B0961 - ESG Compliance

Learning outcomes

The course aims to provide students with understanding of the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance) compliance standards elaborated by different organizations with a particular focus on the Social part of the agenda. The students will understand the reasons of emergence of the “social responsibility” of business and the evolution of this idea. During the classes the system of binding and voluntary systems for ESG compliance will be explained, with the particular focus on the UN and OECD standards.

During practical classes the students will be engaged in a debate on the famous Milton Friedman’s article “The Social Responsibility Of Business Is to Increase Its Profits”, in a moot consideration of a case by an OECD NCP.

Working in groups the students will be asked to develop their own business idea and demonstrate the value of ESG in the promotion and realization of these progects. At the end of the course students will be able to: understand the reasons of ESG reporting; be aware of hard and soft law instruments on this issue; deal with ESG compliance standards, understand the EU evolving reporting and due diligence framework.

Course contents

1. Introduction. Why ESG?

2. The history of ILO standards and human rights.

3. ILO fundamental standards

4. UN Human rights instruments

5. The raise of public concern over responsible conduct of business: introduction into ILO MNE Declaration, OECD Guidelines, UN Business and Human rights principles and Sustainable development goals.

6. What is understood under Environmental, Social and Governance factors?

6.1. "E" factor: Climate change, waste management and pollution prevention

6.2. "S" factor: Forced labour.

6.3. "S" factor: other fundamental labour standards.

6.4. "S" factor: does a wage matter?

6.5. "G" factor: Internal controls, board governance and business ethics.

7. Who has to ensure due diligence and how?

8.What does sustainability reporting mean, what are the types of reporting?

Readings/Bibliography

Henderson, Rebecca M. "Reimagining capitalism." Management and Business Review 1.1 (2021).

Bernd Waas, The “S” in ESG and international labour standards, International Journal of Disclosure and Governance (2021) 18:403–410

Park, Stephen, Untangling the Extraterritoriality of ESG Regulation (June 28, 2024). North Carolina Journal of International Law, Vol. 49, No. 4, 2024, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4887970

Kott, Sandrine. "ILO: social justice in a global world? A history in tension." In The ILO@ 100, pp. 21-39. Brill Nijhoff, 2019.

Standing, Guy. "The ILO: An agency for globalization?." Development and change 39, no. 3 (2008): 355-384.

Sychenko, E. (2023). Labour Rights and International Labour Standards in the ESG Agenda. Italian Labour Law E-Journal, 16(1), 135–148. https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1561-8048/15832

Lafarre A., Rombouts B., Towards Mandatory Human Rights Due Diligence: Assessing its Impact on Fundamental Labour Standards in Global Value Chains, in European Journal of Risk Regulation, 2022, 1-17

Chambers, Rachel, and David Birchall. "How European Human Rights Law Will Reshape US Business." UC L. SF Bus. J. 20 (2024): 3.

Teaching methods

The course comprises 20 hours of lectures and 20 hours of practical classes. The students are involved in the class discussion during the lectures, practical classes will consist of group project work, participation in the debate and preparing the reports.

Assessment methods

The final grade will be calculated in the following way:

• 70% - the evaluation of the written essay which should be sent by the day of the exam, presence at the exam is not needed  (maximum 20 points)
• 30% - the evaluation of the results of group work (maximum 10 points).

Teaching tools

Work in the Teams channel, PPT presentations, reading material,films and videos proposed in the watch list sent to the students before the lectures and practical classes.

Office hours

See the website of Elena Sychenko