Overview

Fifteen years after the endorsement of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, businesses are facing a rapidly evolving risk landscape shaped by climate change. While human rights implications of climate change are increasingly evident, global norms and business practices, are still catching up despite consequences on supply chain resilience. Extreme heat, flooding, droughts, and climate-related disruptions are already affecting millions of workers across agriculture, manufacturing, logistics, construction, and automotive supply chains, with direct implications for health, safety, income security, productivity, and business continuity.

Despite growing evidence that climate impacts are becoming a material human rights and economic issue, business practice, regulatory frameworks, and due diligence systems are still not adequately equipped to anticipate and manage these risks. Existing approaches often separate climate resilience from labour rights and human rights due diligence, leaving significant governance and implementation gaps.

Aligned with the Forum theme, "Building Resilience, Advancing Rights," this interactive session will bring together companies, governments, investors, trade unions and civil society to explore how climate adaptation, worker protection and human rights due diligence can be better integrated to build resilient, rights-respecting supply chains. Through a moderated panel discussion and active audience participation, participants will exchange practical experiences, examine emerging approaches to managing heat stress, flooding and other climate-related risks, and identify the collaborations, tools and policy frameworks needed to strengthen resilience in increasingly climate-vulnerable markets. The session aims to move beyond identifying challenges towards practical solutions that help businesses protect workers, strengthen supply chain resilience and advance responsible business conduct in the face of accelerating climate impacts.

Why it matters

Many companies still manage climate risk, labour rights and human rights due diligence through separate processes, leaving significant gaps in addressing climate-induced risks to workers and supply chains. This session responds to the growing need for practical approaches that integrate climate adaptation with human rights and responsible business conduct. By bringing together diverse stakeholders, it will explore actionable solutions, emerging practices and collaborative approaches to build more resilient, rights-respecting supply chains.

Key questions

• How can companies and other stakeholders integrate climate adaptation, worker protection and human rights due diligence to build supply chains that are both resilient and rights-respecting?

• What practical examples and emerging practices demonstrate how companies are addressing climate-induced risks to workers across global supply chains?

• What collaborations, tools and policy frameworks are currently being developed or needed to incentivise and scale effective action on climate-induced labour and human rights risks?

Who should attend?

Companies, Civil society organisations, trade unions, governments, Workers / rights holders / communities, Human rights defenders, Academia and researchers and Youth

What participants will gain

• A clearer understanding of climate-induced labour and human rights risks across supply chains

• Examples of emerging business, policy, and multi-stakeholder responses to heat and flood-related risks

• Insights into the roles of governments, investors, workers and civil society in strengthening climate-resilient, rights-respecting supply chains.

• Practical pathways for cross-sector collaboration to strengthen resilient and rights-based supply chains

Additional resources

• amfori Blog - https://www.amfori.org/blog/ 

• WBA Integrated Transition Assessment methodology - https://www.worldbenchmarkingalliance.org/latest/draft-methodology-integrated-transition-assessment