When we think about independence, the first thing that comes to mind is credibility. The Independence Pledge was created as a way of establishing a pathway to greater public trust and enhancing information integrity in our industry by being open with how much alignment there really is between us and the realities of operating an ongoing supply chain due diligence process, that enables companies to proactively address their environmental and human rights impacts and conduct their business in a responsible manner.

The idea to create the Independence Pledge came up during industry conferences and peer-to-peer meetings on how to build greater public trust in environmental and human rights data verification and evolved from there. As a group of committed people in the supply chain due diligence industry, we feel that independence should translate into public confidence. To set an example for government and stakeholders, industry needs to openly communicate how much we are aligned with foundational credibility expectations and acting. In other words, to be truly credible, we should be transparent about what we are independent about.