This will be a year of inter-connections and community.
Inter-connections between climate and human rights. Inter-connections between biodiversity, climate and human rights. Inter-connections between water, waste, plastics, climate and human rights. And the list of inter-connections goes on. And with inter-connections come synergies. Synergies between methodologies, strategies, teams…. Communities forming, and strengthening, to tackle the world ahead.
It’s a strange mixture of emotions. We are apprehensive about what’s ahead. The first Monday of the year was the warmest day recorded - ever - in at least eight countries. (And we’ll just stop the list there). Yet, we feel incredibly strong: strong determination, strong energy and strong methodologies and practice to support the private sector in taking a rights-based approach to their work - to their business models, their strategies, their due diligence. We have been working on forward-looking cross-cutting projects that give us confidence that this can happen. And we feel buoyed up by the incredible community around us. I have received messages from a lot of you in response to my 2022 Human Rights Day piece. A number of you note that you feel the same: we are a generation with a significant privilege, and with privilege comes responsibility.
Together, we will make 2023 the year that we put people and planet at the core of our systems. We are holding our retreat in London this month and I already know that we’ll be making a lot of changes this year, to ensure we can match our impact with the state of the world we are in. We can’t wait to hear what you have planned for your 2023 - do let us know.
Happy New Year everyone.
