We are committed to ensuring that people and communities across our value chains are treated with dignity and respect. With supply chains spanning the globe, we collaborate with our suppliers, and key stakeholders to address people and human rights risks that may arise in the context of our activities.
Achieving this requires strong partnerships. It is therefore vital that suppliers across our network align with our people’s standards and support our mission to bring progress to life. Please see Engaging with our supply chain for a holistic view on how we engage with our supply chain on both social and environmental topics. The material part of our value chain that is in scope of our disclosures for this standard is our upstream value chain.
Impact, risk, and opportunity management
We have a clear responsible sourcing strategy that is fully integrated across our value chain, from suppliers to customers. This strategy translates our social standards into action and supports our goal of creating sustainable value.
Actions and resources
We focus on concrete actions and systematic data tracking, helping suppliers enhance their understanding of human rights risks and develop effective improvement plans. Our ambition is to enable suppliers to embed responsible sourcing practices into their business. Our Responsible Sourcing Standard defines priority areas for implementation.
To address salient human rights risks and foster positive outcomes across our value chain, we focus on strategic engagement and capacity-building with suppliers, strengthening relationships and driving continuous improvement. Transparency is enhanced through third-party platforms such as EcoVadis, Sedex, and UEBT, enabling robust compliance monitoring and prioritization based on country and sector risk. Grievance mechanisms, complemented by desktop assessments and on-site audits, support early detection, remediation, and ongoing progress.
Our risk screening tools and performance analyses underscore that our highest exposure lies within the botanical-related supply chains in EMEA, South America, and Southeast Asia. Key identified risks include child and forced labor, as well as working conditions, freedom of association & collective bargaining and occupational health & safety. These insights guide prioritization plans and targeted mitigation in collaboration with Business Units. Continuous monitoring is reinforced by live-news alert systems and our Speak Up channel, ensuring timely response to potential impacts. Our policies and frameworks remain focused on preventing harm while promoting positive outcomes throughout the value chain. See Supplier engagement for more details.
Identifying sensitive supply chains and defining actions
Based on supplier performance reviews, risk analyses, and ongoing business reviews, our Responsible Sourcing at Source team identifies sensitive supply chains for further assessment. These undergo detailed evaluations to understand potential adverse impacts and determine how to minimize or remediate them.
In 2025, we launched a new, advanced Responsible Sourcing program for key natural ingredients. This program integrates desktop assessments with expanded field-based due diligence to identify salient risks and deploy mitigation measures. Through this program, the most frequently identified gaps versus our standards relate primarily to social impacts, such as health & safety, working conditions, wages and child labor. More details per focus area will be shared in our annual Human Rights report, which will be published on our website.
Stakeholder engagement in field assessments
The Responsible Sourcing at Source team works closely with procurement managers, Business Units, and internal sustainability functions, and where relevant, with NGOs and local partners, to develop targeted action plans for each identified issue.
These plans clearly define the affected groups, required resources, implementation timelines, escalation pathways, and assigned ownership. Progress and effectiveness are monitored through follow‑up field visits, scheduled according to the severity of the impacts and the deadlines set for corrective actions.
Equitable living standards
With sustainability at the core of everything we do, we build resilience for long-term success, not only for ourselves but for everyone connected to our business. Driven by this shared purpose, dsm-firmenich continues its commitment to advancing fair compensation for more people beyond our workforce.
As part of the Forward Faster Living wage working group of UNGC, we collaborated with selected suppliers operating in Sri Lanka, Colombia, and India to advance their living‑wage journey. This program, supported by industry leaders, aims to build capabilities and align methodologies to promote living wages across global supply chains. In 2025, together with international experts, sponsors, and suppliers, the initiative developed a comprehensive training framework to enable organizations to progress on this critical topic using a unified approach.
We will continue to work with other suppliers, businesses, governments, and NGOs to create change and encourage the global adoption of living wage practices. We value a global approach on ensuring living wage payments will be verified in the same way and have been a sponsor of the IDH Living Wage Verification Guidelines assignment.
Actions to ensure inclusive sourcing and prevent discrimination and harassment in the workforce of suppliers
Every supplier must foster diversity, equity, and inclusion while ensuring a workplace free from discrimination and harassment. This commitment goes beyond policy, it is embedded in how we monitor, engage, and collaborate with our partners worldwide.
We leverage leading third-party assessment tools such as EcoVadis, SMETA, and TfS audits, which include dedicated modules on discrimination and harassment. These evaluations are complemented by our own on-site audits, where internal teams apply a comprehensive assessment toolkit to review anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies, training records, and grievance mechanisms.
