The Investor Guidance on Responsible Contracting
Developed by RCP and the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), the Investor Guidance on Responsible Contracting equips investors to engage their portfolio companies on how they integrate human rights and environmental due diligence (HREDD) into their commercial contracts.
The Investor Guidance on Responsible Contracting provides an overview of key concepts to explain the critical role that due diligence-aligned contracts play in promoting better HREDD, better HRE outcomes, and better legal compliance. It includes the following tools for carrying out company engagement:
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Sample questions that investors can use in their dialogues with companies
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A template shareholder resolution
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A template investor engagement letter
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Sample responses to frequent pushback (“FPBs”) from companies.
These tools can help investors assess whether companies are using their international supply contracts in a way that supports—or undermines—effective HREDD processes.
For more information
âž” Responsible Investor Model Clauses (RIMCs)
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âž” The Investor HREDD Precision Tools
âž” KnowTheChain Good Practice Guide
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Latest News
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August 25 — RCP announced a new collaboration with UN Global Compact Network Germany: a three-part webinar series on Responsible Procurement covering "Responsible Procurement and Shared Responsibility" (Oct 22), "Responsible Purchasing Practices" (Nov 11), and "Responsible Contracting" (Dec 2), with RCP Director Sarah Dadush speaking at the December session.
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August 12 — RCP submitted its response to the European Commission's public consultation on CSDDD implementation guidelines, calling for shared responsibility and human rights and environmental due diligence to be embedded in international supply contracts.​
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July 22 — RCP launched its latest tool, the Responsible Contracts in the Cobalt Industry guidance, developed in collaboration with the Cobalt Institute.
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May 1 — RCP published a new analysis of the CSDDD and contracting in light of Omnibus I on the Oxford Business Law Blog: Moving Toward Shared Responsibility: How the EU’s CSDDD and Omnibus I Reimagine Contracting for Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence. Also available as a PDF.
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April 27 — RCP Director Sarah Dadush and Senior Advisor John Sherman co-authored an essay for Shift's series marking the 15th anniversary of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), titled, From Social Norm to Legal Practice: Fifteen Years of Integrating the UNGPs into Business Law.​
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Events
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August 11 — RCP Lead European Legal Advisor Daniel Schönfelder joined "Making Sustainable Contracts Work in Practice," a WorldCC Foundation panel in the APAC Summit's virtual program, alongside Anne Ketola of Tampere University and Ro Coroneos of Praxis ESG, moderated by Gitika Makker of Nexdigm, discussing practical tools for embedding sustainability into contracts, including RCP's toolkit. Watch the recording.
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June 30 — RCP Director Sarah Dadush joined Observatoire de la Responsabilité Sociétale des Entreprises (ORSE) and PwC Société d'Avocats in Paris for the launch of ORSE's updated ESG regulations guide, discussing the shift from risk-transfer contracting to cooperation-based approaches reflected in the CSDDD.
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June 2 — RCP Director Sarah Dadush facilitated "Contracting for Sustainability," a workshop at the 2026 Annual Conference on Legal Issues in Social Entrepreneurship and Impact Investing, co-organized by NYU School of Law's Grunin Center and the Impact Investing Legal Working Group, drawing over 40 participants.
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May 19 — Senior Advisor Ben Rutledge spoke at the Sustainable Vanilla Initiative (SVI) General Assembly in Paris, joining industry members and value chain actors for a session on governance, procurement, and collective action in the vanilla sector.
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May 14 — Senior Advisor Ben Rutledge presented RCP's Responsible Contracting in Spice Supply Chains Guidance at the Sustainable Spices Initiative (SSI) General Assembly 2026 in Murcia, Spain, attended by nearly 100 delegates from around 50 organizations.​​
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