WBA at the 15th United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights
23–25 November 2026 | Palais des Nations, Geneva
About the Forum
This year marks the 15th UN Forum on Business and Human Rights, and 15 years since the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) were adopted. This year’s theme is Building on Gains, Confronting Gaps, Reimagining the Future.
The Forum is the world’s leading annual platform on implementing the UNGPs, and the most important global convening on corporate respect for human rights and responsible business conduct. It brings together governments, companies, investors, civil society, trade unions, Indigenous Peoples, affected communities and international organisations. For WBA, the Forum is a flagship moment for our work on people and human rights. It is where we engage companies and investors on the practical implementation challenges our human rights assessments reveal. It is also where we strengthen relationships with partners, investors and governments working to advance corporate accountability.
WBA at the UN Forum on Business and Human Rights
At the Forum, WBA will bring independent evidence on how the world’s most influential companies perform on human rights and social impact. We will show where companies stand on respecting human rights in line with the UNGPs, and how integrated action across climate, nature and social issues can deliver transitions that work for people.
Why we engage
Fifteen years after the UNGPs, the gap between commitment and implementation remains wide. Human rights due diligence is not yet consistently translating into prevention and remedy. Fewer than 5% of the 2,000 companies WBA assessed in 2026 disclose guaranteeing a living wage for their direct workforce. At the same time, climate, nature and social challenges are increasingly connected, and a transition cannot succeed if workers and communities are left behind.
That is why we are evolving how we assess companies. On 18 November, WBA will publish the methodology for its Integrated Transition Assessment. This evolved approach assesses companies across climate, nature and social dimensions together, with human rights at its core. The Forum is an important moment to share this thinking with the business and human rights community, and to hear how it can best support their work.
How we engage
- Sharing evidence: insights from the 2026 Corporate Human Rights Benchmark and Social Benchmark on human rights due diligence, remedy and living wages, and on what leading business practice looks like.
- Convening dialogue: co-hosting sessions with partners on fairer value distribution, living wages, remedy in extractives and integrated approaches for the financial sector.
- Supporting investors: helping investors use our data in their stewardship, building on our Human Rights Investor Guidance, to be published on 12 November.
- Listening and learning: gathering perspectives from companies, investors, governments and civil society to shape our future engagement and work on living wages, human rights due diligence, human rights in transition plans and accountability across value chains.
Where to find us
Tuesday 24 November | A fair share: Rethinking how businesses distribute value
Time: 09:00 | Location: Concordia 1, Building A, Palais des Nations
Hosts: UN Special Rapporteur on the right to development and WBA
Part of the Development Dialogues series. This session will explore what it would take to achieve a fairer distribution of value across global supply chains, with a focus on living wages and responsible purchasing practices. We are bringing together a multi-stakeholder panel with perspectives from business, civil society, academia and investors on embedding these practices in how businesses create, price and distribute value, with workers, producers and suppliers having a genuine voice in shaping these decisions.Tuesday 24 November | Integrated approaches for connecting people and planet: Exploring new tools and initiatives for the financial sector
Time: 18:00–19:00 | Location: Building H (Rooms 207–209), Palais des Nations
Hosts: PRI, UNEP FI and WBA
This session will explore new tools to help financial institutions take a more integrated approach to people and planet. It will include an overview of WBA’s Integrated Transition Assessment, a new PRI pilot on integrated investor stewardship in the apparel and footwear sector, and UNEP FI’s work on client engagement in the data centres, AI services and agriculture sectors.Wednesday 25 November | Peer learning: Human Rights Due Diligence in Extractives: Where Companies Stand on Remedy
Time: 08:00 | Location: Hotel Mon Repos, Geneva
Hosts: ICMM, Ipieca and WBA
Closed-door session for Ipieca and ICMM members only
A peer-learning exchange on improving human rights due diligence and remediation practices in the extractives and oil and gas sectors, drawing on WBA benchmark insights and leading practices.Wednesday 25 November | Living Wage Roundtable
Time: 13:00–15:00 | Location: Concordia 4, Building A, Palais des Nations
Hosts: IDH, UN Global Compact, WBCSD and WBA
Closed-door session
Global recognition of living wages has grown, through the ILO’s 2024 articulation of living wages and the UN’s 2025 Doha Political Declaration. Yet implementation remains limited and fragmented. This roundtable will bring together key organisations working on living wages to identify shared priorities, opportunities to collaborate and concrete actions to accelerate progress in 2027 and beyond.
Our team on the ground
Our team will be in Geneva throughout the Forum. Please feel free to get in touch directly:
Namit Agarwal, Head of the People Programme
Mansi Kabra, CSO Engagement Lead
Helen Packer, Company Engagement Manager
Melinda George Deleuze, Benchmark and Insights Lead
Subscribe to stay informed on our work
Keep up to date with all the latest from World Benchmarking Alliance
