Leather Working Group’s Supply Chain Mapping and Deforestation Due Diligence Questionnaire is a new resource to help brands and retailers get started with supply chain mapping and deforestation due diligence. The open-source questionnaire also aims to reduce the burden often experienced by the leather supply chain through the receipt of multiple data requests.
The Questionnaire provides a standardised set of questions designed to capture consistent data to the slaughterhouse or equivalent stage of a brand or retailer’s leather supply chain. A range of stakeholders were engaged in the development and piloting of the questionnaire and accompanying guidance.
Partners involved in the process shared positive feedback, stating:
“We have found the process and partnership to develop and test the Questionnaire to be helpful and to have achieved good results. The Questionnaire will certainly help to identify data to the slaughterhouse stage”.
Others commented that the guidance on understanding deforestation due diligence:
“…. makes it clear that this is a journey and companies can be at different stages, but they need to start understanding where they are and how to move forward and engaging the supply chain through the Questionnaire is a great starting point”