Few companies in Europe would argue that sustainable development and human rights are not an integral part of their business.
And yet, there are many trends in the UN and European legal systems to impose environmental and human rights standards in regulated and harmonised legal rules. However, this process currently appears to be uncoordinated - guidelines, legislation and best practices of different economic actors and associations are being developed at many different levels to accompany this trend.
For example, in the area of human rights and environmental standards, the UN has proposed guidelines in its "Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights" on how state and private actors can work together to achieve a global human rights standard. Although this is "soft law" in itself, there is a growing desire on the part of many states to enforce compliance with these standards in the sense of "hard law". 
For example, many national jurisdictions have passed laws to require companies to enforce and comply with human rights standards throughout their supply chains. In parallel, the EU is discussing the adoption of a directive on supply chain compliance. For practical application, through its “Responsible Contracting Project”, the American Bar Association has created model clauses for the practical implementation of the standards developed for supply chain compliance. Finally, with the Hague Rules on Commercial Arbitration and Human Rights, a (voluntary) instrument has been created to effectively enforce human rights standards, including procedural standards, in arbitration proceedings.
Given the multiplicity of layers and the "proliferation" of non-harmonised rules in the field of human rights protection and sustainable economy, it is questionable whether broad harmonisation in this area is desirable. An important question in answering this point is: who should set the standards if the answer to these questions is yes? Will compliance with human rights and environmental standards be subject to KYC checks by banks in the long term, as is the case with money laundering standards?

• KEYNOTE SPEECH
Human rights and the environment - the state of harmonisation in the EU

• PANEL
Is there a need for harmonised hard law in the field of human rights and environmental protection?