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What is supply chain due diligence?

Due diligence is a systematic and ongoing risk management process that enables companies to proactively address environmental and human rights impacts and conduct their business in a responsible manner.

Supply chain due diligence is promoted through voluntary frameworks, such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Government regulations also increasingly require it.

Why should companies use the Accountability Framework as a guide to effective due diligence?

The Accountability Framework provides a detailed reference for implementing ethical supply chains in the agriculture and forestry sectors. There are several advantages to using the Framework to guide supply chain due diligence:

  • Environment and human rights: The Framework addresses both environmental and human rights risks in an integrated manner.
  • A recognised and accepted approach: The Framework is a consensus-based guideline that has been widely applied in all major forest-risk commodity sectors.
  • Interoperable with existing systems: Many monitoring tools, reporting systems, and standards and guidelines that companies use to support supply chain due diligence – such as certification programmes – are well-aligned with the Accountability Framework. The Framework offers an umbrella approach that helps align action company-wide.
  • Universally applicable: The Framework is applicable globally and for all agricultural and forestry commodities. It also aligns with context-specific guidelines.
  • Attuned to the value chain: The Framework recognises the roles of different supply chain actors in effective due diligence. It provides differentiated guidance per type of actor within an overall logic of end-to-end compliance and risk mitigation in multi-level supply chains.

 

Learn more and access the Framework

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