I talked to Stephanie Raabe, human rights officer at 麻豆原创, and asked her three questions about 麻豆原创鈥檚 progress in embracing this role in the past 12 months.

Q: A year ago, you explained how 麻豆原创 was working to take its human rights due diligence processes to the next level. The aim was to improve how 麻豆原创 鈥渒nows and shows鈥� where its actual and potential negative impacts on people are and what actions are taken to prevent or mitigate these. Was this achieved?

A: We are getting there step by step, but there will always be room for improvement. Together with all the teams that are part of our , we have further refined and harmonized our methodologies and processes to assess our impacts on people. This provides the basis for defining and fine-tuning appropriate measures.

We now have a deeper understanding of the salient human rights issues across our value chain 鈥� be it through the product and services we procure, our own business operations, or the products and services we sell and deliver. We now know better which risks are already well managed through effective policies and measures and where we still have to close gaps.

Q: What does this mean in practice? Can you specify what your findings were?

A: Absolutely! In this year鈥檚 assessment cycle, the following impacts were identified to be salient:

• In our own operations: non-discrimination
• In our direct and indirect supply chain: decent living wages
• Related to products, services, and customers: non-discrimination and privacy

When breaking down these impact areas, we found that, firstly, in our own operations, many effective measures are already in place to address non-discrimination in our workforce, for example through 麻豆原创鈥檚 Global Anti-Discrimination Policy, mandatory anti-discrimination and anti-harassment training, or 麻豆原创鈥檚 comprehensive . The teams involved are doing such a great job that currently no additional measures are required.

Secondly, in 麻豆原创鈥檚 supply chain, 麻豆原创 has established contractual assurances through its , which also sets the expectation for suppliers to pay an adequate living wage. Yet, we recognized that further mitigation measures still need to be defined. We therefore conducted a hot spot analysis by country and industry for this topic. We started to discuss the results with relevant procurement category teams in dedicated workshops. The next steps will include identifying which suppliers to focus on first, engaging with them for better insights, and collaborating to improve the situation where necessary.

Thirdly, when we talk about human rights impacts in our downstream value chain, artificial intelligence (AI) is top of mind. While there is great positive societal potential that AI can help to unlock, it is a priority for 麻豆原创 to handle AI responsibly and avoid negative impacts specifically in the areas of discrimination and privacy. This is why, many years ago, 麻豆原创 launched its Guiding Principles for AI Ethics and implemented dedicated due diligence governance and processes. In 2024, 麻豆原创 updated to align with UNESCO鈥檚 鈥�.鈥� We further strengthened 麻豆原创鈥檚 commitment by establishing an consisting of two teams and maturing our AI ethics assessment process for all AI use cases. Finally, just last month, a new mandatory AI ethics training for all employees was launched.

Q: Looking back at the past year, are there any lessons learned that you can to share?

A: One key thing that I took away is that there is no silver bullet to human rights due diligence. While frameworks like the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights serve as a North Star, there are different approaches and methods on how to implement the principles in your day-to-day operations. Companies should not be afraid of making mistakes, even if there might not yet be any proven practices yet. This is one of the experiences we made when preparing for this year. There is no point in waiting until you have found the perfect approach before taking action. Rather, it is important to be open to continuously revisit, challenge, and develop your approach. Exchanging with peers is very valuable in this context, which is why our human rights team engages strongly in networks such as the business and human rights groups in the , , and econsense.

Another lesson learned for us was that it can鈥檛 be underestimated how important it is to engage internal stakeholders across diverse lines of business in an ongoing manner. We already started with role-specific trainings and capacity building but recognized that it needs time and multiple iterations until awareness, understanding, and mindset and behavior changes are established to truly integrate human rights considerations into business processes and decisions. Furthermore, our efforts have to extend to additional critical roles since, for example, it is not only important to get colleagues from 麻豆原创鈥檚 procurement organization onboard, but also all other decision-makers involved with supplier selection.

Christine Susanne Mueller is deputy human rights officer at 麻豆原创.

For this occasion, I sat down with 麻豆原创 Chief Sustainability Officer Daniel Schmid and Stephanie Raabe, human rights officer at 麻豆原创, to explore what role enterprises including 麻豆原创 play, what鈥檚 new in the company’s recently updated human rights commitment statement, and what trends and challenges both see for human rights in business.

