Responsible Business Conduct Due Diligence Practices in Ukraine’s Energy Sector

Date of publication
23 June 2021

About the report

Promoting and enabling responsible business conduct (RBC) helps attract and retain quality investments, and ensures that business activities contribute to broader value creation and sustainable development. RBC centres around the expectation that all businesses – regardless of their status, size, ownership structure or sector – avoid and address negative impacts of their activities on the society and the environment by integrating environmental and social issues within core business operations, supply chains and business relationships.

A key element of RBC is risk-based due diligence, a process through which businesses can identify, prevent and mitigate actual and potential adverse impacts, and account for how they are addressed. RBC due diligence practices should be applicable not only to company operations but also throughout supply chains and business relationships.

The energy sector is associated with important RBC-related challenges, including environmental, social and governance risks. This study provides a baseline understanding of RBC due diligence practices in Ukraine’s energy companies. Based on surveys conducted with some of the main energy practitioners in Ukraine and on supplementary research, it outlines key RBC risks that companies in Ukraine’s energy sector face and efforts through which these risks are identified, addressed and mitigated. The study also outlines practice gaps and provides considerations for companies to take into account when improving due diligence practices in aligning with OECD RBC instruments and standards.

A preliminary version of this report was made available following a roundtable discussion among Ukrainian governmental and non-governmental stakeholders on June 23, 2021. It was subsequently finalised and officially launched alongside the OECD Energy Investment Policy Review of Ukraine.

Download the report: English | Ukrainian

Read the key findings fact sheet: English | Ukrainian

Project summary: English | Ukrainian

About the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct

The OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct provides practical support to enterprises on the implementation of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises by providing plain-language explanations of its due diligence recommendations and associated provisions.

Implementing these recommendations can help enterprises avoid and address adverse impacts related to workers, human rights, the environment, bribery, consumers and corporate governance that may be associated with a company’s operations, supply chains and other business relationships. The Guidance includes additional explanations, tips and illustrative examples of due diligence.

This Guidance also seeks to promote a common understanding among governments and stakeholders on due diligence for responsible business conduct. The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights as well as the ILO Tripartite Declaration of Principles Concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy also contain due diligence recommendations, and this Guidance can help enterprises implement them.

Find out more about the OECD Due diligence Guidance and sectoral Guidance