BankTrack’s 2024 Global Human Rights Benchmark is scheduled for publication in November, following an initial analysis of 50 of the world’s largest banks’ human rights disclosures. BankTrack has now shared draft scores with all banks included in the scope, offering them the opportunity to provide feedback in the coming weeks before scores are finalised.

The 2024 benchmark will mark the fifth iteration of BankTrack’s assessment of banks’ adherence to the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). The UNGPs were unanimously endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council in 2011 and provide the global authoritative standard on the human rights responsibilities of business, including banks and other financial institutions.

The upcoming report follows the publication of the last Global Human Rights Benchmark in 2022, and the recent release of a regional human rights benchmark for banks headquartered in Latin America in March 2024.

BankTrack’s 2024 Global Human Rights Benchmark will reveal if progress has accelerated since the underwhelming 2022 results, when three-quarters of the banks in scope were found to implement less than half of their human rights responsibilities under the UNGPs. The report will also show if banks have taken steps to close some of the most significant gaps in their human rights practice, such as reporting on how adverse impacts are addressed, and how they support access to remedy for individuals and communities affected by their provision of finance.

The methodology underlying BankTrack’s Global Human Rights Benchmark has been reviewed to now include 15 criteria, assessing banks in four core categories: policy commitments; due diligence processes; reporting; and approaches to remedy. Moreover, a fifth category comprising three new criteria on “specific rights indicators” has been added in this year’s edition. This new set of criteria considers banks’ policies and practices in relation to the particular rights of Indigenous Peoples, Human Rights Defenders (HRDs), and recognition of environmental rights as human rights. As in previous editions, banks will receive a full score (1), a half score (0.5) or no score (0) on each criteria, and  will be categorised as “leaders”, “moderate achievers”, “followers” and “laggards”, based on their final scores.

In addition, banks will also be assessed on the quality of their responses to enquiries from civil society organisations regarding specific human rights allegations. This assessment is based on three criteria first outlined in BankTrack’s Actions Speak Louder report in 2021. These criteria evaluate whether the bank responded substantively to the allegations raised; it took appropriate action to mitigate or address the impact; and monitored the effectiveness of its actions. Bank responses considered in this assessment can be found in BankTrack’s recently launched “Response Tracking database”. 

An overview of the assessment criteria and a list of the banks to be assessed is published here.

Bank representatives from the 50 banks in scope which have not heard from us are kindly invited to contact Giulia Barbos at giulia@banktrack.org.