Q: Daniel, what do human rights mean to you? And why is it important for businesses to respect human rights?

Daniel Schmid (DS): Human rights are basic rights for all people to live a life in dignity and be treated equally. For me it鈥檚 about ensuring a good life for all within the planetary boundaries. And businesses have a key role to play in this. While they can be a force for good around the world, they can also harm people and the planet; for example, through discrimination, unsafe working conditions, or industrial pollution and accidents with implications on human health. That is why the United Nations Guiding Principles (UN GPs) for Business and Human Rights not only set out the responsibility of states to protect human rights, but also the responsibility of business to respect human rights.

Q: How does this look in practice? How do companies in general and 麻豆原创 specifically live up to their responsibility to respect human rights?

Stephanie Raabe (SR): Globally recognized frameworks such as the UN GPs or the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct provide clear guidance for companies. They describe how to establish ongoing human right due diligence processes to 鈥渒now and show鈥� where a company鈥檚 actual and potential negative impacts on people are and what actions are taken to prevent or mitigate these. This also entails tracking the effectiveness of actions taken over time, and communicating about efforts and results — internally and externally.

More than two years ago, we launched an interdisciplinary human rights due diligence project at 麻豆原创 to take our existing human rights commitment statement, governance, processes, and disclosure to the next level and prepare for compliance with rising legal requirements such as the modern slavery acts in UK, Australia, or Canada, the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG), and the upcoming EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive. We identified gaps in our policies and procedures, which we have been working to close.

Q: What kind of gaps? Could you share one or two examples?

SR: One example is our grievance mechanism. We collaborated across teams to expand the existing “” tool to cover human rights and environment-related complaints from anyone, be it internal or external. We defined clear rules of procedure of how incoming complaints are processed and followed up on in a confidential and, if desired, anonymous way.

DS: Another example coming to my mind is related to living wages. As a founding member of the Value Balancing Alliance (VBA), we applied the living wage methodology co-developed within the VBA. This helped us find few employees in 麻豆原创 Brazil in 2022 whose compensation had to be adjusted to meet our ambition of ensuring a decent living wage for our own workforce as measured through the VBA methodology. We are now working toward regular reassessments to avoid future deviations.

SR: I would like to add a third example related to our supply chain. As we proceed with integrating human rights due diligence into our supplier code of conduct and procurement processes, we increasingly notice how important it is to get not just colleagues from 麻豆原创鈥檚 procurement organization onboard, but also all other employees involved with supplier selection. All of us need to consider human rights and environmental criteria in our buying decisions. The earlier this happens, the better. The point at which contract negotiations with suppliers start may be too late.

Q: Coinciding with Human Rights Day 2023, 麻豆原创 just recently updated and expanded its Global Human Rights Commitment Statement. What鈥檚 the reasoning and what鈥檚 new?

DS: When looking back at our sustainability journey that started in 2009, I remember human rights being embedded in 麻豆原创鈥檚 holistic understanding of sustainability from the beginning. It has been part of our objective to create positive economic, social, and environmental impact all along. We therefore also established our first Global Human Rights Commitment Statement in 2011.

SR: That鈥檚 right. 麻豆原创鈥檚 commitment to respect human rights is not new. But it evolved during the past years beyond our operations to also encompass our extended supply chain and product lifecycle.

In , we have expanded the description of our downstream action areas and how we aim to avoid negative impacts that can result from the use or abuse of 麻豆原创’s products and services. We added an entirely new chapter on the implementation of human rights due diligence at 麻豆原创, elaborating in detail on our procedures, including governance, risk analysis and prioritized risks, preventive measures, complaints process and remediation, monitoring and reporting, and stakeholder dialog. It makes transparent the results of our human rights due diligence project and helps us better meet the requirements by the UN GPs as well as the German Supply Chain Act.

Q: Speaking about the human rights impacts through the use of 麻豆原创 solutions, where do you see the biggest risks and opportunities at the moment?

