Responsible Sourcing Guidance for Environmental and Social of Human Rights Due diligence for Supply Chains
Training and support for supply chains modern slavery prevention and responsible sourcing, to cause decent work labour standards; especially in China and Asia.
Delivered by Environmental & Social E&S Professionals with decades of experience in delivering Human Rights due diligence, especially in global and Asia Supply Chains
Our Services
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Advisory
SupplyESChange team of experienced expert Senior Associates and researchers, led by Founding Director Kate A Larsen, guide companies and investors to understand what actions to take for Supply Chains Environmental and Human Rights due diligence, and why.
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Online Courses in Responsible Sourcing
We train companies to understand the emerging business human rights due diligence in supply chains legislation, modern slavery, child labour, exploitation, and environmental risks, and key principles to design or Improve Responsible Sourcing programmes.
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Tailored Trainings for Teams
We design and deliver tailored training and courses for businesses to review their Sustainable Procurement and Responsible Sourcing efforts to date, and how to improve human rights due diligence and lower Scope 3 carbon emissions footprints.
Impact
Our Team have developed and Led Responsible Sourcing for business human rights due diligence in leading brands,….
dealt with,…
and remediated (many) cases of child labour ,…
and modern slavery around the world, ….
….and input to key industry standards such as:
OECD Guidance,
UK Modern Slavery Act guidance for business,
ILO Better Work,
Corporate human rights benchmark,
Fashion Revolution Transparency Index,
and more.
We work to Improve Lives of Workers
..People who grow, make, pack and move Our Things…
and the Communities around them, and to protect Nature.
Advisory, Online Courses, Consulting in Responsible Sourcing & Sustainability
Learn How To Manage Supply Chains Environmental, Social and Modern Slavery risks and deliver SDGs Impact.
Understand new risks emerging post covid;
Learn how to create and align business Human Rights Due Diligence Responsible Sourcing Plans to emerging regulation and legislation expectations and ESG standards;
Learn approaches to map and manage risks and Environmental Sustainability and Social Impacts or gain help in risk mapping;
Understand if and how to use new Tech tools, and Collaboration databases, and join Industry and Muti-stakeholder Initiatives (MSIs);
Gain support to deliver a high-standard Modern Slavery Statement from professionals experienced in creating, editing, and guiding statements, risk assessments, investigations, and roadmaps.
Leadership
We’ve led company internal, brand collaboration, sector wide projects, workshops, trainings, and more.
We love working with and advising and training leading businesses large and small,…
to deliver Social Impact.
Case study: CleanHub
Cleanhub are a social enterprise who help prevent even more plastic from reaching our Oceans.
Cleanhub work with supplier partners across Asia, who have teams who sort and collect plastic waste.
SupplyESChange Founder Kate Larsen has guided Cleanhub to understand labour conditions in sites, with expert input in India from Senior Associate Ajay Datt who visited many sites (and with female assistance as appropriate).
We’ve helped Cleanhub assess what was needed, understand it in detail, build trust with suppliers, influence, guide for, and verify real wage and conditions improvements for people who’ve needed it most.
SupplyESChange and Cleanhub are proud to work together to improve lives, in ways that realise more sustainable business, ESG, and jobs, for all.
Worker Voice:
INNO Handshake China Worker Helpline
Grievance Mechanisms
SupplyESChange Director Kate A Larsen was on the founding Board for INNO Handshake worker helpline in 2007, and rolled out it’s service to over 30 factories, supporting 10,000s of workers.
Many “call” (weixin, and other messages) were received due to engaging training introductions, meaning numerous compliance and human rights related issues could be remediated through influence before escalating into crisis. Ongoing dialogue to hear workers voices and reflect these back to management were gained, and after management efforts, working conditions improvements were verified with deep investigative audits and assessments alongside continued engagement of workers.
INNO Handshake now run services in India, Malaysia, and more, and SupplyESChange team guide firms in how to establish grievance mechanisms that truly hear workers voices in supply chains, and also in pre-competitive brand collaboration whenever most appropriate and possible.
Case Study: Developing Burberry Asia Corporate Responsibility, and in Supply Chains to Sector Leadership
Founder SupplyESChange Kate A Larsen was the first Manager Corporate Responsibility Asia for Burberry. In 2006 she began creating an industry leading Responsible Sourcing human rights due diligence programme.
Learning from other brand buyers who were members of the Ethical Trading Initiative and Fair Labor Association, Kate developed ways to overcome challenges such as being an insignificant buyer from many suppliers, rising wage rates for workers, fashion sourcing pressures, and more, to nevertheless deliver a responsible sourcing programme with integrity.
Kate built trusted relationships with leading worker rights NGOs, engaged Suppliers in Chinese, trained a team and colleagues to also do so, and developed significant transparency.
Through a creative impactful responsible sourcing programme, Kate led the causing of verified working conditions improvements including work hours reductions, wages improvements, safety and conditions, and environmental improvements. This picture shows one of her many trips to Japan to engage partners to improve migrant worker conditions, deliver worker voice channels, and trainings.
Burberry was recognized by a Hong Kong government entity for success in causing a number of China suppliers to learn how to reduce their Scope 3 carbon emissions through cleaner production techniques, and Burberry was at the time, the first new UK Ethical Trading Initiative member to join with an already in place programme recognized for it’s maturity.
Burberry then also gained Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) Luxury Sector leadership, with considerable points gained for the Supply Chain Environmental and Social efforts, done in economic yet impactful ways, through developing brand collaborations and industry partnerships.
As of 2023, Kate to this days feels that she’d feel comfortable buying Burberry based on the ethical efforts of the team and programme still in place (although she doesn’t shop luxury, preferring to invest in quality pre-loved as much as she can for environmental reasons, and to help charities when she can).