The institute helps Stora Enso undertake group-wide human rights assessment

The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights require companies to understand how they might cause or contribute to adverse impacts on human rights.This reportsummarizes thehuman rights impactsof the company’s activitiesworldwide.

“Very few companies have undertaken human rights due diligence on this scale​.In a globalised world, there is urgent need for businesses to deal with their human rights impacts.Companies need to understand how they might cause or contribute to adverse impacts on human rights. Having this knowledge is a prerequisite for being a sustainable company,” saysAllan Lerberg Jørgensen, Director ofthe Human Rights and Development Department at the Danish Institute for Human Rights.

Time for action
The assessments looked at 43 human rights issue areas, covering labour rights, community impacts andsuppliers and business partners.Itispart of Stora Enso’s ongoing due diligence, and wascarried out in 2014with guidance fromthe Danish Institute for HumanRights.

“This was a new endeavor for us and we have our partners - especially the Danish Institute for HumanRights – to thank for guiding us,” says Karl-Henrik Sundström, CEO of Stora Enso.

“Going forward, we will engage with stakeholders in reviewing the results and planning actions. Launching the human rights action plans in 2015 will be a top priority for us. We see this report as a baseline and will agree on ambitious but realistic milestones based on detailed analysis of what needs to be done to make a real change. The way we see it, transparency increases accountability.”

"Respect for human rights is not something that can be achieved over night, it is a continous process of knowing you impacts and showing what you are doing to address them. We look forward to following Stora Enso in this process," says Allan Lerberg Jørgensen.