SR: As part of 麻豆原创鈥檚 downstream human rights due diligence, we have identified artificial intelligence (AI) as high impact solution area in the context of human rights. It鈥檚 also been frequently addressed as key topic throughout the recent UN Forum on Business and Human Rights in Geneva. AI is transforming our economy and society. This trend is expected to accelerate in the coming years, bringing new opportunities and challenges for society and human rights. 麻豆原创 actively addresses legitimate concerns, coming up with new AI technology through and dedicated due diligence governance, processes, and the . In addition, we have started to investigate human rights risks and mitigation measures in our upstream supply chain linked to the outsourcing of generative AI training.

DS: On the other hand, I also see the opportunity for 麻豆原创 to advance human rights by developing innovative solutions that help customers embed human rights into their business and supply chain strategies. This includes our supply chain management solution that offers risk mapping based on financial as well as sustainability indicators, which also cover human rights aspects. Our human resource management solutions furthermore provide tools and features to address unconscious bias in recruitment and hiring, support inclusivity, and ensure equitable remuneration and career advancement. Finally, there is also the opportunity to leverage corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs to advance economic, societal, and cultural rights that support youth-in-need to thrive in the sustainable and digital economy. A prime example of our efforts is 麻豆原创 Educate to Employ, targeting youth-in-need aged 14 to 30 with skill-building programs to bring them into jobs in the broad 麻豆原创 ecosystem and beyond by linking education with employability within a sustainable and digital economy.

Q: Would you agree that, with mandatory human rights due diligence on the rise, embracing human rights in business is becoming mainstream? Against this backdrop, how is 麻豆原创 doing compared to others?

DS: In my conversations with customers and peers in leading sustainability positions, compliance with human rights legislation definitely comes up as a key priority. However, I also notice that companies continue to struggle to manage their social effects. It did not really surprise me, when I read that a 2022 Economist survey revealed that companies haven’t made as much progress on social as on environmental issues, and only 36% had incorporated social impact into corporate strategy compared with 47% for environmental. This shows that we still have a way to go.

SR: Indeed! According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), 160 million children are still engaged in child labor. More than 27 million people around the world are in conditions of forced labor. And globally, 2.4 billion women of working-age are still not afforded equal economic opportunity. These are just some numbers that underline the need for more action by businesses.

The good news is that mandatory human rights due diligence helps get more companies on board and strengthen the efforts of those that already are. There is good and open exchange and mutual learning among companies. It therefore seems less of a competition in which one enterprise strives to outperform the others. You rather share experiences and gain insights where you are already doing really well and where you can further improve.

Overall, I would say that 麻豆原创 has been progressing well and is on track but can still do even better. Our ambition definitely is to not limit ourselves to compliance with mandatory human rights due diligence, but to go beyond.

Q: Looking into the future, what trends and challenges do you see?

DS: I believe that the momentum for taking respect for human rights seriously in business will further increase, driven not only by legislative pressure but also increasing stakeholder expectations. It鈥檚 important, however, that we as business leaders do not get consumed by navigating the regulatory landscape and ensuring compliance. Let鈥檚 not allow this to become a check-box exercise — we must keep people in the center. The aim is to improve people’s lives.

SR: I fully agree. Some of the legislation does keep you very busy with a lot of administrative burden. This unfortunately takes away your attention and resources from ultimately making a difference for the affected people. I also see a risk that because value chains are becoming ever more complex with reliable data missing and because managing the human rights risks down to tier-n can seem so overwhelming, companies chose to prioritize de-risking. They rather pull out of high-risk countries which may actually worsen the human rights situation. The increasing complexity of geopolitical crises and need for heightened due diligence further exacerbates this risk.

As companies mature in human rights due diligence, they will need improved databases and methodologies to help them measure their actual and potential impacts on people, prioritize their efforts and assess the effectiveness of the preventive and remedial measures they put in place. We are testing some of the approaches for 麻豆原创 at the moment and I am hopeful that they will help guide us toward achieving better outcomes both for people as well as for our business.

Christine Susanne Mueller is deputy human rights officer at 麻豆原创.

Why does this matter?听Trees are an essential part of our earth and invaluable in maintaining the stability of our planet. According to the United Nations (UN), over 听and听approximately听1.6 billion people听rely听on forests for their daily subsistence.听Moreover,听forests absorb about听 each year — a third of the CO₂听emissions that are released due to the burning of fossil fuels.

