Human Rights Due Diligence: Meeting Evolving Customer Expectations

By Jonny Young and José van der Klauw

Major retailers are increasingly looking beyond policies and commitments and want to see clear evidence that companies have effective processes in place to identify and manage sustainability risks. Earlier this month, following a request from Lidl’s International CR team, José van der Klauw (Van Dijk Flora – Manager Quality & Sustainability) and Jonny Young (DFG – Group Lead Social) met with Lidl to discuss how Van Dijk Flora identifies, assesses and manages human rights risks across its supply chains.

During the meeting, José provided an overview of Van Dijk Flora’s Corporate Responsibility strategy, highlighting how people and workers are placed at the heart of the programme. Jonny supported this by presenting DFG’s wider approach to human rights due diligence through the IMPACT2030 strategy, demonstrating how responsible business practices are being embedded across the group.

The discussion was very positive and reinforced the growing importance of strengthening our approach to human rights due diligence. It also confirmed a broader trend: customers increasingly expect companies to demonstrate not only strong policies and commitments, but also robust processes that effectively identify, assess and manage sustainability and human rights risks.

This is exactly why DFG is rolling out its Due Diligence Programme. During Q3, individual assessments will take place across DFG companies to help each business understand its current position, identify opportunities for improvement and build a stronger approach to managing human rights issues.

The Lidl meeting serves as a timely reminder that effective human rights due diligence is becoming a key customer expectation and an essential part of building resilient, responsible supply chains.