Database & Analysis of Company Reporting The UN Guiding Principles (UNGP) Reporting Database is an independent, public resource developed by Shift that makes it possible to see what some of the world’s largest companies say about human rights. By shining a light on companies’ existing reporting about their human rights practices, the Reporting Database hopes to increase awareness of both lagging and leading practices, thereby incentivizing improvements that can make a real difference in the lives of people affected by business. The Reporting Database was actively maintained by Shift thanks to generous funding by DFID through March 2020. It was developed by a team of analysts who review companies’ entire body of disclosure and map relevant information to the expectations set by the global standard of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. All information included in the Reporting Database must be publicly available. It does not include any documents, data, or other information that is only internal to the company. Each company is asked for feedback, which is incorporated based solely on its alignment with the Reporting Database’s methodology. The Database is searchable by sector, headquarters location, salient issue, company, and question of the Reporting Framework. Drawing on that primary-source research, the Reporting Database website also includes deeply informed analyses of strengths, weaknesses, and trends in companies’ human rights reporting. While the Database is not actively maintained, Shift is exploring the possibility of scaling it through the use of AI. Shift continues to closely follow developments in corporate human rights disclosure and provide tailored disclosure analysis to a range of businesses and institutions. “The UNGP Reporting Database helps investors assess the material impact of human rights on companies’ performance. This helps us as investors to examine the extent to which current company reporting meets our expectations for meaningful disclosure around human rights risks, as clarified by the UN Guiding Principles Reporting Framework. Shift has created an agile tool where investors are able to download the disclosed data for customised analysis, facilitating ESG integration in investment decision-making. We are excited by the opportunity this database presents in our engagements with companies.” Professor Christine Chow, Hermes Investment Management Analysis & Insights Analysis of trends, strengths and weaknesses in current company reporting on human rights Database of Reporting View the disclosure of the world’s largest companies, mapped to the UN Guiding Principles Our Methodology Find out how we map companies’ reporting to the UN Guiding Principles, and how we assess the maturity of their reporting Ultimately, investors want to protect value by knowing human rights risks are being monitored and managed by the companies they invest in. The UN Guiding Principles Reporting Framework provides smart and comprehensive guidance that means investors can more effectively identify and understand human rights risks in their portfolio. With the latest database, companies now also have a means to compare their reporting — and performance — to that of their peers, and compare it to the questions of the Reporting Framework. Lauren Compere, Boston Common Asset Management How does the UNGP Reporting Database work? The Reporting Database is staffed by our team of analysts who review companies’ entire body of disclosure and map relevant information to the expectations set by the global standard of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Drawing on that primary-source research, we also publish deeply informed analyses of strengths, weaknesses and trends in companies’ human rights reporting. Below are some key facts about the UNGP Reporting Database. To see our complete methodology, please visit our methodology page. Our team of analysts manually review companies’ entire body of disclosure. Each company’s entry in the Reporting Database is compiled by humans reading disclosure — we do not use automatic search functions or algorithms, or rely on companies’ own uploads of data. We do consult with companies at the end of our review process regarding our findings. The UNGP Reporting Database is not a rating, ranking or benchmark of corporate performance or disclosure. By displaying the primary source information — the text of companies’ own disclosure — in a format wholly aligned to the UN Guiding Principles, the Reporting Database enables companies and their stakeholders to draw their own conclusions about how meaningfully a company is reporting on how it respects human rights in practice. Of course, the UNGP Reporting Database can be a very helpful source to inform analyses of others’ rating and benchmarking efforts. To see how the UNGP Reporting Framework — the framework around which the Reporting Database is organized — aligns with various other reporting, ranking and benchmarking initiatives, please see our cross-references tool. The Database currently includes 124 companies from 11 sectors. Sectors represented are: apparel and footwear; banking and financial services; food and beverage; ICT; infrastructure, construction and building materials; oil equipment and services; oil, gas and extractives; palm oil; personal care; tobacco; transportation and transport operators. Per sector, we review the largest companies by market capitalization. We regularly add companies and sectors and some companies have been reviewed on multiple years of reporting. To see all the companies currently in the Database, jump to our Companies page or see them listed on the View Disclosures page. The Database draws from all relevant information companies publish in their own websites and reports. Our analysts do review companies’ entire body of disclosure, not only sustainability or annual reports. We do not review disclosure only available on websites not controlled by the company, in the interest of encouraging integrated approaches to how companies think and talk about human rights in their core business. The Database is searchable by sector, headquarters location, salient issue, company and question of the Reporting Framework. The results are viewable in your browser or downloadable as an Excel file. We also offer ready-made datasets organized by larger filter categories, as a faster alternative to datasets generated dynamically by the database. Each company has a dedicated company page that includes information such as the last date the company’s disclosure was reviewed, which resources were consulted for inclusion in the database and whether or not the company responded to the project team’s invitation to discuss its findings. To learn more about how the UNGP Reporting Database works, please visit our methodology page.