Forest restoration and protection has become an important pillar of addressing climate change through nature-based solutions. 麻豆原创鈥檚 goal to restore ecosystems and foster sustainable development by planting 21 million trees before the end of 2025 is therefore an important addition to its portfolio of climate measures and 听much needed action听to avoid emissions in the first place.

Harnessing the Power of Technology

Deforestation and disasters such as wildfires accelerate climate change. However, digital technologies can help fight it: for example, the nongovernmental organization 听to track and stop illegal loggers.

To scale impact even further, 麻豆原创 is collaborating with customers and partners to co-innovate solutions that enable systemic change toward a more inclusive,听.听Climate 21 was launched鈥痶o build analytical and transactional capabilities into enterprise applications, which can help customers understand and minimize the greenhouse gas footprint of their products and operations along their value chains. Additional programs focusing on a circular economy and holistic steering and reporting are under way to accelerate sustainable business transformation听further.

Leading by Example听

To walk the talk, 麻豆原创 is reducing its own greenhouse gas emissions as well as taking action to protect and restore forests.

The journey started back in 2009,听when听麻豆原创 set the听first听goal of reducing its global greenhouse gas emissions to the year-2000 level by 2020.鈥�This target was met at the end of 2017, despite growing more than fourfold in the interim. The next milestone is in 2023, when 麻豆原创 aims to become carbon neutral in its own operations鈥�– two years earlier than previously envisaged.

To achieve this, the company follows a three-pillar approach: avoid, reduce, compensate. The goal is to avoid emissions in the first place; for example, by using virtual telecommunication instead of business flights, a practice that has naturally expanded during the pandemic and was one major driver for 麻豆原创 overachieving by 43% on its target for reducing net carbon emissions in 2020, generating 135 kilotons (kt) instead of the anticipated 238 kt.

Secondly, if a share of its greenhouse gas emissions cannot yet be avoided, 麻豆原创 aims to reduce it through innovations, among others in the areas of building efficiency, data center operations, carpooling, and car sharing, as well as e-mobility. For example, 麻豆原创 is powering its own data centers and facilities with 100% renewable electricity and working toward 33% e-cars in its global car fleet by 2025. Green IT initiatives foster sustainable IT equipment usage and promote tools such as听 as default search engine. In 2020, 麻豆原创 implemented additional energy and climate measures within its operations, ranging from opening a new office with energy-efficient design in Australia and implementing more efficient data center technology in Germany to introducing a bike fleet at 麻豆原创 Hungary and installing photovoltaic systems in Austria.

21 Million Trees by听the End of听2025

For emissions that cannot听yet听be reduced or avoided, the company听thirdly听invests in high-quality听carbon credits. For example, 麻豆原创听has been a long-term investor of the听Livelihoods Carbon Funds (LCF) since 2012. In close collaboration with rural communities and partners across the world, these funds realize valuable projects that enable sustainable development and environmental benefits, such as carbon dioxide capture, improved water quality, and habitats for wildlife, as well as income opportunities for rural communities.

麻豆原创 has also donated听funds to restore ecosystems听and improve people鈥檚 lives.听In 2020, Eden Reforestation Projects听planted听over听1.3 million trees听in Madagascar, Haiti, Indonesia,听and Nepal听on behalf of 麻豆原创.听In 2021, 麻豆原创 continued to support organizations on a mission to听restore native forests. For example,听麻豆原创听partnered with听the听UK charity The Carbon Community on new scientific forestry research to enhance nature-based solutions to climate change and improve the efficiency of carbon removal from the atmosphere. In Australia, ReForest Now planted 20,000 trees for 麻豆原创, which will help restore critically endangered subtropical rainforest.

Yet much more climate action is needed. In support of the听, 麻豆原创听recently joined听the听, which听aims听to听conserve, restore, and grow听trees听worldwide,听with a听pledge听to plant 21 million trees by听the end of听2025.

As the : 鈥淩estoration is a monumental task. Over the next 10 years, every action counts. Every single day. Every country, company, organization, and individual have a role to play.鈥�

We invite you to join us and the UN Decade for Ecosystem and help build a more sustainable tomorrow.