To ensure these measures translate into factual actions in the field, we conduct confidential interviews with workers to validate their awareness and assess the effectiveness of established policies and procedures. The findings are subsequently addressed through constructive dialogue with suppliers and, where necessary, the implementation of corrective actions—underscoring that accountability is the cornerstone of progress.
Grievance mechanisms and reporting
Reporting potential violations of our Supplier Code, Responsible Sourcing Standard, or external commitments is essential to transparency and accountability. Our Speak Up grievance channel — anonymously managed by an independent external provider — allows value chain workers to report concerns securely.
A model for collective action
Where collective action is essential, we engage actively in responsible sourcing coalitions, such as the Fair Labor Association for the jasmine supply chain in Egypt and UEBT for the rose supply chains in Bulgaria and Turkey.
In Egypt, our coalition partners include the Fair Labor Association, the International Labour Organization, more than 15 jasmine producers and buyers, the Egyptian government, and local civil society organizations. Together, we work to protect children and promote decent working conditions in the jasmine sector.
Continuing the momentum from last year’s annual report, 2025 saw our coalition deepen its engagement in field-level interventions. Launched in 2024, the initiative targets the root causes of child labor and strives to improve working conditions through a holistic, four-pillar approach: economic resilience, education and child protection, human rights due diligence, and advocacy. The coalition’s approach is rooted in collaboration and transparency. By leveraging the expertise of international organizations, local partners, and government agencies, we are driving systemic change in the jasmine supply chain. Our efforts go beyond compliance, focusing on sustainable solutions that address the underlying drivers of child labor and empower communities. Building on our significant progress, we are excited to further extend our impact by expanding monitoring coverage, strengthening sourcing practices, and deepening community engagement. These efforts will help us continue to enhance the welfare of workers and their families. Our commitment to responsible sourcing within Egypt’s jasmine sector remains unwavering. We are dedicated to fostering innovation and strengthening collaboration with our partners to establish a more sustainable production system that benefits local communities.
Key activities and achievements delivered in 2025
Responsible sourced jasmine – coalition impact
Working jointly with industry partners and local stakeholders, the Jasmine Coalition is driving progress through a set of focused impact actions, including:
Delivered tailored entrepreneurial and financial literacy training to over 340 pickers and farmers, with a strong focus on women’s participation
Supported access to financial services, including prepaid cards, savings accounts, and microloans, enabling families to improve their livelihoods
Enrolled more than 2,600 children in summer school programs and awareness sessions on children’s rights
Piloted night childcare facilities and trained community monitors to support safe environments for children
Distributed personal protective equipment (PPE) to over 15,000 jasmine pickers, including headlamps, waterproof boots, and jackets
Organized 23 medical convoys and mobile clinics, providing nearly 20,000 medical services — primarily to women and children — and conducting over 1,000 medical exams
Deployed 40 monitors across 21 villages, conducting thousands of visits and working closely with local child protection committees to strengthen community-based safeguards and promote responsible practices.
Completed a legal and policy gap analysis, leading to government-approved recommendations
Facilitated training for nearly 200 participants from key ministries and agencies, integrating jasmine sector progress into national reporting frameworks
Advancing supplier diversity and inclusion
To further monitor and encourage supplier diversity and inclusion, ensuring that our purchasing decisions reflect our values, the below three initiatives are in place:
Our global SAP procurement system enables classification of suppliers across multiple criteria, including diversity
A local Supplier Diversity program: Supporting women-owned and ethnic minority-owned businesses, reinforcing our commitment to equitable economic opportunities
A global inclusive Sensory Panels program: Partnering with agencies in China, Mexico, the UK, Switzerland, India, South Africa, and Singapore to hire blind and visually impaired professionals for sensory evaluation panels — bringing unique perspectives to product development and promoting workplace inclusion
Grievance mechanisms – workers’ survey
We partnered with Ulula to conduct a worker survey at our Apodaca and El Salto sites in Mexico, focusing on facility management services. This initiative engaged agency workers from cleaning and security suppliers to better understand their working conditions and safeguard human rights. Insights from the survey informed corrective actions aimed at improving access to grievance channels, wage transparency, and worker representation. This work strengthens our commitment to ethical sourcing and responsible practices across our value chain.
Metrics and targets
In 2025, we strengthened our due diligence approach by addressing salient issues identified through audits and grievance channels. These findings highlighted areas of concern around working conditions and human rights compliance. In response, we rolled out targeted supplier training programs and equipped partners with tools to prevent violations and foster safe, fair workplaces. As a result, we trained more than 350 targeted suppliers identified based on our desktop due diligence process.
For metrics and targets covering both social and environmental aspects, please refer to the Engaging with our supply chain section.