The challenge of social sustainability
The rights of workers across the globe also remain under pressure. Figures from the 2024 Global Rights Index1 show that 80% of countries worldwide denied workers the right to bargain collectively on pay and 43% denied or constrained freedom of speech or assembly.
Forced and child labour remain a severe challenge. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), 27 million people are in forced labour worldwide2 and both the ILO and UNICEF estimate 160 million children are in child labour globally.3 Preventing and mitigating discrimination and creating an inclusive workplace remain important aspects of social sustainability.
Against this backdrop, regulation on human rights and environmental due diligence is growing globally.
Our 2030 strategic ambitions
- Continue to deliver wellbeing programmes for employees, support a positive and open safety culture across the company, and work towards reducing accidents and work-related ill-health, with zero as the ultimate goal
- Continue focus on increasing the number of women in senior and factory positions
- Implement action plans to prevent and mitigate human rights risks in each of our priority categories in our supply chain
- Undertake human rights due diligence for workers in post-consumer packaging collection, across markets where we engage with informal waste collection to increase packaging recycling rates
- In 2024, develop and establish a measurement framework, metrics and targets for priority human rights risks for workers in the value chain and affected communities
1 https://www.ituc-csi.org/global-rights-index
2https://www.ilo.org/topics-and-sectors/forced-labour-modern-slavery-and-trafficking-persons
3https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/child-labour-rises-160-million-first-increase-two-decades
4Sustainable development has been defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Source: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/EN/legal-content/glossary/sustainable-development.html
5Risky environments refer to: "At landfills, waste pickers work in hazardous conditions, are exposed to potentially hazardous materials and toxic fumes, lack personal protective equipment (PPE), and are at risk of severe injury from heavy machinery and vehicles." Source: https://faircircularity.org/fair-circularity-principles/
6Sustainable food systems mean growing, producing, processing, packaging, distributing and consuming food without negatively impacting the planet. Retrieved from OECD. (2019). Accelerating Climate Action. Source: OECD iLibrary