Our investors are increasingly asking about human rights in our supply chain. How should we be responding?

Investor scrutiny of human rights performance has moved well beyond a niche ESG concern. Institutional investors, asset managers and proxy advisors are now routinely asking companies to demonstrate not just that they have a human rights policy, but that they have a credible, operational process for identifying and addressing risks — and evidence that it's working.

The challenge is that the responses many companies currently give — a published policy, a supplier code of conduct, an annual Modern Slavery Act statement — are no longer sufficient. Sophisticated investors know what genuine human rights due diligence looks like, and they are increasingly able to distinguish between companies that are doing the work and those that are managing appearances.

ETI membership provides something that self-reported policies simply cannot: independent, multi-stakeholder validation that your approach is credible. Our tripartite structure — bringing together companies, trade unions and NGOs — means that ETI member status carries a form of external accountability that investors recognise and respect. It signals not just intent, but genuine engagement. When investors ask hard questions, ETI membership gives you answers that stand up to scrutiny.

Find out more about what ETI membership involves