Fyffes has announced strengthened due diligence measures across its operations and supply chain, in its 2024 Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence Report.
In the report, the fourth such report published by the tropical produce supplier, it announced its ‘progress, challenges, and commitments in embedding responsible business practices throughout its global operations and supply chain’, with three new developments in its human rights due diligence approach.
This incudes the introduction of two new salient human rights issues to its existing list of prioritised risks – including the right to adequate housing in workplace accommodation, and ensuring communities’ access to information and participation.
Elsewhere, Fyffes’ responsible supply chain team has shifted its primary focus on certifications and standards auditing to a ‘proactive, risk-based human rights due diligence model’, which includes greater collaboration across departments to integrate due diligence into existing systems.
Allied to this, its sustainability team has deepened its partnerships with suppliers, to gather ESG data and expand community engagement initiatives.
The third new development involves Fyffes strengthening its governance and accountability frameworks by grievance processes, appointing a global ethics and compliance manager, and establishing clear terms of reference for the Fyffes ethics committee.
‘How we do business’
“In 2024, we continued to embed human rights and environmental due diligence as a core part of how we do business,” commented Caoimhe Buckley, Fyffes’ chief corporate affairs officer. “Guided by the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the forthcoming EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), we strengthened our governance systems, improved transparency, and deepened engagement with workers, suppliers, and communities across our global value chain.”
Fyffes’ report also highlights the company’s efforts to develop a prevention and mitigation plan, as well as the introduction of a human rights and environmental due diligence self-assessment tool for farms and suppliers.
Shaping Wellbeing for the World
“As we look ahead, Fyffes will continue to scale its prevention and mitigation activities, expand supplier self-assessments, and prepare for alignment with new EU due diligence regulation,” Buckley added.
“We will continue to invest in people and partnerships that promote decent work, resilient communities, and a healthy environment – staying ahead of regulatory expectations and delivering on our vision of Shaping Wellbeing for the World.” Read more here.
