Climate, Nature and People /
Our work /
We help institutions integrate a people-lens to climate and nature solutions to make these more effective and just.
We advise companies and financial institutions on how to embed a people lens into their climate and nature strategies, including decarbonization and adaptation. We have a track record in bringing our applied expertise in human rights due diligence to identify address human rights “blind spots” and advance a just transition.
We facilitate consensus around the types of metrics and indicators that will enable assessment of how ‘just’ transition plans prove to be. We have led an initiative with other organizations at the forefront of work on the just transition to define sector-agnostic metrics that can be used by companies, investors and standard-setters to assess how well transition plans are embedding human rights in practice.
Our work helps ensure that climate and nature action can proceed at the pace required by building and maintaining social license and managing the financial and legal risks that can otherwise delay or derail progress.
Why It Matters /
For companies, bringing a human rights lens to climate and nature strategies enables better identification of risks, more effective stakeholder engagement and stronger, more resilient transitions.
Our approach and track record /
Integrating Disciplines. Advancing Practice. Enabling a Just Transition.
Integrating disciplines
Our research and practical experience have identified areas where human rights are often overlooked in climate and nature responses, including in addressing physical climate risks and engaging affected communities. We have developed practical tools, methods and guidance to support organizations in prioritizing these risks and building roadmaps to strengthen their approaches – helping ensure that action is both effective and implementable in practice.
Advising business and financial institutions
We help convene human rights, climate and other specialists within organizations to support integrated decision-making. We also provide insights for lenders and investors on their own climate efforts and on how to assess the approaches of client and portfolio companies, including through work such as our Business Model Red Flags analysis, which highlights embedded risks that can affect the viability and pace of transition.
Influencing reporting and measurement
Measuring the effectiveness of a just transition requires both qualitative and quantitative metrics. Together with peer organizations, businesses and financial institutions, we have developed sector-agnostic metrics that can be embedded into emerging reporting standards and used to evaluate business action on climate, nature and human rights.
We led the collation of evidence regarding the financial materiality of community relationships in the context of nature-related impacts and risks, demonstrating its relevance for sustainability-related financial disclosures.
Featured resources /
Climate Action & Human Rights
A report on how the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) can help companies to layer a human rights lens into their climate change strategies.
Climate Action & Human Rights: Avoiding Pitfalls for Financial Institutions
A report on the nexus between climate change strategy and action by financial institutions and the responsibility to respect human rights in accordance with UNGPs.
Business Model Red Flags – Climate Lens Update
A tool to help practitioners and executives spot and manage social impacts that flow from the interaction of business models with climate action, transition planning, and physical climate risks.
Just Transition Metrics
Metrics, developed with supporting organizations, to help companies, investors, and policymakers in assessing whether climate transition efforts are fair for outcomes for workers and communities.
TNFD work
TNFD Guidance on engagement with Indigenous Peoples, Local Communities and affected stakeholders
Guidance for engaging indigenous peoples, communities and other affected stakeholders as part of identifying nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities.
SBTN’s Stakeholder Engagement Guidance
Guidance on how to effectively engage stakeholders to address social impacts connected to science-based targets on climate and nature action.