What would Asia’s business landscape look like today if, a decade ago, there was no investment in building the foundations for responsible business practice?

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No regional platforms. No early attempts to translate the UNGPs into domestic policy. No cross-border learning, shared tools, or coalitions able to respond to rapidly changing social and environmental risks.

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Though hypothetical, this question helps us understand an important truth: much of today’s momentum was not guaranteed.

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Ten years ago, the region was undergoing profound economic transformation. Global supply chains were rapidly expanding. Investment in major infrastructure projects was growing. Environmental pressures were intensifying, and digital economies were beginning to reshape markets, labour and daily life. At the same time, awareness of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights remained uneven. Many companies still understood responsibility through philanthropy rather than prevention and accountability. Workers and communities, especially women, migrants, and Indigenous Peoples, faced structural barriers to raising concerns – from experiencing discrimination and unequal treatment in the workplace to being excluded from meaningful participation in decisions about the environmental or social impact of business activities in their communities. 

 

Most regulatory systems had not yet caught up with the scale, speed and complexity of business activity, leaving significant gaps in oversight, coordination and access to remedy. Even well-intentioned actors lacked the frameworks, evidence and networks needed to address harms that cut across borders, supply chains and governance systems.

 

In such a context, it would have been entirely plausible for the business and human rights agenda to remain peripheral or fragmented.

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Instead, the past decade brought a gradual but meaningful shift – shaped not by a single defining moment, but through sustained collaboration, policy choices, incremental commitments, dedicated efforts and practical experimentation that altered the region’s trajectory.

• Governments began conducting baseline assessments, mapping gaps, and designing National Action Plans.

• Businesses started asking more sophisticated questions about risk and responsibility.

• National Human Rights Institutions and civil society networks strengthened their role in monitoring harms and advocating for rights.

• Journalists and researchers expanded visibility of rights issues rarely discussed before.

• Youth groups became increasingly vocal about the social and environmental consequences of economic growth.

• Regional forums emerged where none had existed, drawing together constituencies that had previously worked in parallel.

This progress did not unfold in a vacuum. It emerged alongside – and often despite – profound disruptions: a global pandemic that upended economies and governance systems, growing restrictions on civic space and human rights defenders, and escalating geopolitical contestation that tested multilateral cooperation. That work persisted under these conditions reflects a commitment to keeping business and human rights on the agenda, even when crises threatened to displace it.

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The combined effect of these efforts is a business and human rights landscape today that is far more connected, far more informed, and better equipped to respond to risks and meet responsibilities. The idea that human rights should guide economic decision making is no longer distant theory. It is increasingly shaping policies, investment frameworks, ESG systems, public procurement and supply chain expectations across the region.

 

Importantly, this momentum is increasingly driven from within Asia. Governments, institutions and networks began not only adopting global frameworks, but shaping how they should be interpreted, adapted and implemented in diverse national contexts. What has emerged is an agenda no longer defined solely from outside the region, but grounded and increasingly defined by Asian experience, priorities and leadership.

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Progress, however, has not been uniform, and the challenges remain significant. Civic space continues to contract in several contexts. Environmental degradation and climate impacts are compounding risks for communities already facing structural inequality. Digital transformation is introducing new human rights challenges faster than regulators and businesses can adapt. And access to remedy – the core test of any system – remains inconsistent, with many affected groups still encountering barriers to justice.

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This is where the counterfactual remains relevant: had the region not built the early scaffolding for responsible business, today’s challenges may be even more complex, and the pathways to address them far less clear. Without the investments of the past decade, the minimum conditions now in place in many contexts—for problems to be named, solutions to be tested, and accountability to be pursued—would simply not exist.

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Only with hindsight does the architecture built through years of sustained effort become fully visible: Support to governments developing NAPs. Extensive stakeholder consultations to ensure diverse perspectives and experiences inform policy processes. Training programmes for judiciaries, regulators and civil servants. Practical engagement with companies on human rights due diligence. Strengthening of grievance pathways, both by making information more accessible and building judicial capacity. South–South exchanges where lessons from one country became building blocks for others. Work with media to bring visibility to previously overlooked harms. Platforms that allowed defenders, workers and communities to speak directly with policy makers and businesses. And national, subregional and regional dialogues that positioned Asia’s experience not as an afterthought, but as a contribution to global standards.

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These were not necessarily headline stories. But without them, the broader momentum behind responsible business in Asia would look very different.

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B+HR Asia is proud to announce a series of stories documenting this journey to mark our 10th anniversary, tracing how investments made over the last decade helped build the foundations, systems, and pathways that have shaped this architecture of progress.  

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Together, these stories explore how change happened in practice: the ideas that gained traction, the institutions that took ownership, how trust was built across sectors and how norms moved – gradually and unevenly – from paper to practice. They reflect a decade of learning, partnership and persistence, and they show how local leadership, peer learning and regional solidarity shaped a landscape that continues to evolve.  

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Most importantly, these stories underscore that there is still much further to go on the business and human rights agenda.

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As economic transformation accelerates – in energy systems, food production, digital governance, data economies and climate adaptation – new risks are emerging faster than institutions can respond. Rights holders often continue to bear the heaviest burdens. Remedy remains a gap. And the next decade will require not only stronger frameworks, but stronger implementation, deeper accountability, and more robust integration of environmental, social and technological risks. It will require working together with civil society, strengthening the voice of workers and communities, and ensuring that due diligence leads not only to better policies, but to better outcomes for those most affected by business activity.

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Looking back, it becomes clear that the question “What if no one had invested in this work?” is not merely rhetorical. It is a reminder that momentum is built, not inherited – and that the foundations laid over the past decade will shape what is possible in the next. 

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B+HR Asia brings together these stories to document a journey of sustained investment and partnerships that helped transform an emerging agenda into shared momentum across the region.