From Geneva to Your Supply Chain: What You Need to Know Now
The UN Forum on Business and Human Rights is the largest global gathering on responsible business conduct. This year more than four thousand people met in Geneva to discuss how companies can operate responsibly during a period of rapid change. Across the conversations, one point came up again and again: Companies need reliable, field-based information to meet rising expectations and to maintain access to global markets.
For SCS clients, this describes daily reality. Supply chains are being shaped by climate change, conflict, labor mobility, pressure on land and water, and shifting regulatory requirements. SCS works with producers at the top of global supply chains, including plantations, growers, mills, fisheries, processors, and mines — prominent places where real impacts occur. These critical junctures along supply chains also employ workers from surrounding communities and manage land and water. They carry risks that cannot be understood from far away. Companies operating in these environments need a clear view of what is happening on the ground if they want to maintain trust with buyers, regulators, and communities.
Why Do These Global Conversations Matter?
When I joined SCS Global Services after many years in civil society, I brought a deep respect for how complex upstream operations can function. I also understood how hard it is for companies to get accurate information about social and community impacts. What drew me to SCS was its commitment to applying the same rigor to social auditing that it had long applied to food safety and environmental certification.
That commitment is now reflected in our work. SCS audits against more than 140 standards. Over seventy include requirements related to labor rights, human rights, or community engagement.
Voluntary sustainability standards such as the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA), Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), Bonsucro, Rainforest Alliance, Sustainably Grown, the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB), SMETA Ethical Trade Audits, Fair Trade USA, and Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) all depend on independent assessments to understand what is happening at the site level.
These programs exist in part to meet increasing expectations and to raise global sustainability performance standards. Responsible business as a concept now includes people as much as it includes environmental stewardship. Buyers, investors, and regulators want assurance that commitments are meaningful. They want this assurance from neutral third parties with experience in the field.
How Can Companies Prepare for Shifting Global Expectations?
The theme of this year’s Forum was “Accelerating action on business and human rights amidst crises and transformations.” Many of these crises are familiar to upstream producers. Unpredictable weather, violent conflict, pressure on land and water, rising demand for transition minerals, and the movement of migrant workers all make operations more complicated at a time when expectations continue to rise.
The most significant transformations are regulatory, and they’re happening across multiple regions at once. Regulatory risk is no longer hypothetical. Several major economies now require companies to assess and mitigate human rights and environmental risks across supply chains. While timelines for complying with laws such as the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) may still shift, the overall direction is steady. Expectations are rising globally.
It’s not just Europe, either; policies in the Asia-Pacific and the Americas reflect this trend. South Korea is introducing mandatory sustainability disclosures aligned with international standards. Canada has enacted the Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act, which requires companies selling into the Canadian market to report on risks and their efforts to address them. New Zealand is preparing legislation on modern slavery and worker exploitation, which is expected to include due diligence requirements. And Indonesia has adopted a national strategy on business and human rights that promotes stronger due-diligence practices, particularly in high-risk sectors such as palm oil and mining. These frameworks align with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation Development (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct.
Across these jurisdictions, the message is consistent. Companies will increasingly be asked to demonstrate responsible practices using credible, independently verified evidence. Certification remains one of the most recognized and practical ways to do that, especially for upstream producers supplying global markets.
From the Field to the Forum: What Practitioners Told Us
At the Forum, SCS helped convene a dialogue for field practitioners with Ruth Shah-Wigley of ARS IURA Consultancy Services and Jamie Burton of INNoVA Corp., with opening remarks from Dr. Pichamon Yeophantong, Chair of the UN Working Group. The dialogue created space for people who work directly in the field to talk openly about the realities they face and how to improve the quality of assessments.
The stories shared were familiar to SCS auditors. A grievance process may look strong in documentation, but interviews with workers show that many do not trust that it is confidential. A community agreement may appear settled, but interviews reveal that people still feel access to land has not been fully resolved.
These situations are common in complex operations. Independent verification is designed to identify them. When assessments reveal gaps like these, companies gain the chance to understand root causes and address concerns before they grow. Neutral field-based verification does not create problems. It brings clarity about real conditions. It helps companies demonstrate responsible practices to buyers, investors, and regulators.
SCS Can Support Your Organization
SCS auditors work in remote, low-connectivity, and politically sensitive settings in more than 125 countries. Our role is not to fix issues but instead to provide a clear and accurate picture of performance, identifying where requirements are and are not being met. We give companies the information they need to make responsible decisions. This insight helps companies understand risks early, maintain access to markets, and protect operations from unnecessary disruptions. It also supports trust with surrounding communities.
The Forum made it clear that credible, field-based information is becoming even more important. Independent verification will continue to play a central role in responsible business in the years ahead.
Looking to learn more about independent verification? Please feel free to get in touch with us.