Social inclusion

In general, companies perform poorly on the social inclusion measurement area with 341 companies obtaining less than half of the total available scores. Expectations in this area go beyond commitments and disclosure and look for companies to ensure demonstration of comprehensive monitoring and supplier engagement. Nonetheless, the lack of disclosure from companies across the value chain is concerning, especially as we move past the ten-year anniversary of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

However, best performing companies do demonstrate that they are respecting human rights and ensuring social inclusion throughout their value chains. The top 20 includes companies from all segments of the value chain, standing out particularly due to their human rights due diligence processes and policies that address key social issues in both the company’s operations and supply chain. Across the 350 companies, roughly half commit to respect human rights and provide grievance mechanisms, but very few demonstrate they have in place the due diligence and monitoring processes. Encouragingly, 54% of companies are disclosing activities to support the livelihoods of farmers and fishers. While the existence of forced and child labour is persistent in food and agriculture, the vast majority of companies in scope lack commitments to eliminate this. This also goes for paying living wages across their business activities and supply chains and ensuring the health and safety of vulnerable groups.