Protecting Human Rights While Solving Climate Change Riddle

Climate change deniers may contend that regulatory compliance takes its human toll in supply chain management outcomes, but a new body of research contends that the benefits slightly outweigh the risks.

BSR, a San Francisco-based global consultancy with hundreds of international shippers in its network, recently published a working paper on climate change and supply chain disruptions in the Pacific Rim. The forecast is at best, mixed.

Researchers note in “Building Resilience While Protecting Human Rights,” that Pacific Rim shippers are making significant strides in regulatory compliance.

However, the intersection between climate change and human rights is complex, and it is playing out in a dynamic global system that is changing in rapid and unpredictable ways.

“Climate policy, the geopolitical landscape, the global economy, technological innovation, and other issues will significantly impact how society and business respond to climate and human rights risks,” says BSR associate director Hannah Darnton.

Darnton also contends that the COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted the importance of strong business support for social resilience, while social justice efforts more broadly have made clear the risks businesses and society face if human rights issues are left unaddressed.

“We can be certain that climate change is already fueling future global crises,” she says. “Now is the time to prepare and make investments that consider the impact on human rights.”

BSR observes that Human Rights are also coming to the fore in U.S.- China trade relations, resulting in pressure on Pacific Rim shippers to end ties with suppliers based in China.

Jacob Park, who leads BSR’s “Sustainable Futures Lab,” notes that the U.S. renewable energy market may face challenges given the dominance of China – particularly the Xinjiang region – in the supply of polysilicon to make solar panels. Indeed, Solar Energy Industries Association, America’s top solar trade group, has urged U.S. companies to move their supply chains out of Xinjiang.

“As the world accelerates its transition to a low-carbon future, many governments fast-track investments in renewable energy as part of their COVID-19 recovery plans,” says Park. “But urgent attention must be paid to the supply chains of associated inputs to ensure that clean technologies can be deployed without causing additional harm to human rights and the environment.”

As the connection between climate change and human rights becomes more widely acknowledged, U.S. shippers are increasingly being held accountable for failing to meet their responsibilities.

For example, the Philippines Commission on Human Rights recently issued a landmark decision that fossil fuel companies could be held legally responsible for human rights harms linked to climate change, signaling a trend that companies can be held liable for human rights violations if they fail to adhere to the goals adopted in the Paris Agreement. Such emerging norms and legislations may have an impact on companies’ finances as well as their reputation.

To adequately prepare for these impacts, BSR insists that shippers must work to identify emerging issues at the intersection of climate and human rights.
“By taking a foresight-driven approach, companies can look beyond the present to consider how the macro context could potentially change logistics management strategies,” says Samantha Harris, BSR climate change associate.

To assist with the identification of such trends, Harris and BSR colleagues have undertaken a “horizon-scanning exercise” to identify emerging issues at the intersection of climate change and supply chain management. And there’s no time to waste, she concludes:

“The reality of climate change is no longer debated since eco-shocks spare no country or region. Rather than cooperate on global mitigation efforts, governments and the private sector must now focus on adaptation.”

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