Corporate Responsibility Update nr. 5, 22

Dear reader,

Purchasing practices are one of the issues that more than 220 civil society and trade union organizations raised in an open letter highlighting “specific flaws” in the European Commission’s draft corporate sustainability due diligence directive, which was published in February. Read the article below. If you are interested in expert help on purchasing practises in your organisation, please send us an email, so we can connect you to the Learning and Implementation
Community Common Framework for Responsible Purchasing Practices, read more here. (No cost for companies to join the Community, if they are already members of one of the initiatives involved).

Version 4 of the Due Diligence tool is available. The Due Diligence Tool has been developed in close cooperation with Unicef and provides expert information on CR topics, including a risk matrix for major sourcing countries. Dowload the new version.

Events

• ​Webinar collaboration in circular textiles and apparel sector between Turkey and the Netherlands, June 9th
• Webinar CR update, June 23rd
• Uitnodiging Arbeidsomstandigheden in de leerindustrie, 23 juni
• Invitation consultation local stakeholders from Bangalore in your due diligence, June 30th
   

International Developments
Global news 

• Victoria’s Secret schiet 8,3 miljoen aan ontslagvergoeding voor aan Thaise fabriekswerkers
• More brands urged to back International Accord 
• Brands warned to remain vigilant of labor practices as violations on the rise globally 
• Why apparel brands should align standards to avoid audit fatigue 
• ‘Like Live Grenades’: What Suppliers Say About Fashion’s Purchasing Practices 
• ETI issues warning to brands on Myanmar edited
• Xinjiang cotton found in Adidas, Puma and Hugo Boss tops, researchers say 
• Green or Greenwashing: Who Gets to Decide? 
• Hoe transparant zijn Asos, Zalando & Co? 
• Widespread Inaction on Sustainability Eclipses Progress at Fashion’s Biggest Companies 
• Can Fashion Finally Move The Needle On Sustainability? 
• The Sustainability of Biosynthetics - Texile Exchange
• ‘Everything’s Urgent’: How Global Fashion Agenda Prioritizes Industry’s Impacts 

European news 

• Tougher rules for fashion industry under new EU textiles strategy 
• Moederbedrijf van Zara investeert 100 miljoen in duurzame stoffen

News from the Netherlands 

• Minister komt in 2023 met nationale IMVO wetgeving
• VP Capital is eerste family office in Benelux met gevalideerde carbon doelstelling 2030 
• MUD Jeans wint ‘Oscar van het Nederlandse bedrijfsleven’ 

International Developments
Global news 
Victoria’s Secret schiet 8,3 miljoen aan ontslagvergoeding voor aan Thaise fabriekswerkers
Victoria’s Secret gaat Thaise fabriekswerkers die ondergoed naaide voor de merken Victoria’s Secret, Lane Bryant en Torrid 8,3 miljoen dollar (7,7 miljoen euro) terugbetalen, zo staat in een persbericht van arbeids waakhond Workers Rights Consortium (WRC). Na een ontslag vorig jaar hadden meer dan 1250 werkers recht op een ontslagvergoeding, maar deze werd hen niet uitbetaald. Het bedrag dat Victoria's Secret nu uiteindelijk heeft terugbetaald zou het hoogste bedrag zijn dat een merk ooit heeft bijgedragen aan de oplossing van een zogenoemde loonroofzaak, zo staat er in het persbericht. Lees meer>>

More brands urged to back International Accord 
The UNI Global Union has marked the ninth anniversary of the Rana Plaza disaster by calling on more brands to sign the International Accord for Health and Safety in the Garment and Textile Industry. It named US companies Walmart, Disney and Gap, French retailer Auchan and Swedish-owned homeware giant IKEA as being "marked in their absence" from the 171 companies to so far sign up to the International Accord, reports Eco-Textile News (you may need a login to read the complete article).

Brands warned to remain vigilant of labor practices as violations on the rise globally 
Data collected by QIMA auditors during factory visits globally shows a slight improvement in ethical compliance, with overall ethical scores up 2.5% in Q1 2022 compared to 2021 averages when record-low scores were recorded amidst pandemic scrambles. The share of critically non-compliant (“Red”) factories has dropped to 24% after the record-breaking 29% recorded in 2021, reports Qima.

