"Documenting Respect for Human Rights - a 2024 Benchmark of Large Danish Companies," 25 November 2024

This report provides a benchmark of the human rights policies and self-reported human rights due diligence practices of 30 of the largest Danish companies for the 2023 reporting period.

As is the case for all other businesses, the covered companies have a responsibility to respect human rights. This entails maintaining an awareness of their negative impacts on human rights and publicly demonstrating what they are doing to avoid and address them. The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), the global authoritative standard on business and human rights, define this as human rights due diligence (HRDD). 

This benchmark takes a closer look at the degree to which 30 of the largest Danish companies are able to demonstrate that they meet this global standard of responsible business conduct. The study aims to contribute to an ongoing debate on how businesses can improve their for respect human rights and publicly document their efforts. 

To enable comparison with similar benchmarks at the global level and those done in other countries the benchmark relies on the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark’s (CHRB) Core UNGP Indicator methodology. The benchmark repeats earlier Danish benchmarks carried out in 2020 and 2022. This year’s benchmark is carried out in collaboration between the Danish Institute for Human Rights and the Eiris Foundation. 

The study facilitates an early consideration of the future impacts of  the EU's Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), which includes a mandatory due diligence obligation with respect to human rights and environmental impacts; and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which concerns disclosures on a range of sustainability matters and their management including human rights and due diligence; and related regulatory developments on benchmarks such as these.