Updates to the Environment Chapter: The OECD Guidelines respond to current crises

The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises (OECD Guidelines for short) define recommendations by governments for responsible business conduct in all areas where a company interacts with society. This makes them one of the most important international frameworks for sustainable corporate governance, alongside the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) and the core labour standards of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The guidelines are regularly updated in collaboration with companies, trade unions and non-governmental organisations. In June 2023, the OECD member countries adopted the most recent of these updates. This has led to far-reaching changes, particularly in the environmental chapter. The OECD Guidelines are thus responding to current challenges of sustainable corporate governance with regard to climate change, circularity, biodiversity protection and deforestation, among other things.

The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), which is the lead agency for the OECD Guidelines in Germany, has initiated a series of events in cooperation with the OECD Centre Berlin to present the core topics of the amendment. In this context, the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) organised an event in September 2023 to publicly acknowledge and present the updates to the environmental chapter of the OECD Guidelines. The  event provided participants with an overview of the updates of to the guidelines in the political and regulatory context. It also showcased corporate best practices in relation to the updates to the environmental chapter. A recording of the event will be available on the BMUV website until the beginning of December 2023.

adelphi supported the BMUV in the conception, preparation and implementation of the event. Among other things, a background paper was published, which outlines the significance of the update of the environmental chapter of the OECD Guidelines - for policy, legislation and business.