The Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB) released its annual list of top business and human rights issues (December 2024), which forecasts the priority challenges and opportunities for responsible business in 2025. The list also includes key actions for companies to take.
Human Level’s Take:
- 2024 has had its share of highs and low for people and planet, and the crystal ball tells us that 2025 is likely to continue to bring transformative change in society, business, investment, global governance and beyond.
- IHRB’s top ten list of business and human rights issues for 2025 spans a wide range of trends: some text
- Respect for human rights in the race to renewables
- Untying finance and conflict
- Mapping and addressing AI risks
- Strengthening human rights and environmental protections in shipping
- The role for business in conflict recovery
- Operating with respect for human rights in a conflict context
- Mandatory human rights due diligence legislation
- Ensuring safe migration and rights of migrant workers
- The power of diversity, equity and inclusion
- Restoring climate confidence
- Companies play a pivotal role in each of these areas, but they don’t need to act alone. Ensuring human rights due diligence, meaningful stakeholder engagement and access to remedy across business value chains will help companies take the steps to prepare for these trends internally and with business partners. At the same time, advocating and partnering with governments, trade unions and civil society for strong regulatory approaches to issues like workers’ rights, FPIC, climate change and beyond can help move mountains.
- Our prediction for 2025? A significantly larger number of companies and their partners will embrace the transformation needed to address these challenges. They will see a role for themselves in helping shape the world that we want to live in, they will embrace innovation and forward thinking on human rights and the environment, and they will face the challenges head on, leaning into difficult topics instead of drawing back.
The top ten list and some key takeaways:
- “Ensuring accountability in the rush for renewables”: Consumption of renewable energy is expected to grow 60% by 2030 and demand for transition minerals is expected to triple by 2030, spurring more demand for transition minerals and land for clean energy infrastructure. Companies in the renewable energy sector must develop comprehensive environmental and human rights impact assessments, aligning with UN and EU standards. This includes respecting Free, Prior and Informed Consent from Indigenous communities, maintaining ongoing dialogue with stakeholders, and implementing transparent reporting and grievance mechanisms. Failure to do so can lead to conflict, delays, and long-term financial costs.
- “Preventing finance from fueling conflict”: Corruption and illicit financial flows, particularly in climate financing, can divert resources and exacerbate instability, with many financial actors lacking awareness of how their decisions may harm human rights. The political backlash against ESG investment models, combined with a lack of clear data and metrics, complicates efforts to improve social performance and avoid contributing to conflict. Financial integrity and responsible investment, guided by frameworks like the UN Principles for Responsible Investment, are crucial for preventing investments that may fuel violence or support oppressive regimes. Financial institutions are also urged to prioritise transparency, meaningful community engagement and effective grievance mechanisms.
- “Confronting AI risks”: The rapid advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has raised significant concerns about its potential risks to human rights, including bias, privacy violations, accountability issues and the spread of misinformation. In response, governments, companies and NGOs are pushing for responsible AI development. Businesses should invest in human oversight and upskilling to identify and address human rights risks. For their part, governments need to implement legally binding regulations, like the EU's AI Act, to address high-risk systems and ensure transparency. Moving forward, companies must prioritise user consent, data protection, continuous monitoring, and compliance with regulatory frameworks.
- “Responding to shipping dangers”: “Dark fleets” (illegal shipping vessels) have gained attention due to sanctions on Iranian, Venezuelan and Russian oil. They pose significant risks to seafarers and to the environment: they increase the likelihood of accidents, exploitation of workers and abandonment of vessels, with reported abandonments tripling since 2021. In response, industry leaders must collaborate with governments and conduct rigorous due diligence to prevent their activities from supporting dark fleet operations, ensuring transparency and accountability across the sector.
- “Rebuilding war-torn states”: Rebuilding societies after conflict is a critical but challenging task, with political instability, fragile infrastructure and environmental damage often hindering recovery efforts. Past reconstruction projects have shown that neglecting human rights and community engagement can worsen existing inequalities and environmental degradation, potentially fueling further conflict. To ensure sustainable recovery, the private sector must prioritise local community engagement, human rights due diligence, environmental protection, and transparency and anti-corruption measures, while balancing the need for rapid development with long-term peace-building goals.
- “Abiding by humanitarian law”: The rise in global conflicts has left 210 million people living under non-state armed control or in contested areas, where companies face serious risks of complicity in human rights abuses if proper safeguards are not implemented. While businesses are essential to civilian life in conflict zones, providing critical services like healthcare and infrastructure, they must ensure responsible security provision and comply with international humanitarian law to avoid becoming complicit in violence. Companies must conduct heightened due diligence, following guidelines from organisations like the UN and Australian Red Cross, to mitigate risks, avoid legal challenges and prevent negative impacts on civilians from their operations in conflict areas.
- “Implementing mandatory measures”: The EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), requiring companies to report on social and environmental risks and their impacts using "double materiality," is currently driving compliance, with the first reports due in 2025. The first tranche of reports will encourage companies to learn from best practices and help make the case internally for robust reporting to combat legal concerns, especially around greenwashing. The European Commission plans to streamline sustainability regulations through an omnibus, but regardless of the form of the laws, true human rights due diligence should focus on risk identification and mitigation beyond “form filling and tick-box compliance.”
- “Making migration work for all”: Migrant workers are vital to global economies but often face exploitation in "3D jobs" (those that are dirty, demeaning and dangerous). They also tend to earn significantly less than local workers and face a higher risk of forced labour. And migration is poised to increase as a result of climate change, nature loss and conflict. Amid global rising anti-migrant sentiments and weakened labour protections, businesses must advocate for safe migration pathways and foster awareness of migrant workers' rights. They should also aim to counter bias and improve workplace cohesion. Companies can also collaborate with policymakers to shape humane migration policies, strengthen community support and ensure worker protections aligned with international human rights standards.
- “Advancing workplace diversity”: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies are facing growing backlash in multiple countries, and some companies are rolling back efforts in response to political pressure and misconceptions. However, DEI initiatives have been shown to boost morale, improve business performance and reflect the diversity of the communities companies serve, leading to tangible progress like more women CEOs and ethnic minorities in leadership roles. To preserve these gains, companies must demonstrate how DEI policies drive innovation, enhance decision-making and improve profitability, using clear data and transparent reporting to dispel myths and reinforce the value of these initiatives.
- “Restoring confidence in climate action”: 2025 is a pivotal year for climate action, and COP30 in Brazil represents one of the last opportunities for governments to strengthen climate commitments through updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) before 2030. At the same time, confidence in governments and companies to take climate action is low. As the economic forces driving climate action grow stronger, the private sector must step in to complement government efforts, particularly by adopting net-zero targets and aligning with global climate goals. Business leaders can play a key role by setting ambitious targets, driving sectoral collaboration, investing in green systems and ensuring that climate action is people-centered, integrating human rights and environmental due diligence to support vulnerable communities.
