{"id":17058,"date":"2026-04-21T18:48:48","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T16:48:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/?p=17058"},"modified":"2026-04-21T18:48:48","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T16:48:48","slug":"updated-oecd-guidelines-mandate-climate-risk-due-diligence-for-multinational-investors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/2026\/04\/21\/updated-oecd-guidelines-mandate-climate-risk-due-diligence-for-multinational-investors\/","title":{"rendered":"Updated OECD Guidelines Mandate Climate-Risk Due Diligence for Multinational Investors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In January 2026, the <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips44'>OECD<\/span> released updated <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oecd.org\/en\/topics\/responsible-business-conduct.html\">Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct<\/a>, introducing new expectations on climate-risk disclosure, human rights impact assessments, and expanded environmental supply-chain due diligence. The 2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oecdwatch.org\/oecd-ncps\/the-oecd-guidelines-for-mnes\/what-is-in-the-oecd-guidelines\/\">update<\/a> aligns with science\u2011based emissions\u2011reduction pathways, strengthening expectations for responsible conduct in the energy transition. While non-binding, the Guidelines are increasingly referenced by tribunals when assessing whether an investor met baseline due-diligence standards, including under the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/2013\/03\/22\/how-to-incorporate-human-rights-obligations-in-bilateral-investment-treaties\/\">\u2018clean hands\u2019 doctrine<\/a>. By embedding climate\u2011risk due diligence into global soft\u2011law standards, the updated Guidelines effectively integrate corporate responsibility into investment law by the back door, likely shaping how tribunals evaluate investor conduct in disputes involving environmental and social harms.<\/p>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips32','International Institute for Sustainable Development<!--more-->'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips33','Institut international du d\u00e9veloppement durable'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips34','Instituto Internacional para el Desarrollo Sostenible'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips44','Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips60','Investment Treaty News'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips67','Energy Charter Treaty'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips72','Investment Court System'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips100','investissement direct \u00e9tranger'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips116','European Commission'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips118','Union europ\u00e9enne'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips119','Uni\u00f3n Europea'); <\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In January 2026, the <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips44'>OECD<\/span> released updated Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct, introducing new expectations on climate-risk disclosure, human rights impact assessments, and expanded environmental supply-chain due diligence.<script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips44','Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips67','Energy Charter Treaty'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips100','investissement direct \u00e9tranger'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips116','European Commission'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips118','Union europ\u00e9enne'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips119','Uni\u00f3n Europea'); <\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":16978,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[397],"tags":[1900],"class_list":["post-17058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-current-issue"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17058"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17059,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17058\/revisions\/17059"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}