Pledges & Statements

UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights  
Example: 
Discontinue “activities with potentially adverse climate change-related human rights impacts.”  

Businesses "should conduct appropriate and adequate consultation on their own decisions and actions likely to have climate-related human rights impacts."

Example:
"The responsibility to respect human rights requires that  business enterprises...Seek to prevent or mitigate adverse human rights impacts that are directly linked to their operations, products or services by their business relationships, even if they have not contributed to those impacts."

"For the purpose of these Guiding Principles a business enterprise’s “activities” are understood to include both actions and omissions."

Example: 
Companies "should be guided by the severity of the potential or actual impact identified, including whether a delayed response may make the impact irremediable."  

UN Race to Zero  
Members “must restrict the development, financing, and facilitation of new fossil fuel assets in line with appropriate scenarios.” Appropriate scenarios referenced are the IPCC and IEA’s requirement of no new coal, oil, and gas after 2021. All just transition pathways require "phasing fossil fuels down and out," not expanding them.

Members must "not harm achievement of other SDGs" and "not make unrealistic assumptions on development and deployment of future technologies."

Members must "align external policy and engagement" to the goal of "reaching global (net) zero by 2050."

NOTE: UN Race to Zero has indicated that RELX is not in Race to Zero and "thus should not be presenting themselves as such." (2024)

RELX Global Environment Policy  
The company "supports the aim of the Paris Climate Agreement" and is committed to the protection of the environment, through the "prevention of pollution" and "minimising its contribution to climate change, in line with the scale of action deemed necessary by science." 

We Are Still In Declaration  
"We will continue to support climate action to meet the Paris Agreement… will pursue ambitious climate goals, working together to take forceful action and to ensure that the U.S.remains a global leader in reducing emissions… Together, we will remain actively engaged with the international community as part of the global effort to hold warming to well below 2℃ and to accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy that will benefit our security, prosperity, and health."  

The Media Climate Pact 
"We will commit to implement science-based targets on climate and drive actions that are consistent with a 1.5-degree pathway."

"We will track and report consistently on our climate change-related content and the impacts we are having through our content."

RELX Climate Change Statement  
"We believe the Paris Climate Agreement is our best hope for avoiding dangerous climate change and limiting average temperature change to well below 2 degrees Celsius, and even below 1.5 degrees Celsius. We support global efforts to mitigate climate change through the rapid reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, aiming to achieve net zero emissions before 2050." 

UN Sustainable Development Goals  
RELX is "committed to doing our part to advance these essential objectives for the world." All 17 goals are interconnected, especially with regard to Goal 13: "Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts." Fossil fuel expansion undermines every single goal.   

Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data  
A global network using data to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.  

UN Global Compact
‍
Example: 
Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges: Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation… When there is reasonable suspicion of harm, decision-makers need to apply precaution and consider the degree of uncertainty that appears from scientific evaluation. Deciding on the "acceptable"level of risk involves…acceptability to the public.   

The company is "obtaining prior approval before certain products, deemed to be potentially hazardous, are placed on the market."

Example:
No company function "is conflicting with company sustainability commitments and objectives."

Example: 
“Avoid causing or contributing to adverse human rights impacts through their activities and relationships.”  

Example:
"Companies should take proactive, ongoing steps to understand how existing and proposed activities may cause or contribute to human rights impacts, as well has how the company’s operations may be directly linked to such impacts." 

‍Example: 
Accusations of [human rights abuse] complicity can arise in a number of contexts:
‍Direct complicity — when a company provides goods or services that it knows will be used to carry out the abuse
‍Beneficial complicity — when a company benefits from human rights abuses even if it did not positively assist or cause them
‍Silent complicity — when the company is silent or inactive in the face of systematic or continuous human rights abuse.

Example:
"Good practices in one area do not offset harm in another."

OECD Guidelines
"There should not be any contradiction between the activity of multinational enterprises (MNEs) and sustainable development"

"Where an enterprise contributes or may contribute to such [a negative] impact, it should take the necessary steps to cease or prevent its contribution."

"In the context of these Guidelines, 'sound environmental management' should be interpreted in its broadest sense, embodying activities aimed at controlling both direct and indirect environmental impacts of enterprise activities over the long-term."

"Seek to prevent or mitigate an adverse impact where they have not contributed to that impact, when the impact is nevertheless directly linked to their operations, products or services by a business relationship."

Human rights due diligence "entails assessing actual and potential human rights impacts...[that] goes beyond simply identifying and managing material risks to the enterprise itself to include the risks to rights-holders."

"Environmental management also involves carrying out risk-based due diligence with respect to adverse environmental impacts..It will also depend on the extent to which environmental impacts associated with the enterprise’s operations, products or services are reasonably foreseeable."

"Carrying out environmental due diligence and managing adverse environmental impacts will often involve taking into account multiple environmental, social and developmental priorities. Notably the Paris Agreement preamble takes into account the imperatives of a just transition."

"Adverse impacts related to science, technology and innovation" should "take into account known or reasonably foreseeable circumstances related to the use of the product or service provided in accordance with its intended purpose, or under conditions of reasonably foreseeable improper use or misuse, which may give rise to adverse impacts."

RELX Code of Ethics‍
False or misleading statements: “All reports and written or oral statements about our business must be accurate and not misleading.” 
‍
“All advertising claims and other representations in any print, electronic, or other non-print medium must be truthful and have a reasonable basis. They must be substantiated before publication or dissemination. This also applies to oral presentations or even casual conversations where you make any objective, factual, or quantifiable comments about our products or services or those of other companies.” 

“As a signatory of the United Nations Global Compact, we are committed to the protection of human rights. We support and respect international human rights. We also seek to ensure that we are not complicit in human rights abuses.” 

“Our businesses have an impact on the environment, principally through the use of energy and paper, the use of print and production technologies, and the recycling of waste. We are committed to reducing this impact where we can, and to abiding by the three principles on the environment that are set out in the United Nations Global Compact, which are to:
‍
• support a precautionary approach to environmental changes;
• undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility; and
• encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies.” 

“RELX policies prohibit retaliation against anyone who reports a suspected violation of the Code. Any person who attempts to retaliate against individuals who raise good faith concerns under the Code or company policy would not only violate RELX policy, but may also violate the law, and will be addressed accordingly.” 

Elsevier's Operating Principles
These require that employees act in conformity with company policies, hold themselves and other employees accountable, grow the business with integrity, incorporate ethics into all actions, and speak out for what is right.