How leading companies, NGOs and solution providers are working to address the myriad issues that can arise in any supply chain.
The Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC), a nonprofit coalition of leading electronics companies dedicated to supply chain responsibility, has made the eradication of forced labor a high priority in 2015, as evidenced by a series of recent actions taken to strengthen its Code of Conduct. Today, the Coalition — whose members include Apple, Cisco, Dell, Eastman Kodak, HP, Microsoft and many more — announced changes to its Code designed to protect workers and a membership vote to ban all recruitment fees paid by workers.
Hilton Worldwide has announced that it will begin to eliminate the use of cages for egg-laying chickens and gestation crates for breeding pigs in its global food supply chain.The announcement was made in conjunction with the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), the nation’s largest animal protection organization.
Major seafood-selling brands such as Safeway, Walmart and Sysco are potentially benefiting from slave labor, a new AP investigation has unveiled.
A new report from the World Economic Forum identifies 31 proven practices to help companies achieve a triple advantage of increased revenue, a reduction in supply chain cost and added brand value. The practices also help companies shrink their carbon footprint and contribute to local development, including the health, welfare and working conditions of the communities in which they operate.
Third-party certifier SCS Global Services has announced that Uttar Pradesh Forest Corporation (UPFC) — which manages all aspects of forestry operations within the State of Uttar Pradesh, located in northern India bordering on Nepal — has met all of the requirements necessary to earn certification for responsible forestry under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standard.The Forest Management Certification encompasses 13 forest divisions covering a total forest area of 349,296 hectares. This area represents roughly 40 percent of the FSC-certified forest area in South Asia.
Today the Tronie Foundation — a Washington-based non-profit organization founded by trafficking survivor Rani Hong, dedicated to driving awareness of human trafficking and slavery — announced the availability of a new “Freedom Seal” that companies can earn for taking steps to eradicate slavery from their supply chains. Marking the launch of the Seal is a corresponding social media campaign, through which concerned consumers can encourage companies to #AdoptTheSeal.
A brief released Friday by Sedex Global and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) finds that the majority of environmental non-compliances in global supply chains originate from a lack of understanding of relevant laws and regulations, despite the fact that the majority of self-assessors believe they meet all relevant requirements. The brief concludes that although positive efforts are being made to manage and set targets around water risks, improved, more collaborative systems are needed to help suppliers ensure environmental legal requirements are met.
On top of the fact that palm oil production — the biggest driver of deforestation in Southeast Asia and parts of Africa and South America — is responsible for the rampant release of carbon emissions, the destruction of vital habitats for endangered species such as orangutans and the Sumatran tiger, and the production of methane-rich wastewater, a new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) links unsustainable palm oil production practices with significant air pollution in Southeast Asia in the form of devastating haze.
Just in time for Easter, Nestlé USA has announced an expansion of its commitment to sourcing sustainable cocoa through its global Nestlé Cocoa Plan. This year Nestlé, in partnership with UTZ Certified, has purchased enough certified cocoa to produce its entire Easter chocolate collection, marking a first for a major U.S. candy manufacturer.According to the National Confectioners Association, Easter is the second-largest candy-buying holiday behind Halloween. Additionally, in a recent survey1, nearly 80 percent of consumers said that they would prefer to purchase chocolate products made with sustainable cocoa if they were easy to find and didn’t cost more.
Fairtrade International — a coalition of 28 organizations working to make trade fairer throughout the world — is welcoming comments from throughout the garment and textile supply chains on the new Fairtrade Textile Standard, now under development.
We’ve heard a lot recently about 2015 promising to be the year of sustainability — with global conferences on sustainable development and climate change, new UK legislation fighting modern day slavery, and the forthcoming UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), set to shape the global remit for social, economic and environmental development.One of the key goals of the SDGs is to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls around the world. With this in mind, the post-2015 development agenda offers a great opportunity to drive lasting change for women’s rights and equality.
Heineken last week announced plans to team up with The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) as part of a new sustainability initiative to support environmental and social growth movements in the developing world.
Last fall, HP became the first company in the IT industry to require direct employment of foreign migrant workers in its supply chain with the release of the HP Foreign Migrant Worker Standard.Three months after HP the release of this new standard for preventing exploitative labor practices and forced labor, Sustainable Brands spoke with Bob Mitchell, Global Manager of Supply Chain Social & Environmental Responsibility, to learn how the program is enabling HP to ethically recruit and manage foreign migrant workers.
Mars Chocolate UK and Fairtrade Foundation have extended their partnership to source Fairtrade-certified cocoa for MARS® Bars in the United Kingdom and Ireland by October 2015.Mars is the first UK company to announce a commitment under the new Fairtrade Cocoa Sourcing Programme, which aims to deliver more opportunities for cocoa farmers to sell on Fairtrade terms and connect them with businesses that actively support efforts to improve farmer livelihoods.In 2009, Mars committed to certifying its entire cocoa supply as being produced in a sustainable manner by 2020.
Last week, Safeway and Fair Trade USA announced a partnership to launch Fair Trade Certified™ seafood into the North American market. The program addresses both social and environmental responsibility in fishing communities across the globe. In March, Safeway will debut the world’s first Fair Trade fish – wild-capture tuna from small-scale fishermen in Indonesia – in its Northern California, Portland and Seattle Division stores.
Apple has terminated its relationships with 18 suppliers to date due to sustainability code violations, according to a new report from the technology company.
Only six major companies and one investor — Danone, Unilever, Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, Kao Corp., Reckitt Benckiser Group, and financial services giant HSBC — have comprehensive policies in place to protect tropical forests, according to a new ranking by Global Canopy Programme (GCP).
Companies are under increasing pressure to improve transparency across their supply chains and introduce more stringent procurement policies covering issues including human rights, corruption, and social and environmental impacts.
The availability of Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified fish is better than ever with a million tons of MSC certified cod caught last year, but there is a growing gap between supermarkets that offer their customers ecolabelled sustainable seafood choices and protecting ocean environments, according to new figures released by MSC.Since 2010, Sainsbury’s has led the pack in terms of numbers of products stocked, with 163 MSC-certified seafood products for the last financial year, MSC says. The retailer’s product numbers are almost twice its closest competitor, Waitrose, which is in second place with 79 certified seafood products and more than three times the number of products stocked by M&S.
Unilever has announced that its Breyers, Fruttare, Magnum and Lipton brand products have all made significant commitments to responsible sourcing.Beginning this month, Breyers will only use real vanilla from Rainforest Alliance-certified vanilla beans from Madagascar. The company will now also only source milk and cream from farmers who don’t treat their cows with artificial growth hormones, making Breyers the largest packaged U.S. ice cream brand to do so.