Transform

Heartland provides institutional investors with tailored learning services to help transform their policies, practices, and cultures. 

Heartland’s learning services are designed to assist investors in identifying and addressing interconnected human rights and material risks across their entire stewardship activities. Through supporting company engagement,  conducting HRDD for portfolios, or developing human rights policies and screens, Heartland works with learning partners to better understand their institutional values, needs, and priorities and develop solutions that fulfill their evolving ethical and fiduciary responsibilities. 

  • Investor Joint Statement on European Commission’s ‘Omnibus Legislation’

    Heartland has joined the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), the European Sustainable Investment Forum (Eurosif), and the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), alongside more than 200 investors and service providers to urge the European Commission to “preserve the integrity and ambition” of the EU’s sustainable finance framework. The move comes amid alarm that
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  • The Intersection of Human Rights and Financial Risks

    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
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  • Rights, Risks & Returns: Advancing Responsible and Effective Investments in Conflict-Affected Areas

    On the sidelines of Building Bridges in Geneva, Heartland, in partnership with TrustWorks Global, de Pury Pictet Turrettini, and the One Earth Future Foundation, co-hosted a closed-door workshop titled “Rights, Risks, and Returns: Advancing Responsible and Effective Investments in Conflict-Affected Areas” for Swiss financial institutions. Amid rising instability, investors—including DFIs, commercial, institutional, and impact investors—are
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  • Sustainalytics to Stop Covering Human Rights Issues in ‘Contiguous Territorial Disputes’

    Sustainalytics, an ESG research firm owned by Morningstar, will no longer assess human rights issues in the “Israeli-Palestinian conflict area” and parts of Ukraine. Morningstar informed clients last week that this decision stems from concerns about the reliability of information from these regions. The company stated that human rights information related to “contiguous territorial disputes”
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  • UN Forum on Business and Human Rights 2024 | Is the Arms Industry Exempt from Human Rights Due Diligence?

    Heartland co-organized the session “Is the Arms Industry Exempt from Human Rights Due Diligence?” at the annual UN Forum on Business and Human Rights in Geneva. Given the increasing exemptions of the arms industry from mandatory human rights due diligence (HRDD), Susi Snyder (International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Tulia Machado-Helland (Storebrand), James Ninrew Dong
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  • First Public Meeting of the Advisory Committee on Responsible Business Conduct

    Today, the Advisory Committee on Responsible Business Conduct convened for its inaugural meeting. The Committee discussed initial recommendations aimed at advancing human rights and environmental considerations in business conduct, in alignment with the U.S. National Action Plan and the U.S. National Contact Point for Responsible Business Conduct. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights,
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  • Engagement in Complex Contexts: Exchange on Lessons Learned

    On December 11th, Heartland’s Sam Jones will participate in the “Engagement in Complex Contexts: Exchange on Lessons Learned” session at next week’s Building Bridges event in Geneva.  Amid rising global conflicts, responsible business practices are imperative for companies and investors to navigate increasingly complex geopolitical landscapes. Growing stakeholder demands for corporate responsiveness on social issues
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  • Heartland Joins the Global Network Initiative

    Heartland is pleased to announce our membership in the Global Network Initiative (GNI) as part of its investor constituency. GNI is the leading multistakeholder forum for accountability, shared learning, and collective advocacy on government and company policies and practices at the intersection of technology and human rights.
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  • Engaging Business Forum 2024

    On October 16th, Heartland’s Sam Jones will speak at the annual Engaging Business Forum at The Coca-Cola Company headquarters in Atlanta. This Forum convenes leaders from business, civil society, trade unions, and government to address today’s most pressing human rights challenges. If you’re attending, don’t miss the panel discussion titled “What’s Heightened about hHRDD?” Heightened
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  • The Saliency-Materiality Nexus

    In The Saliency Materiality Nexus: Addressing systemic risks to people and portfolios in a turbulent world, Heartland, Wespath Benefits & Investments, and Schroders Asset Management provides a practical, rights-based framework that can focus investors’ analytical and engagement efforts on identifying and addressing the most severe and systemic social risks in their portfolios.
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  • Civil Society Letter: United States Must Reverse the Declining Use of Global Magnitsky Sanctions

    Heartland along with 95 leading human rights and anticorruption nongovernmental organizations called on the U.S. Department of Treasury and the State Department to reverse the declining use of Global Magnitsky sanctions and act on dozens of outstanding civil society recommendations. In these final months of the Biden administration, we urge you to take immediate steps
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  • Rich Stazinski Named to the Federal Advisory Committee on Responsible Business Conduct

    Heartland is pleased to announce that Rich Stazinski has been named to the U.S. State Department’s newly formed Advisory Committee on Responsible Business Conduct. The federal advisory committee will play a critical role in shaping U.S. policy on responsible business conduct.
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