Percentage of factories with critical non-compliances globally, 2020-2022

Why apparel brands should align standards to avoid audit fatigue 
The first status report of an initiative launched last year to tackle audit and standard fatigue in the apparel sector says brands and retailers should consider dropping their proprietary standards in favour of more streamlined third-party standards, reports Just-style. 

‘Like Live Grenades’: What Suppliers Say About Fashion’s Purchasing Practices 
When the coronavirus outbreak exploded into a full-fledged pandemic in March 2020, Morocco’s garment manufacturers suddenly found themselves in a state of emergency.“It felt like Armageddon overnight,” Fatima-Zohra Alaoui, general manager of the Moroccan Association of Textile and Apparel Industries, or AMITH, said at Canadian nonprofit Fashion Takes Action’s virtual WEAR conference on Tuesday. “Overnight all our orders were canceled. We had members calling in saying, ‘What do we do”?, writes Sourcing Jornal (you may need a login to read the complete article).

ETI issues warning to brands on Myanmar edited ETI issues warning to brands on Myanmar 
The Ethical Trading Institute (ETI) is urging western companies to stop investing in Myanmar and to consider pulling out of the country because of the deteriorating situation for workers following the coup. ETI previously urged brands and retailers to reassess whether their presence in Myanmar met their responsibilities under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) last August.However, in a new statement it says: "Thirteen months on from the military coup, there is compelling evidence that the situation in Myanmar continues to deteriorate."ETI now advises businesses to "refrain from making any additional investments in Myanmar at this time" and to "meaningfully engage with unions locally and internationally with respect to their presence in Myanmar".When asked whether this meant it was asking brands and retailers to put a halt on new orders, a spokeswoman explained: "In short, no it does not. We understand there is a level of business still ongoing in Myanmar, upon which many workers’ livelihoods depend, reports Eco-Textile news. 

Xinjiang cotton found in Adidas, Puma and Hugo Boss tops, researchers say 
Watch the report here on youtube.

Green or Greenwashing: Who Gets to Decide? 
Last May, H&M introduced new scorecards designed to grade and market the sustainability credentials of materials used in select garments to shoppers. A little like nutrition labels that detail the fat, sugar and protein content in foods, the fast fashion giant’s scorecards break down how fabrics perform in areas like global warming, fossil fuel use and water pollution. But there’s one major difference: nutritional labels on food products are strictly regulated by government bodies; sustainable fashion isn’t. That’s becoming more of a problem as sustainable fashion becomes big business.Consumers, especially young ones, consistently rank sustainability as an important factor in purchasing decisions, even if price and cool factor remain bigger drivers, writes Business of Fashion (you may need a login to read the complete article).

Hoe transparant zijn Asos, Zalando & Co? 
De non-gouvernementele organisatie Public Eye heeft de belangrijkste online spelers geanalyseerd met het oog op ketentransparantie, loonbeleid in de productielanden, arbeidsomstandigheden in de logistiek en de afhandeling van retouren. Zo treden About You, Alibaba, Amazon, Asos, Bonprix, Galaxus, La Redoute, Shein, Wish en Zalando op, meldt het Duitse vakblad textilWirtschaft. Lees meer>>

Widespread Inaction on Sustainability Eclipses Progress at Fashion’s Biggest Companies
The current decade marks a critical inflection point for the fashion industry to transform in line with global ambitions to curb climate change and establish more responsible business practices. Last year, The Business of Fashion created The BoF Sustainability Index, examining public disclosures from 15 of fashion’s largest players to benchmark the industry’s progress towards achieving ambitious environmental and social targets by 2030. The results demonstrated a substantial gap between major brands’ public commitments and meaningful, measurable actions, reports Business of Fashion (you may need a login to read the complete article).

Can Fashion Finally Move The Needle On Sustainability? 
Jill Standish Contributor - I examine how retailers can build resilient, responsible businesses.
The retail sector has made valiant efforts to enhance its environmental and social responsibility. And yet permanently moving the needle on environmental, social and governance (ESG) aspects of business remains a complex challenge. It calls for extraordinary levels of collaboration, commitment, and consumer engagement — not to mention technology and business innovation. But the opportunity is there. Take fashion, for example. At nearly $3 trillion in value, the industry is a huge part of the global economy. In fact, almost one in six people are thought to have a job directly or indirectly related to fashion. So, if the industry can make headway in areas like working conditions, anti-discrimination, and other social responsibility initiatives, it can have a significant global impact.Similarly, by instigating cleaner, more efficient, less wasteful practices, fashion can make a material reduction in retail’s overall environmental footprint. Consider that the industry alone is estimated to account for around 8% of all global greenhouse gas emissions. And there are also key issues around water efficiency, chemical release, land conversion, and biodiversity loss, writes Forbes. 

