Can businesses really tackle the pervasive issue of modern slavery? 

In this episode of Frankly Speaking, Richard Howitt was joined by an expert in the field, Johannes Dumay, Professor in accounting at Macquarie University, Sydney, and multi-award-winning researcher on modern slavery as well as sustainability accounting and reporting. 

Together they discussed how corporate attitudes towards modern slavery have (and haven't!) evolved over the past decade, as well as what the increasing number of court cases on the issue mean for the future of companies’ responsibility and duty of care in their supply chains. You’ll also hear about: 

• John's verdict on whether legal requirements on companies in relation to modern slavery, from the UK to Australia, have actually been effective  

• Why companies having more of a risk management culture rather than a due diligence culture is preventing them from effectively identifying and remediate modern slavery 

• To what extent the EU Forced Labour Regulation will be able to meet its objective of eliminating forced labour from supply chains  

• What the glove manufacturer Ansell gets right in its modern slavery report 

• The potential future of modern slavery legislation: companies having to demonstrate the modern slavery is not in their supply chains if they are based in high-risk areas  

• Why John has changed his mind on boycotting the chocolate industry altogether 

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The Taskforce on Inequality and Social-related Financial Disclosures (TISFD) wants to do for social issues what the TCFD did for climate a decade ago: harness capital markets to drive corporate action, this time on inequality and people-related risk. 

With its beta framework now open for public consultation (deadline 31 July 2026), host Richard Howitt sits down with TISFD Executive Director Simon Rawson to ask the hard questions:

• Can financial value really be assigned to fundamental human rights? 

• Does the framework take a single or double materiality approach?

• With regulators like the ISSB and the EU (through CSRD/ESRS) seemingly retreating from ambitious social reporting requirements, is TISFD swimming against the tide?

Rawson explains how the framework builds on (rather than duplicates) existing initiatives like the World Benchmarking Alliance, GRI, and Social Value International, and why the taskforce insists that human rights, social capital, and wellbeing paradigms must operate side by side rather than substitute for one another. He also shares which companies (including Coca-Cola and Airbus) have already joined the TISFD alliance, how a market-led approach helped TCFD win its case for climate disclosure, and what he learned from his own career path (from British diplomat in Pakistan to NGO campaigner to task force leader) about what's really at stake for informal and vulnerable workers on the ground.

Listen to this conversation about whether business can be convinced that people, not just the planet, belong on the balance sheet of risk.

How effectively have German firms been implementing the LkSG? 

In this episode of Frankly Speaking, Richard Howitt was joined by Sarah Hechler, consultant at the German Helpdesk on Business and Human Rights (Helpdesk Wirtschaft und  Menschenrechte) and previously Social Project Manager at the UN Global Compact Netzwerk Deutschland, which has just published the first comprehensive study of the implementation of the German supply chain due diligence Act, the LkSG. Also joining this episode was Christopher Bayer, Senior Researcher on the study and Principal Investigator at Development International. 

Together they revealed the overarching findings of their study, especially on which areas companies demonstrate strong performance on HREDD, and where they are falling behind. You’ll also hear about: 

• The widespread lack of effective measurement mechanisms amongst German companies for tracking progress on human rights  

• The main differences between due diligence laws across the world, including the French 'Devoir de diligence' and the US Dodd-Frank Act 

• The EU Commission's ongoing open consultation on guidelines on the Corporate Due Diligence Directive  

• Christopher and Sarah's key advice to businesses on how to carry out effective due diligence, based on the findings of their research  

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We often hear about the backlash against sustainability and business and human rights in the United States, but does the perception reflect the reality when it comes to actual business practice? 

In this episode of Frankly Speaking, Richard Howitt was joined by Bennett Freeman, former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor and Associate Fellow at the think tank Chatham House, as well as Senior Fellow at UC Berkeley, and Chloe Cole, Senior Researcher in US Business and Human Rights at the Business and Human Rights Centre.  

Together they discussed the findings of the Centre's just-published research on how 54 large US companies have reacted to the changed American political environment, entitled: "Retreat or respect? Diverging corporate paths on human rights in a time of turbulence." 

You’ll hear about: 

• The three main ways top US firms have responded to the backlash – the good, the bad and the ugly  

• The positive role played by several US companies in response to the violence of ICE officials in Minnesota in January  

• Big Oil's aggressive lobbying against the EU CDDDD 

• The corporate attempt to silence environmental NGOs, such as Energy Transfer's lawsuit against Greenpeace  

• Why companies choosing silence is not a neutral choice  

• The ultimate aim of the research: to encourage companies to keep going in their improving business and human rights  

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From Responsible Business to Responsible AI: what you need to know and do. In this episode of Frankly Speaking, Richard Howitt is joined by two leading voices on AI and responsibility to cut through the hype and the fear around artificial intelligence and its environmental impact. From staggering data centre energy figures to algorithmic bias in HR tools, this conversation is essential listening for anyone in a sustainability or responsible business role who is trying to make sense of AI, and what their company should actually be doing about it.

Kathryn Dovey is the Founder of Recalibrate, working on responsible business issues. She spent ten years at the OECD Centre for Responsible Business Conduct, including the period in which the OECD AI Principles were agreed. She is also the Founder of the career coaching consultancy Fallow Time.

