Norges Bank Investment Management and UNICEF are working together on a new initiative to highlight how companies may impact children’s rights through their digital activities. The initiative aims to improve corporate reporting on impacts on children online.
From media consumption, education and online gaming, to buying products and creating content – an increasing number of activities are now taking place in the digital space. More than 175,000 children go online for the first time every day – a new child every half second – making it critical to focus on how children’s rights are impacted through digital technologies.
Although children can encounter a variety of risks online, meaningful access to digital technologies can also bring many positive opportunities. For example, children may be particularly susceptible to harmful advertising and misinformation campaigns, but on the other hand, safe digital environments that consider children’s perspectives and needs can help support and promote children's rights and well-being. Companies have a responsibility to ensure that they respect the rights of children, online as well as offline.
“The fund aims to create financial wealth for future generations, which is why respect for children’s rights is important for us. We’re excited to collaborate with UNICEF again and to continue our engagement with companies on children’s rights” says Carine Smith Ihenacho, Chief Governance and Compliance Officer at Norges Bank Investment Management.
Building on our previous collaborations with UNICEF and companies in the footwear and garment industry in 2017 and food retailers in 2020, we are now entering the third phase of our collaboration. The new initiative will focus on children’s rights in the digital environment by producing a set of disclosures that aim to increase transparency on how companies impact children’s rights in the digital environment. Recognising the increased importance of digital technology across most industries, the ambition is for these disclosures to be relevant for all companies — across sectors and markets.
We hope that this work will foster discussion and raise the bar on transparency by producing a comprehensive set of child rights-based disclosures in relation to digital technologies that companies can lean on to support their reporting efforts.
To produce the set of disclosures, NBIM and UNICEF will take a collaborative approach and consult with a wide range of stakeholders, including companies, academia and civil society organisations, to understand current market practices and identify gaps that may exist. We expect to finalise and publish the set of disclosures in 2025.
“As a global investor in almost 9,000 companies, corporate reporting on sustainability efforts is key to our ability to gauge sustainability risks in our portfolio. This initiative will hopefully enable us as an investor to better understand the efforts companies are making to respect children’s rights in the digital sphere and address negative impacts” says Smith Ihenacho.
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Line Aaltvedt
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Email: press@nbim.no