China's Practice in Regulating Corporate Human Rights Due Diligence from the Perspective of Climate Change

LI Zhuolun*

Abstract: The international community, based on the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (hereinafter referred to as the Guiding Principles), is increasingly calling for strengthened corporate climate accountability. Climate due diligence, as a new dimension of corporate human rights due diligence, has become an “overlapping consensus” and normative expression of the international community regarding corporate climate responsibilities. Climate due diligence is a mechanism that all types of businesses should continuously implement in light of specific contexts to identify, prevent, address, and disclose climate risks and the resulting negative impacts on human rights. It is characterized by continuity, extensiveness, contextuality, scientificity, and duality, and includes formulating climate policies, assessing and addressing climate risks, following up on response measures, disclosing climate information, and taking remedial actions. China has not only repeatedly clarified its firm stance on regulating corporate climate responsibilities at the global, regional, and national levels but also urged and required Chinese enterprises to fulfill their climate responsibilities through a series of laws, regulations, and policy documents, while establishing a relatively sound remedy system for corporate climate-related infringements. Although China has initially built a “climate due diligence” system that aligns with the normative expectations of the United Nations, it is still necessary to further improve and strengthen the implementation of existing rules. This will promote the legalization, standardization, and systematization of Chinese enterprises’ climate responsibilities, and enable China to tell its story — on addressing the global climate crisis, enhancing human rights protection, and strengthening corporate climate accountability — in a language that the international community is willing to accept and easy to understand.

Keywords: business and human rights · corporate climate responsibility · human rights due diligence · climate due diligence