Lidl GB has become the first food retailer to publish a Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA), sharing the impact of its operations on human rights within the tea supply chain.

Lidl’s new targets further strengthen existing commitments, including greater collaboration within the supply chain, more support for women and smallholder farmers, and ensuring that 100 per cent of its own brand black, rooibos and green tea, and 75 per cent of its fruit and herbal tea comes from accredited schemes.

The move helps mark World Human Rights Day, and Lidl, working in partnership with Ergon Associates, has looked in depth at how small decisions have the potential to directly or indirectly impact internationally recognised human rights within its Kenyan tea supply chain. The retailer has used the information to leverage its scale and buying power to drive meaningful change.

Martina Petrovic, head of corporate social responsibility at Lidl, said: “We are proud, on World Human Rights Day, to be the first UK retailer to publish a HRIA, particularly given it is related to our Kenyan tea, a key commodity for our business and loved by our customers. This report represents a fundamental step towards greater supply chain transparency, and further demonstrates our firm commitment to providing affordable, high quality produce that is good for the planet, good for producers and good for people.”

As part of Lidl’s Human Rights Due Diligence Policy published in March 2020, the Lidl Group has committed to conducting three HRIAs a year until 2025. This includes reports on its Spanish berries and South American bananas, which are expected in the next 12 months. This forms part of the business’s commitments to Human Rights due diligence, which includes being the first global retailer to publish its first-tier suppliers and committing to the UN Women’s Empowerment Principles.
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