2024 HRDD Forum Annual Conference: Human Rights Due Diligence and the Future of Corporate Human Rights and Climate Change Litigation

Event Details

Despite developments in laws and jurisprudence, the issue of legal liability on corporations for their involvement in human rights and environmental violations remains challenging. Liability for corporate human rights and environmental abuses has now made it onto the agenda of policymakers in Europe and at the EU level with laws requiring corporations to conduct human rights and environmental due diligence throughout their operations and value chain.

The 2024 HRDD Forum Annual Conference brings together legal experts to discuss the current state and potential future development of corporate human rights and climate change litigation. Two expert panels will discuss the following topics:

• The future of tort litigation against corporations, including the rules of jurisdiction in corporate human rights litigation, the debates surrounding parent company liability, and the problem of transnational regulation of cross-border business activities
• The future of corporate climate change litigation, including cases filed against private actors, particularly against major greenhouse gas emitters and the peculiarities of litigation cases involving corporate players.

The conference will take place in person at the BIICL office in Russell Square, London. Online participation can be arranged only if necessary. 

Join in the conversation @BIICL #2024HRDDForum

Event Programme

13:30 - 14:00 - Registration with Coffee & Tea

14:00 - 14:15 - Welcome and Introduction

14:15 - 14:30 - Keynote Address
Phil Bloomer, Executive Director, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre

14:30 - 15:45 - Panel 1: HRDD and the Future of Tort Litigation Against Corporations

• Dr Irene Pietropaoli, Senior Fellow in Business and Human Rights and Director of HRDD Forum, BIICL (Chair)
  
• Prof. Robert McCorquodale, Author of Business and Human Rights (Oxford University Press, 2024), UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights
• Ekaterina Aristova, Author of Tort Litigation against Transnational Corporations, University of Oxford
• Jennifer Zerk, Chatham House
• Monica Feria-Tinta, Twenty Essex

 
15:45 - 16:00 - Break

16:00 - 17.15 - Panel 2: HRDD and the Future of Corporate Climate change Litigation

• Dr Ivano Alogna,  Senior Research Fellow in Environmental and Climate Change Law and Project Leader of the Global Toolbox on Corporate Climate Litigation, BIICL (Chair)
  
• Marc Willers KC, Garden Court Chambers
• Krishnendu Mukherjee, Doughty Street Chambers
• Ingrid Gubbay, Hausfeld

  
17:15 - 17:30 - Closing Remarks

17:30 - 18:30 - Drinks Reception