At Ørsted, we see human rights as fundamental principles to protect people’s dignity and ensure freedom and respect. We also believe they’re foundational for enabling a rapid and just green energy transition.
Why are human rights important in the green energy transition?
Developing our projects and supply chains in new markets poses important human rights considerations that we need to fully understand and address as we continue to grow.
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We’re committed to respecting human rights in everything we do – across our entire value chain.
Through our ‘Global human rights policy’, we’re committed to leading a build-out that works for people. In practice, this means that we want to proactively address any potential risks of negative impacts on human rights – and we want to be transparent about our efforts and challenges along the way.
What are we doing?
We’re working to ensure that human rights are respected across our entire value chain. This includes further developing and strengthening our human rights due diligence approach for our employees, local communities, and people in supply chains.
Once fully developed, the approach will be integrated across core business processes. This means we’ll have processes in place to identify and assess human rights issues across our full value chain, take appropriate actions, follow up, monitor, and report on activities internally and externally.
Developing meaningful stakeholder engagement processes and providing an effective grievance mechanism will also be key to ensuring a fully robust due diligence process.
Latest news
In 2023, we implemented several activities and solutions in response to the results from our latest human rights impact assessment.
- We launched a respectful work environment campaign targeting seafarers.
- We evaluated our human rights due diligence approach for suppliers to increase focus on high-risk categories.
- We strengthened collaboration amongst internal teams to secure greater on-site presence at our suppliers.
- We developed global standards on community feedback mechanism and social and human rights impact assessment (*both pending approval) as part of strengthening our project lifecycle human rights due diligence.
- We developed a new global labour and employment rights policy to enhance transparency and actively safeguard labour, employment and human rights within our workforce.
Our salient human rights areas
We’ve identified six key areas where human rights are most at risk throughout our value chain. Learn about our efforts to prevent, reduce and remedy any negative effects on human rights, whether on land or at sea.
What’s next?
In 2024, we’ll continue to develop and strengthen our human rights management system throughout our company:
- We’ll finalise the development of our strategic roadmap for further integration of human rights due diligence in Ørsted with our external partner.
- We’ll seek approval for a new supplier due diligence approach.
- We’ll seek approval for the implementation of our global standards on community feedback mechanism and social and human rights impact assessment at a project/asset level.
Frameworks and partnerships
International frameworks
- UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
- OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises
- IFC Performance Standards
- ILO Core Conventions
Governance
Accountability lies with our Sustainability Committee with broad representation from the business, including People & Development, Procurement, QHSE, Global Stakeholder Relations, and Global Sustainability. Policies
These efforts contribute towards the following Sustainable Development Goals:
