“From Iraq to Investor Roundtables”

Original Author: Storebrand Asset Management
Publication: Storebrand Asset Management Sustainable Investment Review Q1 2025
Published Date: 07/05/2025

As geopolitical conflict and global fragility continue to intensify, investors are increasingly confronted with a complex landscape of human rights and material risks. For decades, Storebrand Asset Management (Storebrand AM) has employed an integrated approach to managing portfolio risks related to human rights, particularly in conflict-affected and high-risk areas (CAHRA).

In this effort, Storebrand AM has built a valuable partnership with the Heartland Initiative, an organization specializing in human rights in fragile contexts. Recently, Storebrand AM sat down with Sam Jones, President and co-founder of Heartland Initiative, to explore the evolving responsibilities of investors in safeguarding human rights amid a growing climate of violence and volatility.

How do you expect this landscape of managing human rights risk to evolve?

How do you expect this landscape of managing human rights risk to evolve? A proactive, systematic approach to CAHRA-related risks is the way forward, including so that investors aren’t playing a game of “whack a mole” with every new conflict or crisis as it arises. This is where investors like Storebrand are leading, and we hope others will follow suit. It’s not just a matter of having a better policy for Israel-Palestine, Russia-Ukraine, Myanmar and so on. It is about looking at a company’s CAHRA risk universe and encouraging the company to adopt policies, practices, and governance measures that deal with these as severe and systemic risks across the business model. The moment investors try to be anything they are not, they lose credibility. That’s true, but there are also responsibilities—ethical, legal, and fiduciary— that, when taken together, mean that investors must address those risks that present the most severe and severe harms to people, the planet, and their portfolios. Ultimately ,it’s not the role of the financial sector to replace states or policymaking bodies and institutions, but it is the role of the financial sector to help reinforce and support the norms, laws, and institutions that protect human rights, enforce the laws of war, and advance global economic stability that can help guard human rights.

READ THE INTERVIEW

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