Institute for Human Rights and Business

We're Hiring! Join us as a Programme Manager for our Built Environment Programme if you: 🇪🇸 Are based in or near Spain 🏗 Have a deep understanding of the built environment sector ✊ Are passionate about rights-based social change 🤝 Are experienced working with multilateral approaches and 💡 Have a strong track record of influencing policy within business and / or government Some of the things you'll be working on include: ✅ Establishing a network of front-running businesses and civil society members to advance a just transition in the Spanish built environment ✅ Influencing and advocacy to strengthen built environment policy and regulations at the local, national and international levels ✅ Increasing awareness of the Dignity by Design approach 💻 Apply today: https://lnkd.in/dQMfKT3u

In cities across the world there has been pushback against green initiatives - or so called ‘greenlash'. Net zero is an imperative, so what can be learned from green initiatives that are having a positive impact on workers and communities? In the latest episode our Voices podcast, IHRB’s Head of Built Environment Giulio Ferrini has been speaking to people working on green transitions in cities around the world to hear more about the positive and negative impacts of green initiatives on the ground. He speaks to Barbara Steenbergen (International Union of Tenants (IUT)), Lionel VAN RILLAER (Inclusio SA), Paola Cammilli (BWI - GLOBAL UNION - Building and Wood Workers' International) and Oluwafemi Joshua Ojo. 🎧 Listen to the episode for more: https://pod.fo/e/2563cc

Was wonderful to sit down with Sean Carroll and discuss the crucial role of human rights in the built environment's just transition We discussed: 💡 The findings of Institute for Human Rights and Business's research on Just Transitions in the Built Environment https://lnkd.in/dtrd9GyC 🔥 How unintended negative social impacts of green initiatives (renovictions, gentrification) fuel populist narratives pitting decarbonisation against social equity 🚦 The fact that, on the other hand, inequality and decarbonisation can only be tackled in unison, and that historically marginalised groups stand to lose the most from delays to climate action ⚖ Examples of cities fairly sharing the costs and benefits associated with building retrofits between landlords and tenants 🏡 The crucial importance of embedding social safeguards before any transition process, lifting the social floor, minimising harm, avoiding backlash and ultimately accelerating climate action You can listen on the FORESIGHT Climate & Energy app or on https://lnkd.in/djHeSxpj

The global search for JUST Stories is underway. The JUST Stories expert Advisory Council met recently to talk about the critical role of storytelling in inspiring just and fair transitions to #netzero. 🔈Hear the opening remarks from Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and co-chair of the JUST Stories Advisory Council. ➡️ Visit the JUST Stories portal to submit your #justtransition story and help shape international approaches to net zero. https://buff.ly/4a6VJ4N

Unless long-standing issues in the construction sector are addressed - poor working conditions, high injury rates, precarious work - the shortage of construction workers will continue to grow. How can industry, governments and businesses collaborate to create good green jobs? Together with BWI - GLOBAL UNION - Building and Wood Workers' International, IHRB has developed a comprehensive policy brief that: ✅ Explores the evolving landscape of green jobs in the construction sector ✅ Highlights the skills required and the pressing need to improve working conditions. ✅ Addresses the challenges of the green transition and technological change within the construction industry. ✅ Provides critical insights for stakeholders, including workers’ representatives, governments, businesses, and academia, on grounding climate action in social justice. Read and download the briefing: ⬇ https://lnkd.in/e5iYmq4S #greentransition #greenjobs #justtransition

Great to be featured in this wonderful, in-depth article unpacking the complexities of lifting people out of energy poverty, while setting out clear actions to achieve a just transition. As highlighted in Institute for Human Rights and Business's most recent report https://lnkd.in/dtrd9GyC, renovations are crucial for the fulfilment of the right to housing and for tackling climate change but, if introduced without social safeguards, they can result in #renovictions, with tragic consequences on health, wellbeing and job security. While the tenant/landlord split incentive can be complex, in Athens and in Prague, our research uncovered that even renovations funded through public subsidies were resulting in renovictions, meaning public funds were directly being transferred into the pockets of landlords, while displacing tenants.

IHRB's Salil Tripathi remembers Karamat Ali, who died in late June 2024. Karamat Ali was the executive director of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER), and a renowned Pakistani peace activist who campaigned for labour rights and human rights. In 2017, Salil spoke with Karamat Ali on the sidelines of the UN Forum for Business and Human Rights in Geneva, for IHRB's podcast, Voices. Their conversation covered a pivotal case in Pakistan, when a large fire at a garment factory killed more than two hundred workers. You can listen back to the discussion here: https://lnkd.in/eCjNDsZX

How can you tell if a net zero transition is ‘just’? 🔊Listen in to hear the opening remarks from Sharan Burrow, former General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, co-chairing the first meeting of the JUST Stories Advisory Council. Composed of worker, Indigenous, finance, and decarbonisation experts from around the world, the JUST Stories Advisory Council are sharing their insights to guide our global search for stories of net zero transitions with human rights at their core. ➡️Visit the JUST Stories portal to submit your #justtransition story today and help inspire more just, fair and meaningful net zero transitions. https://buff.ly/4a6VJ4N

“A former colleague told a story about how he once asked a migrant worker what it was he wanted. He was told… ‘I just want to be treated with dignity and respect.’ That dignity needs to begin with responsible recruitment.” - Neill Wilkins, closing remarks at the Global Forum for Responsible Recruitment 2024. Two weeks ago, businesses, migrant workers, and civil society came together to advance responsible recruitment for migrant workers in global supply chains. All sessions are now available for you to watch on IHRB’s YouTube channel. Revisit the discussions and catch up on any sessions you might have missed. 🎥 Watch now: https://lnkd.in/e4ruaaTi #GFRR2024 #bizandhumanrights #recruitment #migrantworkers

"Decarbonisation initiatives that are not grounded in human rights risk exacerbating issues of affordability, gentrification, and energy poverty." IHRB's Giulio Ferrini writes for the EUobserver about how #renovictions are contributing to #greenlash – opposition from people and communities negatively impacted by climate policies. He argues that to accelerate the #greentransition, decarbonisation initiatives must be rooted in human rights. 📖 Read more: https://lnkd.in/eAzWwBka