Resources for investors
How we work with you
We provide investors with the evidence to inspire action and the tools necessary to do so. We do this through our signature benchmark reports that highlight targets for investors and supplemental investor materials with concrete steps investors can take to engage with companies on the issue of forced labour.
The KnowTheChain Investor Statement is signed by more than 160 investors with over US$7 trillion assets under management and can be used as a tool for engagement with companies. Statement signatories receive regular updates on the latest news, tools, and investor engagements addressing forced labour. The Investor Alliance for Human Rights and KnowTheChain invite additional investors to sign the statement to demonstrate commitment to addressing forced labour.
Details on the investor engagement with apparel companies on forced labour, led by the Interfaith Centre for Corporate Responsibility and supported by Principles for Responsible Investment and KnowTheChain, can be found below.
Investor Engagement: Addressing Exploitative Working Conditions in the Apparel Sector
Since 2019, the Interfaith Centre for Centre for Corporate Responsibility, supported by the Principles for Responsible Investment, has led a collaborative engagement with the apparel companies benchmarked by KnowTheChain in 2018. A group of more than 60 global investors has been engaging apparel and footwear companies asking them to address supply chain labour rights abuses, including forced labour, exploitative recruitment practices and working conditions, and impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Now in its sixth year, the focus of the engagement moves to addressing significant gaps in corporate due diligence processes, specifically the impact of irresponsible purchasing practices and ensuring workers’ rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining. Companies are encouraged to sign up to enforceable labour rights agreements and adopt responsible purchasing practices like prompt payment, accurate forecasting and reasonable lead times as well as ringfencing labour costs as a baseline necessity for responsible business.
“KnowTheChain benchmarks have strengthened our engagements and enabled us to distinguish companies that are taking important and replicable steps from those that whose inaction is putting vulnerable workers at risk. It is imperative that companies address exploitative working conditions in their supply chains, including forced labour and human trafficking—and we need to see proof on the ground: Policies are no longer sufficient; companies need to show that their policies and processes make a difference for workers. As a responsible investor, where portfolio companies continue to fail to remediate abuses, we will use the power of the proxy and vote against boards to stand in solidarity with workers in global supply chains.”Julie Tanner, Managing Director, Christian Brothers Investment Services
Dedicated Investor Resources
2025 ICT Investor Briefing
Investors have a critical role to play in using their leverage to ensure portfolio companies in the ICT sector adopt a risk-based approach to human rights due diligence and prioritise rightsholder engagement in line with international standards and domestic regulation to ensure safer, more equitable supply chains for some of the world’s most vulnerable workers. This briefing provides new insights for investors on how forced labour, and a failure of good governance within the sector, can create company, portfolio, and systemic level risks for investors concerned about long term value creation.
2023 Apparel & Footwear Investor Briefing
This investor briefing highlights gaps and provide insights on apparel and footwear company practice for public equity investors evaluating the increasingly financially material forced labour risk in their investments.
2023 Food & Beverage Investor Briefing
This investor briefing highlights gaps and provide insights on food and beverage company practice for public equity investors evaluating the increasingly financially material forced labour risk in their investments.
Good Practice Guide 2024
Drawing on data collected by KnowTheChain over eight years of benchmarking global multinational companies across three sectors, this Guide is a resource for companies and investors seeking to understand what strong corporate practice and disclosure looks like with respect to a range of key elements of upstream supply chain human rights due diligence.
Shein, ultra-fast fashion and forced labour risks: Key issues for investors
This investor briefing highlights gaps and provide insights on Shein's approach to human rights due diligence for public equity investors evaluating the increasingly financially material forced labour risk in their investments.
KnowTheChain’s benchmark reports are an invaluable resource for investors navigating corporate dialogue and engagement, guiding investors as they prepare for discussions with portfolio companies. As importantly, the KnowTheChain team has been instrumental in helping investors prioritise key engagement topics – including freedom of association, responsible purchasing practices and worker-centred remediation – balancing the need to praise companies for progress in certain areas and push them to do more in othersChavi Keeney Nana Director, Equitable Global Supply Chains, Interfaith Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ICCR)