Version 1
: Received: 11 July 2022 / Approved: 14 July 2022 / Online: 14 July 2022 (11:37:00 CEST)
Version 2
: Received: 15 July 2022 / Approved: 18 July 2022 / Online: 18 July 2022 (10:12:34 CEST)
RUTHERFORD, A. The Human Rights Commitments of Private Fusion Energy Companies. Journal of Applied Economic Sciences (JAES) 2022, 262, doi:10.57017/jaes.v17.3(77).08.
RUTHERFORD, A. The Human Rights Commitments of Private Fusion Energy Companies. Journal of Applied Economic Sciences (JAES) 2022, 262, doi:10.57017/jaes.v17.3(77).08.
RUTHERFORD, A. The Human Rights Commitments of Private Fusion Energy Companies. Journal of Applied Economic Sciences (JAES) 2022, 262, doi:10.57017/jaes.v17.3(77).08.
RUTHERFORD, A. The Human Rights Commitments of Private Fusion Energy Companies. Journal of Applied Economic Sciences (JAES) 2022, 262, doi:10.57017/jaes.v17.3(77).08.
Abstract
Although the fusion energy sector is at a nascent state, the private fusion energy market has grown. There are currently 38 private fusion energy companies around the world aiming to commercialise fusion energy in early 2030s and 2040s. Given the capability of fusion energy of transforming today’s energy paradigm and the global character of the market, it is important to analyse how these companies are interacting with international human rights standards. Therefore, this work investigates the involvement of the private fusion energy sector with two voluntary international initiatives in particular: the UN Global Compact and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP). This study attempts to answer two research questions: (i) Are private fusion energy companies participating in the UN Global Compact? (ii) How are private fusion energy companies publicly implementing the UNGP? Content analysis of secondary data collected from the UN Global Compact, Fusion Industry Association, ITER and companies’ official website as well as published reports is adopted. In summary, this work finds that private fusion energy companies are neither participants nor signatories of the UN Global Compact. The observance of the UNGP is also very poor. This study contributes to the field by highlighting this gap which the private fusion energy companies need to consider and take measures in order to create a salutary human rights sector.
Keywords
Fusion Energy; UN Global Compact; UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
Subject
Social Sciences, Law
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
