2023 ENGAGING BUSINESS FORUM
15th AnnualEngaging Business Forum
11th OCTOBER 2023
Time
Agenda
7:30-8:30AM
1
Breakfast
1 Hr
8:35-8:40AM
2
Intro to the conference
5 mins
8:40-8:45AM
3
Welcome by Corporate SVP & Global CPO Lisa Chang - The Coca-Cola Company
5 mins
8:45-8:57AM
4
Discussion between Lisa Chang and Jill Savitt - President & CEO, National Center for Civil and Human Rights
12 mins
8:57-9:00AM
5
Introduction to Keynote Address
3 mins
Secretary-General, International Organisation of Employers
9:00-9:05AM
6
Keynote Address
5 mins
Director General, ILO
9:05-9:15AM
7
Opening Introduction
10 mins
Global Vice President, Human Rights, Labor and Employee Relations, The Coca-Cola Company
9:15-10:30AM
8
Panel 1: The Virtues and Vices of Law
1 Hr 15 Min
The proliferation of corporate human rights legislation across the world is focusing business attention on human rights due diligence. From a practitioner’s perspective, however, the increased commitment carries its own risks. The different regulatory regimes—due diligence, disclosure, and trade sanctions—can create perverse incentives for global business. And a legal compliance approach can sometimes impede best practice. This panel will seek to analyze whether legal proliferation is in fact driving a better practice, or merely a rigid compliance-based approach to business respect for human rights.
Senior Adviser for ESG, Debovoise
Senior Director, Oxfam America's Private Sector Department, Oxfam
Advisor, International Organisation of Employers
Founding Partner, Donoso & Associatos
Partner, Gibson & Dunn
10:30-10:45AM
9
Networking Break
15 Min
10:45-12:00PM
10
Panel 2: Corporate Political Responsibility and BHR
1 Hr 15 Min
Corporate responsibility to respect human rights and manage ESG risk is increasingly conflated by supporters and detractors alike with an obligation to take a stand on polarizing political issues – independently of whether the business is involved in any risk to stakeholders. But these are largely distinct and independent issues. BHR & ESG are largely focused on effective risk management. Corporate Political Responsibility (CPR) is frequently seen as more focused on advocacy. This panel will discuss the distinction between CPR and BSR/ESG and what that means for an effective sustainability strategy in a context of increasing political polarization.
Director of Erb Institute Corp Political Responsibility Task Force, University of Michigan
Global Head of Government Relations, DoorDash
Director, Global Employment Policy & Special Initiatives, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Associate Director, Human Rights, BSR
Practice Head Consumer and Retail, Eurasia Group
12:00-1:15PM
11
Lunch
1 Hr 15 Min
1:15-2:30PM
12
Panel 3: Stakeholder Right to information
1 Hr 15 Min
Transparency is a core expectation of effective human rights due diligence and remedy. But what is reasonable for stakeholders to expect in terms of general and tailored disclosure? Where and how can businesses draw reasonable limits in response to stakeholder requests, especially in light of emerging business and human rights legislation granting greater rights to demand information?
Director, A2
Co-Founder and CEO, Plural
Chief Negotiator & Head of Employee Relations, Equinor
Executive Officer, Business and Human Rights Lawyers Association
Business & Human Rights Counsel, Verizon
2:30-3:45PM
13
Panel 4: AI and Human Rights
1 Hr 15 Min
Artificial intelligence has made great leaps forward in recent years, with implications for businesses across sectors. But the deployment of AI technologies implicates an array of rights from the right to privacy, to the right to work, to protection from discrimination. This panel will discuss how to assess those potential rights impacts and how to deploy AI responsibly.
Co-Founder & Principal, Article One
Business and Human Rights Lead, Access Now
Director of Human Rights Policy, Meta
Corporate Vice President, Technology for Fundamental Rights, Microsoft
Global Head of Human Rights, Google
3:45-5:00PM
14
Panel 5: Practical Challenges of Just Transition
1 Hr 15 Min
The transition to a green economy is a global imperative. It is a need that carries tremendous opportunities and risks for workers, communities, and consumers. Companies have a central role to play in driving this evolution directly and through engagement on public policy. This panel will consider how business and government should consider, weigh, and address human rights risks in pursuit of their broader environmental ambitions.
CEO, Institute for Human Rights and Business
Secretary-General, International Organisation of Employers
Senior Director - Water & Agriculture, Coca-Cola
Vice President of Global Programs, the Institute for Sustainable Communities
Global Head for Social Impact & Human Rights, Nestle
5:00-7:30PM
15
Cocktail Reception
2.5 Hrs
12th OCTOBER 2023
Time
Agenda
7:30-8:30AM
1
Breakfast
1 Hr
8:40-8:42AM
2
Welcome Day 2
2 mins
Global Vice President, Human Rights, Labor and Employee Relations, The Coca-Cola Company
8:42-8:45AM
3
Keynote Introduction
3 mins
President CEO, USCIB
8:45-9:00AM
4
Keynote Address
15 mins
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
9:00-10:15AM
5
Panel 1: Strategies for Successful Stakeholder Engagement
1 Hr 15 Min
Stakeholder engagement is a core element of effective human rights programs and due diligence, but it is too often just a form crisis management, shallowly formalistic, or narrow in scope. This session will explore how companies can practically enhance their stakeholder engagement processes to deliver long-term benefits.
Vice President, Policy Strategy, Global Public Policy, The Walt Disney Company
Director of Global Initiatives, Human Rights Watch
President and CEO, Landesa
Senior Advisor, Trustworks Global
Senior Director Global Social Sustainability & Stakeholder Engagement, Mondelez
10:15-10:30AM
6
Networking Break
15 mins
10:30-11:45AM
7
Panel 2: Bringing Living Wage to Life
1 Hr 15 Min
“Living wage” is a core component of emerging law and stakeholder expectations, but the concept is challenging—from identifying context-tailored metrics to mapping the supply chain to ensuring practical ongoing evaluation and accountability. This panel will explore the practical challenges to understanding and implementing meaningful living wage commitments across global value chains.
Global Directory Human Rights Governance, The Coca-Cola Company
Global Head of Sustainability (Human Rights), Unilever
Founder, Living Wage for US
Senior Economist, Wage Specialist, International Labour Organisation
Director, Corporate Responsibility and Labor Affairs, United States Council for International Business
11:45-1:00PM
8
Panel 3: Remedy Beyond Tier 1
1 Hr 15 Min
Stakeholders and regulators increasingly expect corporate grievance mechanisms to be accessible to workers and communities affected by the sub-tier value chain, both upstream and downstream. The design of such mechanisms raises serious legal and practical concerns, from expanding liability to identifying the contours of the relevant supply chain.
Henry M. Jackson Prof. of Law and Director, Sustainable Intl Development Grad Program at University of Washington
Labor and Human Rights, Global Supply Chain, Apple
OECD Centre for Responsible Business Conduct
Country Manager, Solidaridad
Assistant General Counsel for Human Rights and Sustainability, Mars
1:00-1:15PM
9
Discussions with the Sponsors – USCIB, IOE, US Chamber of Commerce
15 Min
1:15-2:30PM
10
Lunch
1 Hr 15 Min