Contributing to the SDGs and reducing local ESG risks by using Human Security and Positive Peace

This policy brief examines a novel evidence-based approach that clarifies the material issues relevant to the social impact by businesses and investors operating in Fragile and Conflict-affected Settings (FCS) using the concepts of Human Security and Positive Peace. It is shown how this approach helps to measure contributions to the SDGs and to identify and reduce local Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) risks to improve people’s wellbeing. The brief is based on the ideas put forward in a discussion paper written at the request of LSE-IDEAS, as well as on the discussions held with different potential end users of the new approach during a series of webinars in October and November. In light of the current crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the approach also serves to guide private sector actors in their efforts to move from response and recovery to renew in order to face the new reality and make sustainable changes in their business strategies and operating models towards a more resilient future that offers better protection against precarity and crisis.