How EY plans to help clients meet human rights standards

Nordic human rights experts join forces for competency building to help clients comply with the ever-changing regulatory standards.

We are now witnessing an increasing focus on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) risks and opportunities among a growing number of organizations. There is a drastic shift from voluntary reporting to mandatory compliance with the new wave of regulation across Europe. 

When it comes to sustainability and human rights, organizations have to comply with not only national regulations but also those pertaining to EU. In the EU, more than 50,000 companies are in scope for the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and 15,000 EU companies will be affected by the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). Minimum Safeguards too are key in the EU Taxonomy.

In Norway alone, more than 9,000 companies need to report on their human rights due diligence efforts under the Norwegian Transparency Act, with the goal to drive Norwegian companies to promote respect for human rights and decent working conditions.

While there has been much focus on the E, with climate change happening so vividly before our eyes, EY is also working to ensure we are up to date on the S and G as well. Across our service lines and country offices, EY has colleagues with unique backgrounds in human rights who are developing tools, supporting clients and assessing the market landscape to see where we can utilize our expertise to help companies with their sustainable and just transitions.  Cathrine Halsaa, the Nordic lead for Social Sustainability and Human Rights, organized a meeting to gather our experts in one room to brainstorm how to work with human rights. The event served as the starting point of a fruitful collaboration between the Nordic countries to share knowledge, experiences, best practices and tools, so that we in EY continue to help our clients meet their human rights requirements.

Hanne Thornam, Partner, Climate Change and Sustainability Services (CCaSS); Helene Bamrud, Partner, Consulting; and Helga Aune, Partner, Law, have been champions for this collaborative meeting cross Nordic service lines. They emphasized the need for a community where we can share best practices and knowledge across service lines and countries.

“Human rights abuses such as child labor and forced labor have been on the agenda for a long time. EU has lifted social rights up to the same level as environmental issues,” said Bamrud.

According to Thornam, “EY has great competencies across service lines and across countries, enabling us to assist companies on a multitude of ways on their journey to be sustainable.”

“EY differentiates from all other advisors in the sustainability markets as we are able to offer legal insights together with sustainability transformation from Consulting and sustainability implementation from CCaSS. With expert knowledge of decent working conditions and human rights, we offer custom-fit solutions,” said Aune.During the seminar, colleagues presented their work and client examples on CSRD, CSDDD, Gap-assessments, EU Taxonomy, human rights due diligence, risk assessments in supply chains, and more. The meeting included workshops on human rights due diligence in the supply chain in line with the OECD guidelines and current and potential future trends and service offerings.