In the present global economy, Producer Organisations (POs) are expected to do much more than produce quality goods and maintain profitability. Buyers, governments, certification bodies, and consumers increasingly demand that products be sourced ethically, workers be treated fairly, and environmental harm be minimised. This expectation has made Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence (HREDD) an essential part of responsible business management. HREDD is an on-going process through which business organizations identify, prevent, reduce, and address risks related to human rights violations and environmental damage within their operations and supply chains. For POs, particularly those involved in agriculture, forestry, and fairtrade sectors, HREDD is a practical and strategic tool to ensure decent work, strengthen institutional accountability, and promote sustainable development.
Human rights are universal norms that recognise the dignity, equality, and freedoms of all human beings. These rights provide minimum guarantees that allow individuals to live and work safely and with respect. Their realisation supports peace, social coexistence, and the overall well-being of communities. In the context of POs, human rights are closely connected to labour welfare and decent work. Workers should have access to fair wages, safe working conditions, protection from exploitation, freedom from forced labour, and equal treatment regardless of gender, caste, or social background. They should also enjoy the freedom of association, privacy, participation in decision-making, and protection from harassment or abuse. When these rights are ignored, workers become vulnerable to unsafe workplaces, low wages, discrimination, and social injustice. HREDD helps organisations systematically identify and address these risks, ensuring that human dignity remains central to business operations.
Environmental sustainability is another critical pillar of HREDD. It refers to the responsibility of conserving natural resources and protecting ecosystems to support health, productivity, and well-being, both now and in the future. POs, especially those involved in agriculture, forest-based livelihoods, and natural resource sectors, rely heavily on land, water, forests, biodiversity, and a stable climate. Environmental rights ensure that people have access to these essential natural resources needed for survival and dignified work. If these resources are degraded through pollution, deforestation, biodiversity loss, soil erosion, or climate change, the livelihoods of farmers and workers are directly threatened. HREDD enables POs to assess environmental risks such as water contamination, excessive chemical use, poor waste disposal, climate emissions, and unsustainable extraction of natural resources. By addressing these concerns, POs not only protect ecosystems but also safeguard livelihoods and improve long-term resilience.
HREDD is an on-going and practical management process where organisations identify and reduce risks to people and the environment. It requires businesses to understand the most serious human rights and environmental concerns, implement concrete measures to prevent or remediate harm, monitor whether these actions are effective, and communicate progress to stakeholders. HREDD is not a one-time compliance exercise; it is a continuous improvement process. For POs, this matters because their operations often involve farmers, workers, contractors, transporters, and supply chain partners. If due diligence is weak, issues such as child labour, poor wages, unsafe pesticide exposure, discrimination, and ecological damage may go unnoticed. By implementing HREDD, POs become more responsible, transparent, and accountable.
HREDD offers several practical benefits to POs. First, it helps reduce social and environmental problems by identifying risks early and preventing harm before it escalates. Second, it improves worker relations because workers who feel safe, respected, and fairly treated tend to be more productive and loyal. Third, HREDD improves market access, as international buyers increasingly require ethical sourcing and evidence of responsible practices. Fourth, it gives POs the opportunity to prioritise the most serious issues affecting people and the environment rather than spreading efforts too thinly. Fifth, it strengthens their ability to influence supply chains by encouraging suppliers, contract farmers, and partners to adopt better practices. Sixth, responsible due diligence helps gain trust and support from buyers, investors, and certification bodies. Finally, it supports the retention of important certifications such as fairtrade, which increasingly emphasise social and environmental accountability.
The HREDD process generally follows five major steps: Commit Identify, Address and Remediate, Track, and Communicate. The first step is committing, where the PO publicly declares its commitment to respect human rights and environmental sustainability. This helps define goals, create accountability, and guide future work. The second step is Identify, which involves assessing the most serious or “salient” human rights and environmental risks in the organisation’s own operations and across supply chains. The focus should be on risks to people and the planet rather than only risks to the company. Issues such as child labour, unsafe working conditions, gender inequality, forced labour, and environmental degradation must be documented.
The third step is Address and Remediate, where organisations develop policies, procedures, and action plans to respond to identified risks. This may include safety improvements, corrective actions, worker protection systems, or environmental restoration measures. The fourth step is Track, which means monitoring whether these interventions are effective. Tracking helps organisations understand what works, improve weak strategies, and continue good practices. Finally, the fifth step is Communicate, where POs share their due diligence efforts, major risks, and outcomes with workers, communities, buyers, and other stakeholders while maintaining privacy and confidentiality. Transparent communication strengthens trust and accountability.
The importance of HREDD is growing due to strong international regulations and frameworks. The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (2024) introduced by the European Union is a major policy that requires companies to integrate due diligence into business policies, take appropriate measures to prevent and mitigate risks, and remain accountable for failures to comply. Similarly, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (2024) focuses on transparency and reporting of human rights and environmental impacts. The EU Deforestation Legislation (2025) further requires companies to verify that products entering the market are free from deforestation. This is especially relevant for POs engaged in agricultural and forest-linked supply chains.
Additionally, the OECD Guidelines (2018) and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (2011) provide a global foundation for HREDD. These are based on three important pillars: Protect, Respect, and Remediate. Governments have the duty to protect people from abuse, businesses must respect human rights and the environment, and organisations must provide remedies when harm occurs. These frameworks make HREDD increasingly unavoidable for ethical and market-oriented enterprises.
Many POs already have elements of HREDD without formally recognising it. They often conduct risk assessments, provide worker training, maintain grievance mechanisms, implement workplace safety systems, and adopt internal policies related to labour and environmental standards. Many fairtrade-certified POs already follow compliance structures that align with HREDD principles. Therefore, organisations do not need to start from scratch. They can strengthen and integrate their existing work into a more systematic HREDD framework.
HREDD requires POs to assess a wide range of social and environmental issues. These include living income, living wage, working conditions, occupational health, child rights, forced labour, gender equality, privacy, self-determination, freedom of association, freedom of speech, and participation. Environmental concerns include water security, biodiversity conservation, climate emissions, sustainable resource use, deforestation, and ecosystem protection. These are often interconnected; poor environmental practices can directly affect worker health, income, and long-term livelihoods.
Ultimately, HREDD is a pathway to achieving decent work. Decent work means productive employment where workers receive fair wages, dignity, safety, equality, and protection from exploitation. Through HREDD, POs can create better working conditions, strengthen labour rights, protect vulnerable groups such as women, tribal communities, and migrant workers, and ensure environmental sustainability that supports livelihoods. It helps organisations become more transparent, fair, and resilient in an increasingly demanding global market.
Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence is no longer optional for POS. It is a practical and ethical necessity for protecting workers, conserving natural resources, and maintaining long-term credibility. By committing to HREDD, identifying risks, taking corrective action, tracking progress, and communicating transparently, POs can build stronger institutions that promote decent work, environmental justice, and sustainable growth. In doing so, they do not simply meet compliance expectations—they create a future where business success goes hand in hand with human dignity and ecological responsibility.
Chitta Ranjan Pani is an independent researcher on livelihood, natural resource governance and mental health. He is currently providing consulting support on Agro Forestry, Fairtrade and Decent Work to global supply chain actors
Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth