Modern slavery footprints in global supply chains

Slavery is more prevalent today than at any point in human history. Society's heightened scrutiny and new government policy is forcing businesses and nations to act in lieu of reputational, financial, and legal repercussions. However, slavery hides within complex supply chains, making it diffic...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of industrial ecology 2021-12, Vol.25 (6), p.1518-1528
Main Authors: Shilling, Hannah‐Jayne, Wiedmann, Thomas, Malik, Arunima
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accountability
Developing countries
Exploitation
Footprinting
Footprints
global supply chains
Government policy
human rights
Humans
Imports
industrial ecology
Input output analysis
LDCs
modern slavery
multi‐regional input–output analysis
Public policy
Scrutiny
Slavery
social footprints
Social sustainability
Supply
Supply chains
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Summary:Slavery is more prevalent today than at any point in human history. Society's heightened scrutiny and new government policy is forcing businesses and nations to act in lieu of reputational, financial, and legal repercussions. However, slavery hides within complex supply chains, making it difficult to identify instances of human exploitation. This study takes a consumption perspective by investigating the potential of footprinting in exposing modern slavery impacts embodied in upstream supply chains. A multi‐regional input–output analysis extended with a slavery satellite account enables footprints of direct and indirect incidents of modern slavery to be quantified. The footprints reveal a displacement of slavery from developed to developing nations through the global supply chains of production. Accountability for enslavement significantly increases for countries and regions like North America, Western Europe, Australia, and Japan due to a high dependence on imports with embodied human exploitation. The results expose hotspot sectors, including construction, trade, and agriculture. These footprints go beyond current estimates of slavery in supply chains, revealing hidden impacts and the true risk, which may enable more effective action into improving global social sustainability and support companies to responsibly manage their supply chains.
ISSN:1088-1980
1530-9290
DOI:10.1111/jiec.13169