Webinar: Preparing your business for new human rights and environmental due diligence laws

In today’s evolving regulatory landscape, businesses are facing growing expectations to respect human rights and protect the environment — not just within their own operations, but throughout their global value chains. 

Many of these challenges cannot be addressed by businesses acting alone. Collaboration across companies, trade unions, civil society and governments is essential to make due diligence effective in practice. Many businesses are asking what these developments mean in practice — and how to prioritise action. 

To help companies navigate recent and upcoming developments, the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) is hosting a practical, free webinar: 

Human rights and environmental due diligence laws – what this means for businesses
Thursday 12 March 2026 | 11:00 – 12:00 (UK time)
Online (free to attend)
Register here

What’s changing and why it matters 

Across EU and increasingly in other jurisdictions, legislative developments are increasing expectations on many companies, particularly larger businesses and those operating in higher-risk sectors, with implications across value chains, including for smaller suppliers. These include evolving EU requirements such as the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), reporting obligations under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which requires companies to disclose how they manage sustainability risks, including human rights and environmental impacts, and product-specific rules such as the EU Forced Labour Regulation, which aims to prevent products made with forced labour entering the EU market. 

Due diligence is not new — but expectations around how it is implemented and evidenced are increasing.  

This isn’t about ticking a compliance box. Meaningful human rights and environmental due diligence helps companies: 

• Identify and prevent real harms to workers and communities.
• Strengthen supply-chain resilience and reputation.
• Build trust with investors and consumers who increasingly demand ethical business practices. 

With rising regulatory requirements and heightened stakeholder expectations, a reactive approach simply isn’t enough anymore — businesses need to be proactive, strategic and credible in how they manage these risks. 

What you’ll learn in the webinar 

The webinar will unpack the key features of the emerging regulatory landscape and give businesses practical insights on how to move beyond disclosure toward more structured due diligence and risk management. Topics include: 

• An introduction to the major human rights and environmental due diligence regulations and policy developments shaping business requirements.
• How to design and implement effective due diligence processes that align with global standards like the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and OECD due diligence guidance.
• Practical tools and approaches that help organisations embed due diligence into existing systems and work constructively with suppliers.
• How ETI’s Mandatory Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence (mHREDD) Guidance and in-country reports support companies to interpret and act on emerging requirements. 

Whether you’re just beginning to think about due diligence or already have systems in place, this session aims to help your business respond confidently and effectively. 

For many organisations, the challenge is not whether to act, but how to implement due diligence in a way that is practical, credible and collaborative. 

ETI’s unique expertise 

For over 25 years, ETI has supported companies to understand and address human rights risks in global value chains. Our human rights due diligence guidance is grounded in international good practice and built from real experience working with businesses, trade unions and civil society partners through ETI’s tripartite membership — ensuring guidance reflects worker realities as well as business implementation challenges. 

ETI provides a trusted space for companies to learn from peers, work with trade unions and civil society, and translate legislative expectations into practical action. 

As legislation evolves, the need for credible, practical guidance is growing. Joining the webinar will give you the chance to hear from ETI TI specialists and partners working directly on due diligence implementation — and to think through what meaningful, actionable due diligence looks like for your organisation. 

Prepare your business for what’s next - register today