With over 50 million people estimated to be living in modern slavery conditions and rising economic and social instability, human rights risks are becoming a critical financial concern for companies and investors.
In response, the Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA) launched the third edition of its landmark publication, ‘Investor Toolkit: Human Rights in Global Value Chains’.
This edition builds on the success of the 2018 and 2021 versions, offering a refreshed and highly practical and action-oriented guide for asset owners and managers. It helps investors to engage constructively with companies on managing human rights risks across operations, supply chains and broader value chains.
Volunteers from RIAA's Human Rights Working Group will come together to update and present the third iteration of the Human Rights in Global Value Chains Toolkit. For this online launch we are lucky to be joined by the Co-leads of the toolkit Måns Carlsson OAM, Head of ESG and Co-Portfolio Manager, Ausbil Active Sustainable Equity Fund and Timothy Stamp who is a Principal within Sustainable Investment at Mercer Australia. With an opening by Estelle Parker, Co-CEO at RIAA the session will then be moderated by the toolkit Lead Editor, Rachel Alembakis, Stewardship Manager at U Ethical Investors.
We will also be joined by more of the toolkit team to discuss the interconnected topics of the toolkit:
- Sue Walker, Senior Manager Responsible Investment at Harbour Asset Management Limited
- Emily Dafter, Senior Portfolio Analyst at Australian Retirement Trust
- Antonia Parkes, Co-Chair of RIAA's Human Rights Working Group and Senior Director, ESG & Stewardship - Workforce Integration at AustralianSuper
- Andrea Masselos, Responsible Investment Analyst at First Sentier Investors
- Alex Safran, Investment ESG Analyst at Pathfinder
- Ines Ivankovic – ESG Analyst at UniSuper
While this toolkit provides ideas for engagement on modern slavery issues, this third edition maintains the same scope as previous editions and continues to assess human rights issues in the context of supply chains and broader value chains of businesses.
Join us for a deep dive into better practices that can lead to better outcomes both from an investor and human rights perspective.
Rachel Alembakis is stewardship manager at U Ethical Investors. In her role, she is responsible for managing U Ethical’s active ownership activities. She was previously the managing editor and founder of FS Sustainability, a Rainmaker title that examines how investors and companies integrate environmental, social and corporate governance issues into their decision-making processes and host of the ESG podcast The Greener Way. She has more than a decade’s experience as a financial journalist covering a broad range of investment issues.
Rachel holds an MSc in Politics of the World Economy from the London School of Economics and Political Science, a BA in journalism and a BS in political science from Boston University.
Originally a financial analyst, since 2007 I have specialised in proprietary ESG research and company engagement as well as policy advocacy.
The proprietary ESG research is tailored to Ausbil's investment philosophy and focuses on earnings revisions, earnings sustainability and management quality. From previous roles I also have experience in ESG integration for fixed income and international equities products.
Specialties: ESG and sustainability research / engagement across a wide range of sectors and issues, including: climate change, labour rights / human rights in supply chains, corporate governance, ESG disclosure, corporate culture and more.
I have presented on ESG and ESG integration at various investment industry events, including PRI in person, the ACSI Conference, the RIAA Conference, the Thomson-Reuters Stop Slavery Summit, the CSR Asia Summit, AIRA and more. I have also presented at numerous industry events, such as the KPMG/SEDEX conference, BAML's ESG series, the Australian Sustainable Fashion Conference and much more.
Chair of RIAA’s Human Rights Working Group and also a Director of the board of RIAA. Co-chair of workstream 1 and steerco member of Investors against slavery and trafficking, IAST-APAC.
Order of Australia Medal in 2022 for contribution to the sustainable investment industry and letter of commendation from Anti-Slavery Australia in 2019.
Timothy Stamp is a Principal in Mercer’s Sustainable Investment team, based in Sydney, Australia. His role focuses on supporting the Mercer Pacific investment business on setting and implementing its approach to environment, social, and governance (ESG) integration,stewardship, sustainability themes, and exclusions. Prior to joining Mercer,Tim held a series of roles spanning corporate sustainability and human rights consulting, responsible procurement and social and environmental auditing.These experiences in global supply chains and the inner workings of corporate sustainability continue to inform his investment research, analysis and implementation activities today. Timothy holds a Master of Science in Environmental Science and Management from the University of York, UK, and a Bachelor of the Arts in Philosophy at the University of Leeds, UK.
