Commentaries
September 16, 2025
Heartland President Sam Jones recently appeared on Just Investing from United Church Funds, which explores significant topics in the field of responsible investing. During the Season 2 premiere, Mr. Jones offered insights on the role of investors in advancing human rights in an increasingly complex global environment. The episode is available for streaming on Spotify,
July 1, 2025
Heartland has joined nearly 200 signatories, including prominent organizations like the European Sustainable Investment Forum (Eurosif), the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), and the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), in issuing a joint statement. The statement emphasizes the critical importance of maintaining the core of the EU’s sustainable finance framework. It highlights that
June 17, 2025
At the recent Responsible Investment Association Australasia Conference, Heartland’s Sam Jones joined Nathan Robertson-Ball on Finding Nature for a timely conversation about how investors and corporations can meaningfully uphold human rights. They explored the intersection of human rights and today’s global challenges, from conflict zones and mass migration to climate disruption, fragile institutions, and emerging
December 13, 2024
The human and financial costs of geopolitical turbulence are rising sharply. The World Bank estimates that by 2030, two-thirds of the world’s poorest populations will live in countries affected by fragility, conflict, and violence, while the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) reports a 40% increase in conflict between 2023 and 2020. Further, the 2021 Economic Value of Peace report indicates
March 11, 2024
Sam Jones & Rich Stazinski | Financial Times | March 11, 2024 During his interview with the FT (February 23), Mondelez chief executive Dirk Van de Put proclaimed that investors do not “morally care” if groups stay in Russia, reducing a diverse and engaged group of corporate stakeholders to an amoral monolith. Investors from the
October 27, 2022
Sam Jones, Rich Stazinski, and Rebecca DeWinter-Schmitt (Investor Alliance for Human Rights) explore investor responses to the Russian war against Ukraine in Cambridge University’s Business and Human Rights Journal. Following the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, many investors responded by unloading their Russian sovereign debt holdings. However, data from Bloomberg show that at the
June 9, 2021
Sam Jones & Richard Stazinski | Business & Human Rights Resource Centre | June 9, 2024 The ten year anniversary of the UNGPs comes at a time when investors are increasingly answering this clarion call, prioritizing human rights risks in conflict-affected areas like Myanmar, encouraging companies to prevent and mitigate human rights risks in these