The Sustainability of Biosynthetics - Texile Exchange
How biosynthetics can be part of the fashion and textile industry’s journey towards a regenerative and circular future. Read the report.

‘Everything’s Urgent’: How Global Fashion Agenda Prioritizes Industry’s Impacts 
“Fashion is about change,” said fashion insider Federica Marchionni. “You can let it happen, or you can make it happen.”The CEO of Global Fashion Agenda (GFA), for one, is about the latter. Writing in the introduction of The GFA Monitor, a new report the sustainability think tank published Monday, she called for “bold commitments, decisive actions and rigorous follow-through” to “put back more into society, the environment and the global economy than it takes out.” Time is running out. Current efforts, Marchionni noted, fall short of aligning the industry with the goal of limiting additional global warming by 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Nor are they sufficient to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals as laid out by the United Nations, reports Sourcing Journal (you may need a login to read the complete article).

European news 
Tougher rules for fashion industry under new EU textiles strategy
Clothing sold in Europe must be longer-lasting, easier to repair and its journey to point of sale traceable, under the new EU textiles strategy proposed by the EU Commission. The Commission is presenting the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles aimed at making textiles more durable, repairable, reusable and recyclable, to tackle fast fashion, textile waste and the destruction of unsold textiles, and ensure their production takes place in full respect of social rights.The move is part of the EU Green Deal which proposes to make sustainable products “the norm in the EU”, boost circular business models and empower consumers for the green transition, reports Just-style.com (you may need a login to read the complete article).

Moederbedrijf van Zara investeert 100 miljoen in duurzame stoffen
Inditex werkt samen met het Finse Infinited Fiber Company. Het bedrijf maakt texielvezels van afval. Daarmee wil de modegigant haar kleding verduurzamen.Voor wie het nog niet wist: de kledingindustrie is erg vervuilend. Het heeft namelijk veel nieuwe materialen nodig en bij het maken van kledingstukken komen veel broeikasgassen en chemicaliën vrij. Bovendien belandt zo’n 140 miljoen kilo kleding in Nederland ieder jaar op de brandstapel, schrijft Change.

News from the Netherlands 
Minister komt in 2023 met nationale IMVO wetgeving
Minister Schreinemacher van Buitenlandse Handel en Ontwikkelingssamenwerking kondigde afgelopen 31 mei tijdens de handelscommissie-vergadering in Tweede Kamer aan dat zij in de zomer van 2023 komt met nationale wetgeving op het gebied van internationaal maatschappelijk verantwoord ondernemen (IMVO). De minister onderstreepte het belang van een parallel traject naast het Europese beleidsvormingsproces. evofenedex benadrukt het belang van Europees beleid, voor het creëren van een gelijk speelveld, maar vooral ook voor het effectief reduceren van risico’s van misstanden in ketens.

‘Het zou het mooiste zijn als de Europese wetgeving zo ambitieus is als wij in het BNC-fiche hebben opgenomen. Mocht dat niet het geval zijn, dan komen we met nationale wetgeving en houden we rekening met de ons omringende landen’. Lees meer>>

VP Capital is eerste family office in Benelux met gevalideerde carbon doelstelling 2030 
Familie investeerder VP Capital heeft haar klimaatdoelstellingen voor uiterlijk 2030 definitief vastgesteld op basis van de wetenschappelijke reductiedoelstellingen die nodig zijn om het klimaatakkoord van Parijs te realiseren. VP Capital is daarmee de eerste familie investeerder in de Benelux, en een van de eerste in Europa, die hiervoor de goedgekeurde validatie van het Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) heeft ontvangen, meldt Duurzaam Beleggen. 

MUD Jeans wins 'Oscar of Dutch business' 
Amsterdam-based MUD Jeans wins the Plaque for Sustainable Entrepreneurship, the 'Oscar of Dutch business'. The jeans brand received the award because it was the first brand in the world to map the environmental impact from yarn to jeans. "We want to be at the forefront of the world of big mean jeans brands, writes Dutch website Change. Read more>> (notice origibnal article is in Dutch).