AAK Supplier Code of Conduct
Key achievements
Number of bank accounts AAK has
opened for the women’s groups
3,000
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
Supply chain risk assessments done
by Proforest in 2018
AAK supports the United Kingdom Modern Slavery Act
2015 and its objective to eradicate forced labor and
human trafficking in companies and their supply chains.
The core of the act is a requirement for companies to
publish an annual statement in which they explain the
steps they have taken to prevent and combat human
rights abuse such as slavery and trafficking in their
supply chain – and in their own entities. The Act is
applicable to companies doing business in the UK and
consequently includes AAK.
Since January 2017, AAK has published its Statement
on the Modern Slavery Act describing the various
initiatives implemented over the years originally derived
from our membership and commitment to the principles
of the United Nations Global Compact.
The AAK Statement on the Modern Slavery Act can
be found at AAK’s website under Sustainable growth /
Statements.
Introduced in 2009, the AAK Supplier Code of Conduct
has been implemented with direct raw material
suppliers.
During 2018, AAK adopted its Code of Conduct
for Suppliers of Raw materials stipulating additional
requirements for individual raw materials. The Code
is an integral part of the approval system of new raw
material suppliers and compliance with the Code is a
prerequisite for final approval.
In West Africa, the Code has been implemented in
a different way due to various linguistic and cultural
challenges. Because ethical requirements in business
relations are not a widespread tradition in the region,
more meetings and explanations are required to achieve
the necessary understanding.
The AAK supplier codes are available at our website.
AAK Statement on Modern Slavery Act
Shea direct engagement on women’s
groups level
Number of women enrolled in Burkina Faso and Ghana
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2015
2016
2017
2018
150,000
100,000
50,000
0
36,579
14,304
7,613
4,300
2,250
94,473
119,527
131,607
134,261
54,919
Contributes to:
Shea Palm Coconut
25
Progressing on responsible sourcing
In 2018, we have made good progress within responsible
sourcing of our supply chains. A key achievement
is that we have further increased our direct engagement
with shea-collecting women in West Africa to
134,261. To further strengthen our engagement with the
women’s we have also opened 2,616 bank accounts
in total for the women groups. Besides shea we have
also continued our strong smallholder engagement
within palm oil, coconut and soy. Within palm oil we
have further progressed on our engagement with our
suppliers to drive the sustainability standard. Additionally,
we have together with Proforest conducted
important supply chain risk assessments for our key
raw materials shea, palm and coconut. These will serve
as foundations for our progress towards even more
sustainable supply chains in 2019 and beyond.
2015 2015 2015 2015
0
961
1,789
2,147
2,616