Guide on Public Reporting for Private Sector Stakeholders

Tool 12: Companies that export, import, roast, and sell coffee to consumers face increasing imperatives to report publicly on their activities and progress addressing human rights issues within their supply chains. Socially responsible investors focused on Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria routinely evaluate companies’ performance on issues such as child labor and forced labor, with data on human rights and labor performance used to populate the “social” rankings within the overall ESG assessment. In addition, major voluntary frameworks such as the UN Global Compact (UNGC) and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP) require regular reporting on progress toward specific sustainability and human rights standards. Mandatory due diligence reporting regimes on key issues such as modern day slavery and child labor are also increasingly being instituted by state, national, and international governmental bodies as a condition of operating, importing, and selling goods within specific political boundaries. Developments such as these make it essential for companies to be able to communicate clearly and regularly about their compliance systems and progress.