Addressing human rights from a holistic perspective is essential to make a positive impact on people and the planet. Amer Sports’ human rights commitment focuses on the bigger picture of ethical business practices.
As a global group of sports and outdoor brands with operations around the world, we have a responsibility to ensure that we have a positive impact on the communities we reach. And that extends to human rights.
In 2023, we took a significant step forward in our purpose to elevate the world through sport, with our first-ever Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA). Conducted with the help of an independent sustainability consultancy, the HRIA explored how our operations may impact human rights across the value chain.
“We wanted to identify and understand the most salient human rights impacts of Amer Sports, assess our current processes for managing these, and to formulate strategies for continuous improvement,” says Anne Larilahti, VP of Sustainability at Amer Sports.
Exploring impacts across the value chain
The assessment took a holistic approach, taking the entire value chain into account, from manufacturing to sourcing and logistics, as well as our employees, customers, athletes, and the communities we serve.
“We looked towards our human rights impacts beyond production, extending to the lifecycle of our products, which also includes potential impacts on deforestation, climate change, and the wellbeing of communities,” says Anne.
The assessment process involved in-depth interviews with personnel and stakeholders across our value chain, utilizing outside experts, and reviewing our due diligence processes. By listing our potential human rights impacts, analyzing risks and opportunities, and exploring remediation possibilities, we gained valuable insights.
Ahead of upcoming regulations
Independent sustainability consultants indicated that Amer Sports has a robust social compliance program with plans for continuous improvement. External partners validated our results and helped us to define areas for improvement in the future, such as:
- Establishing minimum human rights standards across the Group.
- Building a robust health and safety program.
- Expanding the scope of the supply chain social compliance program.
Amer Sports will remain proactive in extending its diligence to align with evolving global regulations.
“We are and remain confident in our ability to stay abreast or ahead of regulations and continue to strive for our human rights impacts to be positive, wherever we operate,” says Anne.
