"New U.S. Government National Action Plan Promotes Remedy for Corporate Harms: Implementation Will Be Key," 26 Mar. 2024

... Recognizing the need for U.S. leadership, the new U.S. National Action Plan on Responsible Business Conduct (NAP) includes commitments from various government agencies to promote responsible business conduct. Accountability Counsel, along with Inclusive Development International,  submitted recommendations for the NAP, and we are happy to see several of our recommendations addressed ..."

... The NAP responds to years of civil society advocacy to add tools to the NCP that incentivize companies to come to the negotiation table with affected communities and workers and address the inherent power imbalances between powerful companies and communities trying to raise their voices.

... EXIM, the U.S. government’s export credit agency, has committed to engaging with other export credit agencies on remedy procedures and a public consultation on strengthening project grievance mechanisms. These commitments recognize what the U.N. Human Rights Council recognized in 2018 – export credit agencies need to do more to ensure access to remedy.

... The Treasury department committed to advocating for effective remedy systems at multilateral development banks (MDBs) and supporting MDBs adopting responsible exit principles. This is critical. We have seen countless times in our support of communities seeking justice for harm from MDB projects that MDBs rarely provide meaningful remedy, and when they do, it is only after communities themselves demand it. 

... [This NAP] is a good start to ensuring that the U.S. is a responsible actor. Of course, this is only the case if the U.S. government implements its NAP. After the issuance of the 2016 NAP, which happened towards at the end of the Obama administration, little information was published on the implementation of the commitments. We expect more transparency and reporting on progress this time. New policies mentioned in the NAP should be developed through robust public consultation.