Corporate Social Responsability and Innovation (RISE)

Project 1: Just transition towards sustainability: Human rights integration into climate change mitigation

In a context of increased expectations on the part of stakeholders with regard to measures aimed at combating climate change, more attention must be paid to the control of human rights impacts during the process of transformation of multinational companies.

The objective of the project is to deepen L'Oréal's understanding of the specificities of Human Rights in the subject of "just transition" and the link between environmental protection and human rights. One of the objectives of this study will be a multidisciplinary approach to avoid the creation of silos.

• Partner : L’Oréal
• Tutors : Maxime Belingheri, Julie Vallat and Pierre Louis Périn

This is a joint project with the HEDG clinic programme.

Project 2: Strengthening European Union sanctions against white-collar crime

• Partner: Ressource Matters
• Tutor : Chloé Petit

Project 3: Alert systems and duty of vigilance: specificity and effectiveness

The objective of the project is to understand to what extent companies formalize and adapt their alert systems to the notion of duty of vigilance. The project aims to make an inventory of legislative requirements, existing practices and the difficulties encountered by companies. The aim is to support companies in improving their practices, by identifying the various existing tools and stakeholders’ expectations. Deliverables: inventory report, interview summaries and an analytic report including courses of action.

• Partner : association Entreprises pour les droits de l'Homme (EDH)
• Tutors : Adèle Bourgin and Aurélia Miles

Projet 4 - Contribution to the definition or optimization of social taxonomy

Following on from the European Union Platform’s work on sustainable finance and the development of a conceptual framework of social taxonomy, students - in collaboration with Défi Impact – have as their objective the testing of social analysis methodologies and proposing avenues for improvement.

The project aims first of all to specify the objectives and sub-objectives of social taxonomy, in particular through a referencing of the sub-objectives by using multiple sources of law and regulatory or political reference frameworks. The project then aims to develop social analysis methods around taxonomy, comparable to the analysis methods developed around green taxonomy through the use of15 case studies of 15 different companies.

The clinic project allows students to become familiar with the new normative frameworks aimed at regulating sustainable finance within the European Union, and better directing investment towards activities with a positive social contribution and avoiding social-washing.

• Partner : EthiFinance
• Tutors : Benjamin Michel and Eléna Divry

Projet 5 - Economic sanctions and measures to freeze and/or confiscate assets

In the context of the intensification of economic sanctions against Russia, the purpose of the project is to question the legal basis, the practical modalities and the limits of economic sanction measures. The study focuses in particular on measures to freeze and/or confiscate assets. The project will also examine measures of restitution following on from the application of such measures, in particular in relation to one of the “ill-gotten gains” cases.

• Partner: Agence française de développement (AFD)
• Tutor : Lionel Chami

Project 6 - Company rankings and animal welfare

The animal production industry in Europe has been considerably concentrated over the decades, and it is today dominated by a limited number of players who control the entire value chain (genetic selection, ownership, supply of feeding, transport and slaughter of animals). However, these companies outsource the breeding of animals to contract breeders, who are economically dependent and lack autonomy with regard to their production methods in general, and the treatment of animals in particular.

Very little information is available on the legal infrastructure of the animal production industry. The purpose of the work entrusted to the students is to remedy this lack of knowledge by producing a study on the legal factors underlying the development of the model of industrial farming in France. The project will result in the publication of a report. Students will participate in several conferences in France and abroad, including as speakers.

• Partner : l'association Infotrack
• Tutors : Alice Di Concetto and Aude Solveig Epstein

This is a joint project with the JETE clinic programme.

Project 7 - Using the French duty of vigilance law to end destructive fishing practices

The ocean and the biodiversity it supports are under unprecedented pressure, caused in particular by the rapid growth of the human population, the acceleration of climate change and the intensification of industrial fishing activities.

Among industrial fisheries, tuna fisheries are among the most intensive in the world, supporting a vast international trade, and accounting for around 7.5 million tonnes of fish caught per year (nearly 10% of total fishing catches). In particular, tuna fishing is carried out in the Indian Ocean using thousands of "fishing aggregation devices" (FADs), i.e. floating rafts that attract unsustainable quantities of tuna, but also "by catch" and juveniles. The abandonment of FADs at sea is also a major source of pollution.

The project aims to examine the possible legal actions to limit the use of this fishing practice, based in particular on the French law of 2017 on the duty of vigilance of both parent and contracting companies.

• Partner : BLOOM
• Tutor : Camille Fromentin

This is a joint project with the JETE clinic programme.