We protect and respect human rights
Clariant human rights commitment, due diligence and impact assessment
Respecting human rights is key in sound business governance and promoting socially sustainable growth. Clariant is committed to respecting and supporting human rights, both in our own operations, as well as in our business relationships and supply chains. This commitment is enshrined in our Human Rights Policy Statement. We expect our suppliers and business partners to maintain the same high standards with regard to human rights. Our Code of Ethics and Supplier Code of Ethics make it clear that we will not tolerate the use of child labor or forced labor anywhere in our business and supply chains and protect the rights of our employees and supply chain workers in key human rights areas, including non-discrimination, working conditions and freedom of association.
To implement these commitments, we assess, monitor and manage our human rights impacts, both in our own operations and in our supply chains, to ensure that we live up to our commitments to human rights. In doing so, we rely upon our management and monitoring systems that enable us to detect potential human rights concerns so we can effectively address and mitigate them. We have established in 2014 already our Integrity Line to enable all our stakeholders, internally and externally, to bring to our attention any concerns they may have. In addition, we strongly support collaborative initiatives aimed at promoting respect for human rights across the industry and are signatories to the UN Global Compact and the chemical industry’s Responsible Care® initiative, a member of Together for Sustainability, and the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. The figure below illustrates key elements of our Human Rights Due Diligence process:
This process enables us to identify the human rights issues that are most relevant to our business and which we will focus our attention on to effectively prevent and mitigate human rights violations.
One of our priorities is to ensure that working conditions, wages, working hours and training on workplace safety meet our standards, especially in situations where workers are employed through third-party labor providers, and in geographies where the national legal framework in this regard is weak.
Clariant procures more than 14,000 different raw materials from more than 20,000 suppliers worldwide and we expect our suppliers to maintain high standards both regarding environmental and human rights commitments. We take a holistic approach in order to evaluate the ESG risk profile and increase the sustainability performance of our supply chain, Clariant relies on the external assessments and audits of the Together for Sustainability (TfS) initiative, leveraging the internationally recognized EcoVadis evaluation platform to measure the sustainability performance of its suppliers. Within the EcoVadis assessment, our suppliers are assessed in four main categories, one of them being Labor & Human Rights. More information about our supplier evaluation and risk management process can be found in our Annual Integrated Report.
In the context of our human rights due diligence, we also closely monitor reports received through our Integrity Line, which is operated by an independent third party, available worldwide, in over 40 languages and can be accessed by any internal or external stakeholder to bring to our attention any issues or concerns they may have, including in relation to human rights. We take these reports very seriously and make sure they are being followed up on and resolved, including appropriate remediation action where necessary. Information on the number of reports received through the Integrity Line, including those relating to human rights, is available in our Annual Integrated Report.
Stakeholder-led regulatory proposals and new regulations worldwide increasingly demand greater transparency, particularly with respect to the protection of human rights. Clariant is enhancing on an ongoing basis its existing activities, fostering its commitments, and focusing on human rights in its own operations and the supply chain. Building on these commitments, the current Human Rights Framework as well as due diligence for own operations and suppliers is regularly reviewed for compliance with upcoming regulations by a cross-functional team comprised of representatives from Corporate Sustainability, ESHA, Group Human Resources, Group Procurement Services, and Legal and Compliance.
Clariant also complies with national requirements and emerging regulations such as the UK modern slavery act, German Supply Chain Act, and the Swiss Counterproposal to the Responsible Business Initiative. Clariant can provide upon request more information on steps that have been taken to ensure that no violation of human rights occurs in any part of our organization and our supply chain.
Social value
Our people and culture at Clariant.
At Clariant, we firmly believe that trust, integrity, appreciation, and respect make our company and all its employees stronger. We want to create a motivating and fulfilling working environment for all of our employees as this will lead to strong and sustainable results.
