Diginex, in Partnership With the Coca-Cola Company and Reckitt, Launches Pioneering Technology to Undertake Scalable Due Diligence in Global Supply Chains
diginexLUMEN sets a new standard for scalable and affordable due diligence by empowering brands – including The Coca-Cola Company and Reckitt – to better identify forced labour risks deeper in the supply chain
Diginex, the disruptive impact technology company helping to solve the world’s most pressing challenges, has launched diginexLUMEN to provide brands with a new level of transparency, trust and accountability across their global supply chains. The tool was based on lessons from an initial partnership with The Coca-Cola Company focused on responsible recruitment in Middle East countries. It was then developed and scaled through financial and technical support provided by The Coca-Cola Company and Reckitt, with the goal of ensuring all companies have access to affordable and scalable due diligence tools.
This innovation comes as human rights due diligence and forced labour legislation continues to tighten around the world. Between 1st October 2019 and 30th September 2020, US Customs and Border Protection set a record by issuing thirteen Withhold Release Orders (‘WROs’), detaining over $55 million worth of goods. Meanwhile, on 23 February, the European Commission issued a landmark proposal for a Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence to tackle human rights and environmental impacts across global value chains. The Directive would impose a due diligence duty on large EU and third-country companies, and smaller companies in certain “high-risk” sectors, to identify and take steps to remedy actual and prevent or mitigate potential adverse impacts in the companies’ own operations, and their subsidiaries and value chains.
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diginexLUMEN holds the potential to disrupt the once-a-year audit model and move towards a more continuous process of data collection and multi-stakeholder engagement in monitoring working conditions. The tool gives businesses unprecedented insight into their suppliers’ risk related to labour exploitation and forced labour by offering a robust governance and screening process, multilingual worker voice surveys, algorithm-based risk scoring and ESG reporting formats.
Mark Blick, CEO, Diginex said: “ESG products and services have primarily focused on the ‘environmental’ and ‘governance’ aspects to date – the ‘social’ aspect has been harder to address. diginexLUMEN is here to change that by setting a new standard for supply chain due diligence. The granular insight that diginexLUMEN gives brands has the power to transform the lives of millions of people currently stripped of their employment rights and working in potentially harmful conditions. We hope diginexLUMEN’s affordable price point continues to help businesses of all sizes improve their ESG credentials, meet investor demand and remain compliant with incoming regulation, so we can co-create fairer and more sustainable business practices that work for both people and the planet.”
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Paul Lalli, Global Head of Human Rights, The Coca-Cola Company said
“The Coca-Cola Company believes respect for human rights is critical to good business, and we are tremendously proud of our industry-leading supply chain program. We constantly invest in innovation to drive better insight and meaningful improvement across our value chain. That’s why we first partnered with Diginex in 2019 to advance best practice in sustainability due diligence. We are thrilled with the diginexLUMEN initiative flowing from our partnership and look forward to leveraging it in our program and helping other ethical companies across the world.”
David Pettet, Global Human Rights & Sustainable Supply Chain Director, Reckitt, said “In line with our compass of putting people first and doing the right thing always, our partnership with diginexLUMEN provided us with an innovative tool that increases our understanding of recruitment practices within our supply chain. This transparency empowers us to take targeted action to promote ethical recruitment as we strive to create a fairer, more inclusive society.”
