Article One | Our Services | Responsible Supply Chains

Responsible Supply Chains

WHAT WE BELIEVE

Responsible supply chain strategies have delivered important gains over the last twenty years but evolving global crises and structural shifts call for a renewed commitment to resilient supply chains—ensuring that worker protections remain a central pillar of corporate strategy. As international standards rise and harden, we believe companies have an opportunity to build on the progress that we have made and create new systems and new ways of sourcing responsibly. By rethinking their approach and going beyond traditional supply chain assessments, companies in all industries have opportunities to lead in creating responsible and resilient supply chains.

WHAT WE DO

Our team helps companies advance responsible and resilient supply chains by strengthening their approach to human rights and environmental due diligence, establishing mutually beneficial partnerships with suppliers, and meaningfully engaging with workers and other rightsholders to help identify and address risks.

Due Diligence

We support companies in strengthening their human and environmental supply chain due diligence to align with rising regulatory requirements. An advanced due diligence process can help companies understand and mitigate risks early on and improve the capacity of their suppliers to effectively manage risks.

Supply chain risk mapping and analysis
Research briefings of emerging supply chain issues
Field-level assessments across global supply chains
Regulatory readiness assessments
Vulnerable group assessments
Grievance mechanisms and corresponding remedy approaches

Partnership

We facilitate the development of mutually beneficial partnerships with suppliers grounded in shared responsibility. Shared responsibility helps companies understand the needs, capacity, and constraints of suppliers, incentivizes suppliers to align with regulatory requirements and corporate policies, and to ensure the cost of production enables rights-respecting conditions.

Supplier constraint assessments and surveys
Responsible purchasing standards, joint agreements, workflows, and implementation plans
Responsible purchasing incentives for internal purchasing teams
Implementation of capacity building platforms and tools for suppliers
Strategic initiatives and collaborative opportunities to address industry-wide challenges

Engagement

We help companies establish mechanisms to engage workers in meaningful ways throughout the entire process. This can enable companies to recognize and leverage the value of workers’ insights to inform solutions, as well as to forecast and mitigate potential adverse impacts before they become actual human rights violations.