Amid progress, important gaps remain on Indigenous Peoples’ rights and solar supply chain risks.

A new global benchmark reveals that renewable energy companies are resisting enormous pressures to ditch progressive measures, and are instead acting as trailblazers in some areas of human rights progress.

The 2025 Renewable Energy & Human Rights Benchmark, published by the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, assessed 35 of the world’s largest renewable energy companies on their human rights policies and practices. The findings show that we are at an extraordinary moment in the transition to renewable energy, as the renewables sector is making significant progress on embedding human rights into its operations, despite the challenging environment created by adverse government policies (notably in the USA), high interest and inflation costs.

However, more needs to be done on some of the most salient human rights risks.

In particular, and despite the high potential for conflict when Indigenous Peoples’ rights are not respected – and a concerning number of allegations of abuse linked to Indigenous Peoples’ rights – only two out of 22 companies have sufficient policies in place to protect Indigenous Peoples’ rights. In addition, the right to free, prior and informed consent (FPIC), a cornerstone of Indigenous rights under international law, is almost entirely ignored: only one company has adopted a clear FPIC policy.

Alancay Morales Garro, Senior Project Manager & Indigenous Peoples' Rights Specialist, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, said: “Respect for the rights of Indigenous Peoples is a legal and moral imperative that builds lasting trust, reduces the likelihood of conflict, and supports the long-term sustainability of the business. Furthermore, it reduces the very real risk of financial, legal and reputational damage – which has demonstrated to undermine the sector’s capacity to roll-out renewable energy capacity at the pace required to begin to address the climate crisis. Our analysis shows that addressing this challenge is the right thing to do, and is also essential to investor confidence and project success. With governments calling for a tripling of renewable energy capacity by 2030, companies must act decisively on respecting Indigenous Peoples' rights. Closing this gap on Indigenous Peoples’ rights is absolutely crucial for a just and sustainable energy transition.”

Meanwhile, companies have made an encouraging start on shared prosperity through benefit-sharing – but this needs to translate into achieving the needs and aspirations of communities. While there has been clear improvement on meaningful engagement with communities, companies must make progress on benefit sharing agreements that will see tangible results for communities.

Solar supply chains risks also persist. No company in the Benchmark currently publicly discloses its full supply chain – a critical element in responding to the risk of exposure to the severe issue of forced labour in Xinjiang Autonomous Uyghur Region (XUAR), as referred to by UN experts.

Although there remains significant room for improvement, with average scores remaining low across the board, there were also important findings that offered hope:

• Overall progress on core human rights policies and practices: 67% of companies (18 out of 27) improved or maintained their scores since 2023.
• Access to remedy improving: 18 out of 27 companies improved their scores on commitment to providing remedy and/or grievance mechanisms.
• European utilities lead: Ørsted, Iberdrola, Enel Green Power, Vestas remain at the forefront of embedding human rights policies and practices. The top 6 developers in this year’s Benchmark are all European-based.
• Relatively fast progress: Eight companies have policies on respect for human rights defenders – including one new company.

Caroline Avan, Head of Natural Resources and Just Energy Transition, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, said: “The renewable energy industry is at a crossroads: not only is it building the infrastructures of our future global energy system, but it also has the potential to contribute to a fairer global economic order and shared prosperity for all in the energy transition. Positively, part of the industry has shown it is taking serious steps towards this. Results from the 2025 Renewable Energy & Human Rights Benchmark show that these companies are coming around to the fact that a fast energy transition can only be one that is also fair and rights-respecting. They also appear to understand that if they promote shared prosperity for local communities in which their operations are based, this is not only the right thing to do, but it also offers them a competitive advantage. These are all positive signs that the sector is moving in the right direction.”

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Notes to editors: 

• Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) is an international NGO that tracks the human rights impacts of companies across the globe. With partners and allies worldwide, BHRRC seeks to put human rights at the heart of business to deliver a just economy, climate justice, and end abuse.
• About this research: Through a research partnership with the EIRIS Foundation, the Renewable Energy & Human Rights Benchmark ranks 35 key publicly traded companies in the wind and solar sector on their human rights policies and practices. The research focuses on project developers, solar panel manufacturers and wind turbine manufacturers, taking a deep dive into four key issue areas essential for the renewable energy sector to drive a just energy transition. More information about the methodology can be found here.

Media contact: Priyanka Mogul, Senior Communications Officer (Media/PR), Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, [email protected]