Alex de Vries-Gao is a data scientist and researcher at the Institute for Environmental Studies at VU Amsterdam, where he has undertaken extensive research on the environmental impact of AI.

You will also hear about:

• How major US tech companies successfully lobbied the European Commission to keep environmental data from individual data centres out of the public domain

• The significant positive use cases for AI in sustainability from satellite data analysis tracking climate change and biodiversity, to breakthroughs in healthcare

• Why the Global South risks bearing the environmental costs of data centres while the benefits flow predominantly to the Global North, and how this echoes patterns seen with large infrastructure projects throughout history

• The key frameworks companies need to understand: the OECD AI Principles, the OECD Due Diligence Guidance, and the EU AI Act, and why the EU AI Act is a practical benchmark to start working towards now, even as it undergoes its simplification process

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How does the field of responsible investment compare to a decade ago? 

In this episode of Frankly Speaking, Richard Howitt was joined by Nathalie Dogniez, chair of Eurosif and Independent Director of The Director’s Office, and Julian Toth, Executive Director of the Czech Sustainable Investment Forum and Investment Manager at Soulmates Ventures. 

Together they discussed the ESG backlash against sustainable finance, as well as their verdict on what the field looks like post Omnibus 1. You’ll also hear about: 

• Eurosif’s recent discussion paper on responsible investment in defence  

• To what extent the value chain cap in the CSRD will limit the information that investors need  

• Whether or not the EU Green Deal is still alive  

• Nathalie’s position on SFDR 2.0 

• Why Omnibus 1 represents a significant step backwards 

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What have been the most significant improvements in business and human rights over the past 15 years, and what has lagged behind? 

In this episode of Frankly Speaking, Richard Howitt was joined by John Morrison, founder and former CEO of the Institute for Business and Human Rights.  

Together they assessed to what extent sustainability and business and human rights have become the new orthodoxy, and what this means for the success of both movements. You’ll also hear about: 

• The vital importance of trust between companies and communities in improving business and human rights 

• The detrimental impacts of green hushing on progress in both sustainability and business and human rights  

• What is the best approach to measuring progress on sustainability  

• Why John is confident that sustainability will come back from the current backlash  

• What the business and human rights field may look like in ten or fifteen years’ time 

• The key arguments in John’s new book ‘Remaking Sustainability’, including what sustainability advocates have got wrong  

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Just last week, the European Commission published its draft Delegated Regulation on the revised European Sustainability Reporting Standards. What does this mean for EU business? 

In this episode of Frankly Speaking, Richard Howitt was joined by Simon Braaksma, Global Head of Sustainability Reporting at Philips and Filip Gregor, Frank Bold’s own Head of Responsible Companies Section, both of whom are members of EFRAG’s Sustainability Reporting Board and TEG. 

Together they discussed the overview of the changes, including their overarching assessment of the revised standards. You’ll hear about: 

• How important this latest change is for corporates and why companies should take part in the public consultation  

• Why the European Commission ultimately held the line on the concept of double materiality in the revised ESRS, in response to the ISSB’s calls to separate financial from impact materiality  

• The further change to the value chain cap and its consequences for businesses 

• What the revision on human rights violations only applying to ‘substantiated cases’ means in practice 

• The significance of the new draft voluntary standards for SMEs 

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Current financial accounting methods are responsible for causing environmental and social harm across the world – but how can this be remedied? 

In this episode of Frankly Speaking, Richard Howitt was joined by Jeremy Nicholls, co-founder and former Chief Executive of Social Value International and Ashoka Fellow at the University of Liverpool. Jeremy previously worked for PwC as well as on the United Nations Development Programme’s SDG Impact Standards. 

Together they discussed Jeremy’s new book ‘The Accountancy Paradox: How Financial Accounting is Damaging the World (But Can Help Repair It)’ 

You’ll also hear about: 

• The history of accounting and the moment which solidified it around users’ expectation of financial returns rather than external social and environment costs 

• Why Jeremy believes current ESG approaches including sustainability reporting don’t really solve the heart of the problem  

• Practical solutions to how to fix the financial accounting system, including revising its conceptual framework to include wellbeing accounting  

• Why the argument that externalities should be internalised is more important than ever in today’s world  

• The role of lack of faith, spirituality and moral codes in human-caused environmental and social harm  

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How can businesses help to protect freshwater ecosystems, biodiversity, and habitats? 

In this episode of Frankly Speaking, Richard Howitt was joined by Andreas Beckmann, Regional CEO at WWF Central and Eastern Europe, which works on protecting ecosystems and habitats in Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Ukraine. 

Together they discussed the business case for action on nature and how WWF-CEE has worked with companies such as the Coca-Cola Company and Tesco on conservation and restoration of rivers and wetlands in the region. 

You’ll also hear about: 

• WWF-CEE's award-winning work on the Living Danube Partnership to protect the EU’s longest river  

• The implications of the Ukraine war on the country’s protected environmental spaces, with around 40% of them being damaged  

• How Central and Eastern Europe is the ‘green heart’ of Europe and why its precious biodiversity urgently needs to be protected  

• Andreas’s message to EU lawmakers working on the Water Framework Directive and Nature Restoration Regulation 

• The balancing act environmental NGOs face in having genuine partnerships with companies whilst also being free to criticise and hold them to account 

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