company acknowledges the sensitivity of its position and whether it takes appropriate steps to manage the risks. 

High-risk industries include, for example, aerospace and defence, communication and information technology and services, construction and engineering, energy technology and utilities, industrial conglomerates, metals and mining, and transportation infrastructure. The list of high risk countries contains over 125 nations, including unsurprising names such as Burma, China, Democratic Republic Congo, Afghanistan and Cuba.

A company can be considered complicit in human rights abuses if it: 

• is operating in a high-risk country and sector and does not adequately address child labour, equality, forced labour, unionisation, and health and safety in its public policy documents and supporting management systems;
• violates or hampers access to basic needs. If a company uses large quantities of water, this might for instance conflict with the needs of the local citizens;
• supplies products or services to a repressive regime that structurally and seriously violates human rights, or cooperates with such a regime in obtaining raw materials.

View the full text of our position on human rights .

Want to know more?

Triodos SRI Strategy
Selection process

Note: The issues explored in this article are specifically relevant for sustainable investments on the stock market. Triodos Bank believes that our socially responsible investments are a powerful means of promoting our values and working for greater sustainability, while enabling us to offer a complete range of attractive investment options to customers who choose to invest on the stock market.