The Responsible Investor Model Clauses (RIMCs)
The Responsible Investor Model Clauses (RIMCs) are model clauses designed to help investors and portfolio companies integrate responsible business conduct standards into their investment documentation.
The RIMCs operationalize RCP’s shared-responsibility approach in the investment context, following the three core principles of Responsible Contracting, and are designed to be integrated into investment documentation such as shareholder agreements, investor rights agreements, purchase agreements, and side letters.
The RIMCs are useful for investors working to improve the human rights and environmental performance of their investments in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct, and the U.S. Government National Action Plan (NAP) for Responsible Business Conduct.
The RIMCs also reflect legislative developments and are aligned with the following regulations:
✔ EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD)
✔ EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)
The RIMCs are being developed by RCP, in collaboration with the American Bar Association’s Corporate Sustainability Law Committee and the Principles for Responsible Investing (PRI).
Consultations to receive input from stakeholders on the Consultation Draft ended in May 2025, and version 1.0 of the RIMCs is scheduled to launch in 2026.
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.
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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