Human Rights Due Diligence and the Climate Change Dimension: Implications for Investor Responsibility in International Investment Law

The concept of human rights due diligence (hrdd) of businesses under the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (ungps) is an important milestone in the standards of business conduct. The responsibility of businesses to conduct hrdd is focused on the human rights risks to, or impacts on, communities from business activities. Recent developments highlight the increasing convergence and integration between the ungps’ framework of hrdd and climate change. This synergy contrasts starkly with the state of the international investment regime, which has traditionally been characterized as operating in isolation from other fields in international law, notably human rights and environmental law. Given that international investment law is now increasingly featuring the human rights responsibility of foreign investors – in particular with respect to the ungps’ framework of hrdd or its public-interest aspect – the intersection of human rights and international investment law serves as a potential pathway to advancing investor responsibility for the climate-related harm that investment activities may cause.