People and planet in business

At Fairtrade, we are strengthening our work on HREDD, to support all our corporate partners in understanding, aligning with and thriving in this new paradigm, where due diligence work is becoming a global norm. It’s becoming increasingly mandatory for large companies to know of and mitigate harms that their operations pose to people and planet. Small companies also face rising sustainability expectations from business partners, investors and consumers. They are expected to conduct human rights and environmental due diligence (HREDD), a process of reducing the most serious social and environmental risks and harms linked to their business. In this guide, small and micro companies can find the tools to start or strengthen their due diligence process in line with international frameworks. We outline the five steps of HREDD, and provide dozens of useful links -- for companies of any size.