The requirements placed on companies regarding human rights due diligence and sustainable finance are currently the subject of intense debate. This presents companies and financial sector stakeholders with the challenge of how to concretely measure and effectively manage their commitment to human rights within their organizations. To do so, they need key performance indicators (KPIs) related to human rights. Compared to environmental KPIs, social indicators are still significantly less developed and widespread. However, demand for data on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors is rising rapidly, and measurable indicators related to human rights will increasingly gain importance, driven by investors and regulation.

econsense has published a discussion paper on quantitative human rights indicators that provides a comprehensive overview of existing KPIs. With this paper, econsense aims to spark an in-depth discussion on the use of quantitative human rights indicators by companies. Key questions include how data for these indicators can be collected and which gaps in measuring human rights due diligence still need to be addressed.

To mark the publication of the paper, we held a discussion on October 9 from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. as part of the webinar “How Do Human Rights Become Relevant to Corporate Governance?” with experts from the corporate and financial sectors. The participants were:

• Dr. Wolfram Heger, Senior Manager Corporate Responsibility Management, Daimler AG

• Kristina Jeromin, Head of Group Sustainability, Deutsche Börse Group

• Gwendolyn Remmert, Coordination Human Rights Due Diligence, Group Sustainability, Continental AG

• Christoph Reißfelder, Head of Capital Office, Group Communication & Investor Relations, HeidelbergCement AG