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Decent Work and Economic Growth Gender Equality Good Health and Well-being Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure No Poverty Partnerships for the Goals Reduced Inequalities Responsible Consumption and Production

Taste the Change – the role of human rights in the business sector

This year constitutes the 10th anniversary of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. The principles are “a set of guidelines for States and companies to prevent and address human rights abuses committed in business operations”1. Since the release of the principles in 2011, businesses have increasingly started to accept and adopt their […]

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Affordable and Clean Energy Climate Action Decent Work and Economic Growth Good Health and Well-being Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure Partnerships for the Goals Responsible Consumption and Production

Navigating the Jungle – What to Consider when Investing Sustainably?

In the past years there has been a global boom to invest sustainably, both in the private and institutional sectors. Sustainable investing provides an opportunity to invest by considering environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) factors. According to Bloomberg-Green1, solely in 2020 the investment in ESG oriented funds in Europe topped 1,12 trillion euros (approximately US$1,4 trillion). Huge right?  What then motivates to invest sustainably? Based on recent reports and articles (such […]

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Climate Action Good Health and Well-being Life Below Water Life on Land Responsible Consumption and Production

Cosmetic world: Sustainability in Beauty, Beauty in Sustainability

Unethical animal testing methods, business practices in the chemical industry and natural ingredients sourcing are just a few of the practices that exist within the cosmetics industry with unsustainable tendencies1. Microplastics and chemicals from cosmetics products and their packaging have also been found to have negative impact on both life in water and on land. But the cosmetics industry and unsustainable practices does not have to go hand […]

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Decent Work and Economic Growth Gender Equality Good Health and Well-being Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure Reduced Inequalities Responsible Consumption and Production

Should the art(s) be considered in the discourse on sustainability?

Nowadays sustainability is part of our everyday life. We are more aware of the environmental capacity to maintain natural resources, as we try to adjust our lifestyle according to it. Likewise, sustainability is also impacting the work of artist across the world, raising the question what does art to do with sustainability? and how can art in its various forms contribute […]

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Decent Work and Economic Growth Good Health and Well-being No Poverty Reduced Inequalities Responsible Consumption and Production

Cash in Humanitarian Assistance: Can We Balance the Environmental and Social Trade-off?

In humanitarian assistance, an increasingly popular response is cash and voucher assistance (CVA). CVA refers to “the provision of cash transfers or vouchers given to individuals, household or community recipients”1. Just from 2015 to 2020, the use of CVA as a humanitarian response more than doubled, making it an important element of the humanitarian response programs2.   CVA’s positive impact in social and economic sustainability is well established; it allows freedom in decision-making and […]

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Decent Work and Economic Growth Gender Equality Good Health and Well-being Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure No Poverty Partnerships for the Goals Reduced Inequalities Responsible Consumption and Production

Is human rights a happy topic?

This blog is written by Greta Steenvoorden, a Doctoral candidate at the subject of Supply Chain and Social Responsibility at Hanken. Hanne Dumur-Laanila is a publisher of the text! Human rights impact of business activities is one of the hot topics of today. While the discussion has roots as far back as the times of Dutch East […]

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Good Health and Well-being Partnerships for the Goals Sustainable Cities and Communities

How can volunteering promote sustainability mindset?

Volunteering is defined as a free act of an individual or a group to give time and/or service to others. It’s about taking action for issues that feel important to oneself. Volunteering has often been criticized for being harmful in certain contexts or being motivated by egoism. While the former is problematic, is the latter […]

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Climate Action Decent Work and Economic Growth Good Health and Well-being Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure Reduced Inequalities Responsible Consumption and Production

What is the role of intellectual property in sustainable fashion?

One may think what has IPR to do with Sustainable Fashion. Well, fashion industry is an Intellectual Property (IP) intensive industry, that deals with plenty of creativity in the form of designs, fabric etc. However, historically, the global fashion industry has had to operate in a low-IP protection environment, especially when it comes to designs.  Fast fashion has benefitted hugely from the low-IP protection of the industry as it has been rather risk-free to knock-off designs of […]

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Decent Work and Economic Growth Gender Equality Good Health and Well-being Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure Reduced Inequalities Sustainable Cities and Communities Uncategorized

Is artificial intelligence fair, inclusive and ethical?

Imagine a robot running a recruitment process? Sounds like the solution we have been waiting for fair recruitment processes?  But wait…Can it really be free of bias? The answer is unfortunately not so simple and lies in the algorithms that are behind the artificial intelligence tools. As our lives become more and more intertwined with […]

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Good Health and Well-being Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure Partnerships for the Goals Sustainable Cities and Communities

How to create human-centric and sustainable Internet of Things solutions?

The internet of things (IoT) is a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines, objects, animals or people that are provided with unique identifiers and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. IoT solutions are found everywhere. Look around you and you might be surrounded with […]