The relationship between human rights and the environment has been on the international policy and scholarly agendas for over two decades. Equally, the dynamics between business activities and corporations’ working methods and their impact on human rights have been developing at the policy and legal levels. However, within these developments there has been limited consideration of the environment in the context of adverse corporate impacts and their human dimensions, which have been approached in an ad-hoc and piecemeal manner. This Special Issue exposes the advances and deficiencies in the theoretical and practical integration of human rights and the environment within the business and human rights framework, as well as the role and impact of greater integration for achieving positive social and environmental change. In this editorial to the special issue of Sustainability on Business, Human Rights, and the Environment, we set the stage to push forward the development of an integrated and coherent theoretic Business, Human Rights, and Environment framework and its international legal implementation which places the needs of the people and the planet at its core.

This article examines the use of misleading conduct law to challenge false or deceptive business claims about their human rights practices and impacts. It does so in the context of recent developments in the field of business and human rights including the introduction of non-financial reporting, disclosure and human rights due diligence that have seen an increase in business communications about their human rights impacts. The article uses the Protect, Respect and Remedy framework of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights to analyse the EU Directive on Unfair Commercial Practices (2005/29) and the Australian Consumer Law. Each prohibit misleading conduct by business. The article argues that, to differing extents, these legislations partially address the accountability gap that has emerged in the context of corporate human rights claims and practices.

This opinion piece uses anecdotal theory to reflect on student and staff resistance that the authors have encountered as academics conducting research on anti-racist and decolonial pedagogies in HE. We argue that such resistance is rooted in the hegemonic logics of disciplinary canons, pedagogical norms and the university, which, when challenged and disrupted, can result in feelings of discomfort. In this context, we recommend the creation of spaces to experience and learn from discomfort both productively and safely, by means of an embodied approach.

(2017). Adaeze Okoye, Legal approaches and corporate social responsibility: towards a Llewellyn’s law-jobs approach. The Law Teacher: Vol. 51, No. 4, pp. 525-527.