The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) launched the 2025 edition of its annual Renewable Energy and Human Rights Benchmark (September 2025). The benchmark assesses 35 publicly traded companies in the wind and solar sectors on their human rights policies and practices.
Human Level’s Take:
- Climate change represents the greatest threat to human rights, emphasises the BHRRC. Without urgently and meaningfully reducing greenhouse gas emissions, virtually every fundamental human right will be put at risk.
- This means that the renewable energy sector represents a vitally important opportunity to combat climate change. The scale and pace of renewable energy development is positive, yet without strong safeguards for people and the environment, it risks impacting the human rights of the most climate-vulnerable people, setting them back even further as climate change progresses.
- The Renewable Energy and Human Rights Benchmark finds that 67% of companies have maintained or improved their score on human rights policies and practices since last year’s benchmark, especially on conducting human rights due diligence in their operations and supply chains and providing access to grievance mechanisms.
- In addition, 85% of companies have made some progress on the salient human rights issues for the sector. However, for some issue areas, scores remain low, including land and resource rights (average score of 2% across all companies), benefit-sharing with Indigenous Peoples and affected communities (average score of 12%), responsible mineral sourcing (average score 7%), and protecting human rights defenders (average score of 8%).
- Meanwhile, solar panel manufacturers have made progress since last year but continue to lag behind wind turbine manufacturers. In particular, the BHRRC finds that no company in the benchmark publicly discloses its full solar supply chain, which limits the ability to respond to risks of forced labour in solar panel manufacturing in Xinjiang.
- The benchmark includes key recommendations for companies.
- First, downstream companies (including the electric vehicles sector) will need to engage further with upstream suppliers on human rights risks.
- Second, all renewable energy companies can advocate with governments for legal protections of Indigenous Peoples, especially the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC). They can also ensure their own policies and practices ensure respect for FPIC.
- Third, renewable energy companies can promote sharing the benefits of projects with local communities, including through community co-ownership. This could also help build public support for renewable energy projects, advancing the transition.
- Fourth, renewable energy companies can continue to build on progress towards protecting human rights defenders by adopting zero-tolerance policies and opening up meaningful engagement with defenders, who can help ensure sustainable wind and solar operations.
