Advising the European Investment Bank on demonstrating its approach to ensuring respect for human rights in investments
The EIB takes an integrated approach to human rights risk management through a commitment to prevent and mitigate human rights impacts as part of its environmental and social safeguards implementation. The collaboration aims to support the EIB in developing a stand-alone document clarifying to external stakeholders how its human rights commitment is articulated in and operationalised through the bank’s environmental and social sustainability policies and procedures as well as illustrate how respect for human rights is implemented in practice. The DIHR’s advice aims to ensure that the document is informed by international standards on business and human rights such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) and can serve as a relevant source of information for internal and external stakeholders including potentially affected stakeholders and their representatives.
The EIB, as the lending arm of the European Union (EU), is both an investment bank and a multilateral development bank active inside and outside the European Union. The Bank provides finance such as loans, equity, guarantees, to public and private entities. Beyond the borders of the Union, the Bank invests in projects that further the objectives of EU´s development aid and cooperation policy. The Bank is overseen by a Board of Governors comprised of the finance ministers of the EU member states.
Why this matters
In February 2022, the EIB adopted a new Group Environment and Social Sustainability Framework (ESSF), consisting of an Environmental and Social Policy and a revised set of Environmental and Social standards. The ESSF underwent a public consultation process throughout 2021, and an accompanying explanatory note was published containing a specific section dedicated to explaining EIB’s approach to human rights. The Bank decided to build upon that explanatory note to develop a dedicated human rights document.
EIB, as many other multilateral development banks (MDBs), have sought to integrate a stronger and more explicit human rights dimension in their existing environmental and social risk management frameworks building upon the UNGPs. However, discussions around the extent to which integrated approaches effectively prevent, mitigate and remediate human rights harm remain.
Clearer communication by the EIB on how it seeks to respect human rights through an integrated approach will provide clarity to internal and external stakeholders and serve as a joint reference point for dialogue between the bank and its external stakeholders, including civil society organisations monitoring the human rights impacts of MDBs.
Start: June 2022
End: January 2023