In an interconnected global economy where consumer goods travel thousands of miles to reach shelves, the complex supply chains that make this possible often conceal a dark reality of human exploitation. A landmark report from The Consumer Goods Forum’s Human Rights Coalition offers an unprecedented and transparent look into how some of the world’s most powerful corporations are confronting the pervasive issue of forced labor. Released on Human Rights Day, December 10, 2025, to mark the coalition’s fifth anniversary, this comprehensive analysis details the progress made by member companies in strengthening their Human Rights Due Diligence systems. The publication candidly documents both the substantial advancements achieved through individual corporate action and the critical challenges that remain, presenting a nuanced picture of a high-stakes battle for ethical supply chains. It serves as a crucial barometer for an industry under increasing pressure from regulators and consumers to prove its commitment to protecting the fundamental rights of workers worldwide.
A Coalition of Giants and a Framework for Change
The Power and Purpose of the HRC
The Human Rights Coalition represents a formidable voluntary collective of leading international brands, manufacturers, and retailers whose names are ubiquitous in households across the globe. This group, which includes industry titans like The Coca-Cola Company, L’Oréal, Mars, Inc., McDonald’s Corporation, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Unilever, and Walmart, wields immense economic influence. Combined, its members generate an estimated $1.7 trillion in annual revenue and oversee vast, intricate supply chains that extend to millions of suppliers and workers. The coalition’s core mission is to collaboratively leverage this influence, in full compliance with competition regulations, to ensure human rights are protected and respected throughout these extensive value chains. A foundational principle of the HRC is that while it provides a robust framework and vital opportunities for peer learning, its members act individually and independently to implement tangible changes within their own business operations, placing the onus of accountability squarely on each corporation.
The strategic design of the coalition is intended to foster an environment of shared progress and mutual accountability among its influential members. By creating a pre-competitive space for collaboration, the HRC allows companies that are otherwise fierce rivals in the marketplace to share best practices, discuss common challenges, and collectively develop more effective tools to combat forced labor. This structure is critical, as it accelerates the pace of innovation in human rights due diligence by preventing individual companies from having to solve deeply entrenched, systemic problems in isolation. The report itself serves as a testament to this model of transparency, offering a public and detailed account of the members’ individual and collective journeys. This approach aims to move beyond mere corporate pledges and toward demonstrable action, using the collective weight of its members to establish new industry-wide benchmarks and expectations for ethical business conduct, thereby raising the bar for the entire consumer goods sector.
The Maturity Journey Paves the Way
A central theme and key finding of the detailed report is the remarkable progress member companies have made by adopting the CGF’s ‘Maturity Journey Framework for Human Rights Due Diligence Systems Focused on Forced Labour in Own Operations’. This innovative framework provides a clear, six-step pathway that empowers companies to individually conduct a transparent and rigorous self-assessment of their due diligence systems. It offers a structured methodology designed to help them evaluate their current standing, systematically identify areas for improvement, and map out the next concrete steps required for strengthening their approach to protecting workers. The report’s headline statistic reveals the framework’s profound success: an overwhelming 91% of HRC member companies are now considered to have reached “maturity” in their HRDD systems through their own individual corporate efforts. This consensus viewpoint, celebrated by HRC leadership, powerfully demonstrates that when effective frameworks, practical tools, and structured opportunities for peer learning are made available, the acceleration of meaningful action inevitably follows.
The achievement of a 91% maturity rate is more than just a statistic; it signifies a fundamental shift in how these global corporations approach their human rights responsibilities. This high level of adoption suggests that the framework has successfully translated the often-abstract principles of due diligence into a tangible and achievable set of corporate practices. The HRC Co-Chairs have positioned this recommended Framework as a highly effective and proven model for the wider consumer goods industry to adopt in its approach to human rights and the implementation of best practices. Its success lies in its ability to create a common language and a shared understanding of what constitutes a robust HRDD system. By providing a clear and accessible roadmap, the framework empowers companies to move from reactive compliance to proactive risk prevention, fostering a culture where the protection of human rights is integrated into core business strategy rather than being treated as a peripheral concern.
