Measures to ward off potential adverse Human Rights impacts

Whenever we become aware of actual Human Rights violations in our value chain, we urge to end these immediately by addressing our direct partners. Whenever we become aware of potential Human Rights violations, we screen our options how to manage our exposure and how to ward off potential adverse impacts.

Where appropriate, we support our partners, civil society, or cross-industry initiatives for tackling related challenges together, on a broader basis of stakeholders. In other cases, we may choose to explore business alternatives and reserve the right to terminate business relations. We have chosen to participate in several voluntary alliances. A selection thereof has been listed below.

We embed our commitment to respect Human Rights in our daily operations. Cross-functional governance on such topics is coordinated by our Compliance Department. Hereby, the respective business units stay in charge for due diligence, prevention, mitigation, and follow-up processes and are supported by the internal corporate Human Rights expertise.

We encourage and foster open dialogue with all our stakeholders to develop a mutual understanding of relevant topics, to allow for a meaningful consultation, and to raise awareness. We connect to create value for society. In a collaborative way, we strive to reduce negative and to optimize positive effects. 

Through our products, through science and innovation, we enable our customers to meet current and future needs of society. We strive for advantageous and sustainable solutions. Our product stewardship identifies potential risks in handling, use, and disposal of our products, and advises accordingly to minimize potential negative impacts.