Today an updated version of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, adopted by OECD member countries, has been published. It has been over ten years since the last update, and the guidelines now place stronger requirements on companies on several areas, including the environment and climate. The new guidelines are welcomed by Swedwatch, which has contributed to provide input on their co
The responsibility of companies to uphold human rights when sponsoring big sporting events, expectations on duty bearers to safeguard the right to a healthy environment and the role of business in sustaining peace in Liberia and Sierra Leone, were among the topics researched by Swedwatch in 2022.
In Swedwatch´s annual report, Highlights 2022, Swedwatch presents some of its main activities and r
The Swedish engineering firm AFRY has announced its intention to withdraw from Myanmar, where it has been involved in controversial hydropower projects for over two decades. The undersigned organisations welcome the move to stop doing business with the military junta but remain deeply concerned about AFRY’s delayed response and failure to realise the gravity of its dealings with the Myanmar milita
Despite promises to make financial flows consistent with a low-carbon economy, EU member states continue to provide financial support to the fossil fuel industry through export credits. It is time that the EU Commission replaces its outdated policy with new and ambitious regulation, prohibiting export support to oil and gas, says Swedwatch in a policy paper published today.
-Export credit agenc
n a new policy paper, Swedwatch together with SOMO (Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations), ECCHR (European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights), OECD Watch and ECCJ (European Coalition for Corporate Justice) call on EU lawmakers to include downstream due diligence obligations in the upcoming Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), drawing on multiple case stud
One week before international negotiators meet at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris to discuss aligning export finance with international climate goals, Swedwatch together with more than 175 civil society organizations (CSOs) from over 45 countries have released a Joint Position calling on world leaders to end OECD export finance for oil and gas.
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Strengthen the EU public procurement directive from 2014 and make it mandatory to enforce human rights requirements in public contracts - Swedwatch has identified 10 key considerations that carry opportunities to enhance public procurement as a tool to mitigate and prevent human rights and environmental impacts in public sector supply chains.
The economic value of public procurement - more than
Companies that use sport sponsorships to advertise their products or services have an important role to play in preventing and mitigating human rights impacts. In a new briefing, Caught Offside: The role of sport sponsors in upholding human rights, Swedwatch urges these companies to learn lessons from the World Cup in Qatar by incorporating human rights in future sponsorship agreements. The b
The climate crisis is among the most critical and complex issues our planet and its people face. COP27 offers a defining moment to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels. But this transition will fail if it focuses only on being fast, and not on also being just. This is also the topic for an official side event arranged by Swedwatch and Swedish Society for Nature Conservation at COP27.
Liberia and Sierra Leone have identified economic growth, sustainable management of natural resources and inclusion of women as central to peace and prosperity. Still, new research findings from Swedwatch, based on more than 400 interviews, show that business activities in land concession areas come with adverse impacts on human rights and the environment, contributing to conflict in already fragi
Thousands of people whose human rights were impacted by the operations of Swedish oil company Lundin Energy could end up without remedy when the company sells its assets to Norwegian Aker BP. Today, Swedwatch and seven other NGOs file a complaint against Aker BP and its owner Aker ASA for failing to comply with the OECD guidelines for multinational enterprises.
On March 31, the AGM of Lundin En
Industrial emissions from manufacturing of medicines are often associated with environmental pollution, adversely impacting ecosystems and human health. However, opaque supply chains make it impossible to hold polluters to account. In a new policy paper, Swedwatch calls on EU policymakers to strengthen their oversight on industrial emissions in the pharmaceutical sector.
Pharmaceuticals ar
Swedwatch is an independent, non-profit research organisation striving to empower rights holders and to promote responsible business practices. Through research and dialogue, Swedwatch highlights the impacts on people and planet by unsustainable business operations, and builds bridges between stakeholders in order to affect change.
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