Mapping and measuring corporate harm to human rights and the environment remains difficult due to limited data transparency and inconsistent reporting standards. Yet robust information is essential to understand the magnitude of the problem, track progress, and support an empirical research agenda capable of identifying what effectively curbs business-related misconduct and related questions. This paper introduces a new open-access dataset documenting alleged human rights and environmental abuses – the REBALANCE Business-related Human Rights and Environmental (BRAVE) database – involving 83 of the largest publicly listed European multinational corporations between 2000 and 2020. Built from systematic data collection from the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, the dataset codes allegations by type of abuse, country, victims affected, corporate involvement (direct or indirect), and severity, enabling both comparative and longitudinal analyses. 98 per cent of the monitored firms are associated with at least one alleged abuse. This pattern suggests that such incidents are common rather than isolated. By offering a transparent and replicable empirical foundation, BRAVE aims at supporting evidence-based research, policy development, and stronger corporate accountability in the business and human rights field.
The BRAVE dataset can be downloaded from here: https://zenodo.org/records/17776935.
Codebook: The database codebook is published as Nieri, Federica and Assenza, Elena and Morreale, Verdiana and Strom, Sanna and Giuliani, Elisa, Mapping Corporate Harm to Human Rights and the Environment: The Brave Database (2025). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5862562 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5862562.
Keywords: Human rights and environmental abuses; Corporate accountability; European multinational corporations; Business and human rights; Measuring corporate harm
Attribution of the Dataset, Disclaimers and Contacts: The BRAVE dataset can be downloaded from here: https://zenodo.org/records/17776935. Users of the dataset are requested to cite this article as primary reference Nieri, Federica and Assenza, Elena and Morreale, Verdiana and Strom, Sanna and Giuliani, Elisa, Mapping Corporate Harm to Human Rights and the Environment: The Brave Database (2025). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5862562 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5862562.
While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the data, the database may contain omissions or errors. The coders have relied on available secondary sources to verify reported information to the best of their ability. As noted, the dataset codifies reported allegations of human rights and/or environmental abuses. Researchers seeking further information are invited to contact: rebalanceprojecteu@gmail.com.
