Bennett Freeman

speaker

102 appearances 1 recordings 1 series first heard Jul 2026 last heard 8 Jul

Bennett Freeman’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

Trend

recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 1.

Appearances

newest first · ▶ plays the moment

Frankly Speaking - A Podcast on Responsible Business · #114 Bennett Freeman & Chloe Cole: How Have US Corporates Responded to the ESG Backlash? · 8 Jul 2026 podcast

And American multinationals need to be smart enough and responsible enough to understand that they have to face a range of pressures from governments, from civil society, all around the world, not just in the U.S.,

that's exactly right and i i can't resist um quoting but elaborating very quickly on the words of really the father of the contemporary business human rights movement somebody you and i richard both

knew and was inspired by, namely the late great Sir Geoffrey Chandler, who passed away in 2011, but after a long career at Shell, founded the Amnesty UK Business and Human Rights Group in the mid-90s after the Shell-Kensaroweva debacle.

And he was just so

influential and inspirational in the field.

And he made the business case for human rights as eloquently and persuasively as anybody.

And yet one of his favorite sayings was, the hell with the business case, it's about doing the right thing.

I believe that that's an article of faith for me.

That's what's inspired me and so many hundreds of people I've worked with all around the world on business and human rights.

But I think we're also at a moment where the business case is as or more important than ever, particularly in the domestic political environment in the U.S., the geopolitical overall situation that we're in with threats like AI and issues around critical minerals.

So the business case needs to be amplified.

I hope it resonates.

And again, the effort here is to encourage companies to stay the course, hold those who don't accountable.

But we can't overlook the huge amount of work done by hundreds, thousands of people in these companies, not US, UK, European companies based all around the world on human rights, and to really encourage them

to stay the course.

And I just am very hopeful that this initiative of the center really builds awareness and reinforces commitment on the part of companies that, yes, you're being watched, you're being researched, you're being tracked, but you're being encouraged.

You're being encouraged and supported

to continue and build on a quarter century of progress exactly now amidst these headwinds.

So that's where I would land is, yes, it's about doing the right thing, but this business case is absolutely critically important.

Thank you, Richard, as always.

Showing 81–100 of 102 · page 5 of 6