Andrea Masselos is a Responsible Investment Analyst at First Sentier Investors. Based in Sydney, Andrea supports FSI's investment teams across various asset classes and themes with analysis, research and client communications. Joining First Sentier Investors as a graduate in 2021, Andrea has worked across the Communications, Marketing and Digital functions, and during this time, earned the CFA Certificate in ESG Investing.Andrea holds a Bachelor's degree in Media and Communications from the University of Sydney, majoring in Socio-Legal studies and Marketing.
With a distinguished 20-year career at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Estelle Parker brings crucial expertise in government relations, policy-making, and themes important to responsible investors, including human rights and the SDGs. As a leader driving RIAA’s research, certification, policy, standards, and working group programs, her leadership has elevated these initiatives to achieve heightened levels of professionalism, impact, and value delivery for our members, aligning seamlessly with RIAA’s strategic objectives.
Beyond her organisational impact, Estelle is a respected figure in the responsible investment landscape, serving as a strong advocate on influential global and government committees, including the Principles for Responsible Investment’s Global Policy Reference Group, the Global Sustainable Investment Alliance (as a Board member) and the Australian Government’s Natural Capital Working Group. Additionally, she serves as the Convenor of the Taskforce on Nature-Related Financial Disclosures official Consultation Group for Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, and the Steering Committee for the Australian Sustainable Finance Institute. She is also the Vice President of the Council of the Australian Institute for International Affairs (Victoria).
Emily Dafter is a human rights practitioner working as a Senior Portfolio Analyst in Australian Retirement Trusts Sustainable Investments team. Emily’s 7+year career in ethical sourcing and human rights due-diligence has spanned across work with companies in FMCG, energy infrastructure, research, agriculture, food and beverage and investment industries. Through her direct and consulting work, Emily has overseen the nitty-gritty of supplier compliance for modern slavery remedy and risk mitigation, reporting and data collection, human rights strategy development, human rights salience assessment, and ethical sourcing overhauls to build effective human rights due-diligence from the ground up. Emily’s work with ART has a portfolio stewardship focus, working with ART and their investments to uplift human rights capabilities.
In her role at AustralianSuper, Antonia is focused on integrating workforce considerations into investment decisions, stewardship,and policy advocacy to support investment value for members. Antonia has previously held senior leadership, operational and legal roles at the Fair Work Ombudsman, the Fair Work Commission, and the National Union of Workers (now the United Workers Union).
Sue leads the delivery of responsible investment strategy and policy including the development of stewardship programs and meeting regulatory obligations for Harbour Asset Management. Prior to this Sue worked in the BNZ Sustainability team specialisng in developing business sustainability strategies, sustainable finance frameworks and business opportunities. Sue was a member of the Aotearoa Circle Sustainable Finance Framework technical working group and worked on the development of the Stewardship Code Aotearoa New Zealand. Prior to that Sue had a long career in financial markets, heading the Investor Sales Global Business Development function at National Australia Bank before moving to a Sales solutions role with a focus on developing investment opportunities for superannuation funds including ESG focused opportunities.
Alex is an environmental scientist with a passion for sustainability and responsible investing. He brings experience in climate science and financial services,having worked as a consultant in engineering and management consulting, before moving in‑house as an ESG expert at some of New Zealand’s largest banking institutions and an up-and-coming fund manager. Alex is committed to helping investors grow their wealth in a responsible manner that contributes to addressing major challenges like climate change.
Ines Ivankovic is an ESG Analyst at UniSuper. Ines has been in the workforce for over 6 years, with the recent move into ESG 2years ago. Ines supports UniSuper’s Investment team with ESG integration across all asset classes through ESG data screening, due diligence, risk assessments and peer collaboration. During her role, Ines has led the Modern Slavery and Human Rights risk assessments, in particular with the property and equities team, and has led multiple company engagements, leveraging UniSuper’s significant in-house investment capability. Prior to joining UniSuper, Ines worked within Deloitte’s Investment Wealth Advisory team for 4years. Ines holds a Bachelor in Commerce, majoring in Finance and Economics,and has completed the Level 1 CFA.
