November 26, 2024
(press release)
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Members of AIM-Progress and The Consumer Goods Forum Human Rights Coalition, which includes major fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies, are delighted to have partnered with the Fair Labor Association (FLA) and Proforest to develop and launch the new “Converged Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence (HREDD) Assessment Tool”. The open-source tool is designed to help businesses identify, prevent, and address potential risks to human rights and the environment across their business operations and supply chains. It is intended to support a wide range of industries, helping all types of businesses assess and improve HREDD practices by standardising content, requirements, and language; promoting a unified approach to HREDD maturity assessments across the FMCG sector and beyond. Initially created by FLA with support from Nestlé, the tool was further adapted and piloted by Proforest, with valuable input from both buyers and suppliers. By leveraging the tool’s extensive results companies can self-assess their due diligence systems and engage with suppliers, identifying areas to strengthen practices in relation to their own operations and supply chains for goods and services. Though its use is voluntary, this tool serves as a best-practice reference, fostering supplier engagement and continuous improvement in human rights and environmental due diligence. Aligned with the OECD Due Diligence Guidance and UN Guiding Principles (UNGPs), it promotes global cross-sector alignment, ultimately reducing suppliers’ reporting burden across multiple buyers. “Converging approaches is central to AIM-Progress’s mission and, we believe, key to effective human rights and environmental due diligence that positively impacts lives throughout supply chains. This tool would not have been possible without the openness of members such as Nestlé, who shared the foundational work they initiated with the FLA, and without the valued partnership and collaboration of The Consumer Goods Forum and Proforest.” said Louise Herring, Director of AIM-Progress. “The outcome of our partnership will contribute through concrete implementation tools that help businesses make human rights and environmental due diligence a no-brainer for companies,” said Didier Bergeret, Director Sustainability of The Consumer Goods Forum. “This collaboration is the start of a longer learning journey where we hope the tool can inspire more companies to embark on a journey to embed human rights and environmental due diligence” “Companies gearing up for the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive and other reporting requirements need tools to engage with their suppliers on human rights and environmental due diligence (HREDD). FLA authored this HREDD tool based on our robust standards and years of experience working with companies, suppliers, civil society organisations, and universities. Applicable across industries, this tool will help companies accurately assess their systems, while avoiding self-assessment and reporting fatigue,” said Richa Mittal, Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer at FLA. “We are delighted to be able to share the experience of such a strong business collaboration to develop the HREDD assessment tool,” commented Emanuela Ranieri-Svendsen, Deputy Director – Human Rights at Proforest. “It has been an important part of our ongoing work to promote HREDD good practice in the supply chain with meaningful supplier engagement to address human rights and environmental risks and impacts. We are keen to maximise opportunities for this tool to meaningfully contribute as part of a smart mix of measures.” The current Converged HREDD Assessment Tool emerged after three years through collaborative development, pilot testing, and stakeholder feedback from AIM-Progress, CGF, FLA, Nestlé and Proforest. The collaborators have made the tool open-source, aiming for it to become common industry best practice for how to assess HREDD readiness. It is available to download online here. Please note, the tool is available as a working version and licensed under Creative Commons. Any organisation sharing the tool and guidance document should acknowledge the contributions of the developing organisations.
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