On the 22nd and 23rd of May 2025, the NOVA BHRE participated in the 1st Congresso – Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) organised by Paulo Câmara and Ana Filipa Morais Antunes from the Universidade Católica Portuguesa & Governance Lab with 3 presentations.
The first presentation was delivered by Anaïs Tobalagba, PhD on the topic of how to ensure a meaningful stakeholder involvement in double materiality assessments and sustainability reporting in line with the CSRD.
In the second presentation, Claire Bright delved into the key features that HREDD must contain in order to be effective and focus on the lessons learnt from Germany with the LkSG and Norway with the Transparency Act. Céline da Graça Pires delivered the third presentation on the lessons learnt from the French experience with the Corporate Duty of Vigilance Law and how the CSDDD addresses the identified limitations from the French, German and Norwegian experiences.
Their key message is clear: it is essential to move beyond voluntary standards towards mandatory HREDD laws that are aligned with international standards, based on a risk-based due diligence process and the CSDDD (as adopted on the 13 June 2024) incorporated many of the lessons learnt from the comparative experience of countries who have already adopted mHREDD laws to avoid their pitfalls and ensure better outcome for the people and for the planet.
