Ethical product supply chain information doesn’t have to cost the earth

Part 1 of 2: Is clearer labelling and information the key to the consumer conundrum?

Delivering products and services to the right place at the right time at the right cost is no longer enough.

Customer and consumer expectations are changing. Consumers still want the convenience of omnichannel solutions and home deliveries; however, they also want to know that their products are environmentally friendly, ethically, and sustainably sourced.

At the same time many consumers are feeling the inflationary pressure and are looking to maximise value for money when purchasing goods and services.

These circumstances naturally feel like a dichotomy, “I want to pay as little as possible, but I am also conscious of the impact on the environment of my purchase”.

Consumers are placed in a position where they make a choice, without the full information readily available at the point of sale. Without the right information the decision will often be made based on, need, cost or desirability.

Consumers care and want to know that their purchase has the lowest possible environmental impact and is ethically sourced from a socially responsible organisation.

They need to know that the product they are buying is real, not fake and they need to know that they can trust the information provided by manufacturers and retailers.

There are no governing or regulatory bodies providing legislation for the entirety of focus areas for Ethical Supply Chain management.

The UK Home Office have provided Guidance into Transparency in supply chains which seeks to address the role of businesses in preventing modern slavery. Transparency in supply chains: a practical guide - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The OECD produced guidelines for Multinational Enterprises encouraging companies to incorporate social, human rights and environmental considerations into the way they do business, anywhere in the world.

In addition to OECD general due diligence guidance, specific guidance has been developed for the mineral, extractive, garment and footwear, agriculture and financial sectors as risks and due diligence processes vary depending on the industry.

According to the OECD (Towards ethical supply chains - OECD) a network of National Contact Points for Responsible Business Conduct (NCP) was also created to address and resolve cases of potential non-compliance to the OECD guidelines, and today 48 countries around the world have committed to establishing an NCP. Anyone can submit a grievance to an NCP concerning any business operating ‘in or from’ their country which is causing or linked to alleged corporate, social, environmental, labour or human rights abuses. This process can lead to remedy for victims and bring about significant changes in corporate conduct, thereby contributing to the prevention of future harms.

Since 2000, National Contact Points have accepted more than 450 cases, addressing impacts from business operations in over 100 countries and territories. The majority of these submissions focus on employment and worker issues (54%), followed by general policies, which include expectations related to due diligence (49%), human rights (32%) and environment (20%). Since 2011, when a human rights chapter was added to the Guidelines, cases dealing with human rights issues have represented 57% of all cases.

However, these guidelines don’t really help the consumer with simple choices at the store or on-line.

Fairtrade is a system of certification that aims to ensure a set of standards are met in the production and supply of a product or ingredient. According to What Fairtrade does - Fairtrade Foundation for farmers and workers, Fairtrade means workers’ rights, safer working conditions, and fairer pay. For shoppers it means high quality, ethically produced products.

The Fairtrade system and branding helps consumers with their choices and covers over 6,000 products from coffee and tea to flowers and gold. With leading supermarkets offering in excess of 20,000 products there is still some way to go with this initiative.

Why aren’t our governments and regulatory bodies mandating that labels either digital or physical, contain the ethical supply chain information that consumers need to make informed decisions?

It is clear that if we cannot make simple Ethical Supply Chain decisions for the products that we purchase every day from supermarkets and convenience stores, it is fair to say we still have a long way to go in helping inform consumer choice.

Would a simple, “how ethical is my choice?” label be of value in the purchasing decision?

Please let me know what you think, we would be interested in your view.