Progress in Practice and the Road Ahead
Defining and Demonstrating Success
The advancements detailed in the report are both concrete and systemic, reflecting a deep-seated commitment to institutional change among member companies. The overarching trend shows that members have individually established robust internal structures designed specifically to address and mitigate the risks of forced labor. These foundational elements include the implementation of strong and accountable governance mechanisms, the creation and enforcement of clear corporate policies that explicitly prohibit forced labor, the development of structured and regular risk assessments across their operations, and the design of comprehensive and responsive mitigation plans. Crucially, these mitigation strategies increasingly integrate direct input from workers, a vital shift that ensures the voices of those most at risk are not only heard but are also central to the development of effective solutions. This evolution marks a significant departure from traditional top-down corporate social responsibility efforts toward a more inclusive and impactful model of human-centered due diligence.
This tangible progress is further articulated through the perspectives of key industry leaders who have championed this work. John Ross, CEO of IGA and a CGF board member, emphasized a foundational truth revealed by the report: successfully tackling forced labor must begin with strong corporate governance, clearly communicated expectations for suppliers and partners, and a leadership team that is willing and able to enforce accountability within its own organization. He noted that by making their self-assessments public, the HRC members demonstrate the critical importance of keeping due diligence as a central and highly visible corporate priority. Similarly, the HRC Co-Chairs—Virginie Mahin of Mondelēz International, Rachel Elliott of Woolworths Group, and outgoing Co-Chair Jessica Rivas of McDonald’s Corporation—collectively expressed pride in the 91% maturity achievement, positioning the framework as a proven blueprint for the entire sector to follow in protecting people.
From Policy to Action Real World Examples
To illustrate these principles in action, the report provides a range of practical case studies that showcase how individual member companies are applying due diligence best practices within their unique operational contexts. For example, some companies have focused on building internal capacity and embedding policy. The APP Group launched a full-scale due diligence process that included the comprehensive training of over 5,000 employees and managers on identifying and preventing forced labor risks. In a similar vein, Ferrero successfully operationalized a new corporate policy specifically dedicated to the prevention of forced labor, translating a high-level commitment into actionable daily procedures. Meanwhile, Jerónimo Martins has worked to embed human and labor rights deeply within its corporate culture through extensive and ongoing training programs, regular site audits, and proactive initiatives designed to support worker integration and well-being, demonstrating a holistic, long-term approach to cultural change.
Other members have focused their efforts on refining risk assessment protocols and strengthening foundational human rights governance. Mondelēz International undertook a significant project to expand the scope and reach of its risk assessment protocols across its diverse global operations, ensuring a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of potential vulnerabilities. McDonald’s completed a significant update of its foundational human rights documents, including its overarching Human Rights Policy, its Supplier Code of Conduct, and all related supporting guidance to align with evolving best practices. In a move toward greater worker empowerment, Neste has taken concrete steps to extend access to its grievance mechanisms, ensuring they are available to third-party workers and not just direct employees. Demonstrating a commitment to evaluating impact, Unilever conducted a vital assessment to understand the real-world effects of its fee remediation programs on migrant workers in Malaysia and Thailand, a critical step in ensuring that protective measures are genuinely effective for the people they are intended to help.
Identifying Critical Gaps
Despite these significant and commendable achievements, the report maintains an objective and critical perspective by clearly identifying areas where more substantial and urgent work is needed. A major remaining challenge lies in the development and scaling of effective remedy systems. While many companies are actively creating these systems—which are designed to correct harm and restore the rights of affected workers—their current implementation has not yet reached the scale required to meet the size of the challenge across global supply chains. Furthermore, while companies are increasingly using structured assessment practices to collect data on human rights risks, the report calls for greater consistency in these methods to ensure that the data collected is both reliable and comparable across the industry. Finally, a critical feedback loop has yet to be fully established and embedded. Although companies are individually tracking and monitoring the outcomes of their programs, the process of systematically feeding these crucial findings back into high-level corporate decision-making needs to be more deeply integrated to drive strategic, long-term improvements.
The report from the CGF’s Human Rights Coalition ultimately presented a cohesive and detailed narrative of both hard-won progress and persistent, complex challenges. Wai-Chan Chan, Managing Director of The Consumer Goods Forum, expressed pride in the members’ individual achievements and articulated a vision that looked forward from the report’s conclusions. He called upon the wider consumer goods sector to adopt these recommended best practices, highlighting that such actions not only supported vulnerable workers across the globe but also helped businesses deliver on their strategic priorities and meet key corporate commitments. The full report stood as an invitation to the industry, offering a deeper dive into the findings and methodologies that were shaping the future of human rights. It made clear that while a collaborative, framework-based approach had successfully driven individual corporate action toward stronger governance, the fight required continuous and expanded effort from all corners of the industry.
