2023 Corporate Human Rights Benchmark

20 November 2023

In this 2023 iteration of the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark we rank 110 of the world’s largest apparel and extractives companies on their corporate human rights performance. This is our fifth time benchmarking these two sectors. Companies were assessed against our revised methodology, which was published in 2021.

Compared to our previous assessments of apparel and extractives companies, this year’s benchmark devotes more attention their actual performance in ensuring that human rights are respected within their four walls and supply chains, rather than merely the commitments they have made. It now also looks at whether companies are engaging with stakeholders at various stages of their operations, their business models, strategies and risks, and whether or not they prohibit recruitment fees, which is a form of forced labour.

Five key findings

Given that we first assessed these industries in 2017, this year we offer insight into progress on corporate respect for human rights over time, as well as gaps that remain. While some companies are demonstrating transformative change, the average pace of improvement remains too slow. In particular, our assessment highlights the failure of many companies to involve rightsholders effectively and meaningfully throughout key parts of their process to respect human rights.

Key finding

Some companies show that transformative change is possible within five years

After being assessed five times in the benchmark, most companies are progressing towards fulfilling their responsibility to respect human rights. While the overall pace of improvement remains too slow, a group of 12 companies have made remarkable progress. Their journeys can provide insight into how other companies can also improve.

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Key finding

Clear responsibility and capacity building is key for translating commitments into action

Top-performing companies assign clear internal responsibilities for the daily implementation of human rights commitments and offer role-specific human rights training. These practices appear key for progress, with companies that do both outperforming their peers by 150%.

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Key finding

Most companies fail to include rightsholders in their human rights due diligence processes

While 61% of companies have a part of a human rights due diligence process in place, only 27% engage with rightsholders during this process. This raises concerns about their effectiveness, as engaging with rightsholders empowers them, fosters trust and enhances a company's capacity to effectively address human rights challenges.

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Key finding

Access to grievance mechanisms without trust and ownership hinders just remedies

While most companies provide access to grievance mechanisms, they are failing to ensure the meaningful participation of rightsholders needed to provide fair remedies. Only 5% demonstrate building rightsholder trust through providing predictability and transparency, and 10% ensure rightsholder ownership by involving users in the mechanism’s design.

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Key finding

Suppliers are expected to respect human rights and promote gender equality but are set up to fail by buying companies

In the apparel sector, most companies set high standards for their suppliers regarding human rights and gender equality. However, only 27% of apparel companies enable their suppliers to meet their human rights and gender equality expectations through practicing responsible purchasing.

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See how the companies performed

View ranking

Further reading

  • 2023 Corporate Human Rights Benchmark Insights Report

    This report builds on the key findings above, sharing further insights.

    View the report

  • Data set

    The scores of all 110 companies can be downloaded in excel format.

    Learn more

  • Press release

    Read our press release, which focuses the 55 apparel companies assessed in both our 2023 Gender Benchmark and 2023 Corporate Human Rights Benchmark.

    See press release

Where are 110 companies headquartered?

Locations

  • Title: Vale
    Place: Brazil
    Description:
  • Title: VF Corporation
    Place: United States of America
    Description:
  • Title: Walmart
    Place: United States of America
    Description:
  • Title: Woodside Petroleum
    Place: Australia
    Description:
  • Title: Youngor Group
    Place: China
    Description:
  • Title: Semir
    Place: China
    Description:
  • Title: UltraTech Cement
    Place: India
    Description:
  • Title: Newmont 
    Place: United States of America
    Description:
  • Title: Barrick Gold
    Place: Canada
    Description:
  • Title: Teck Resources
    Place: Canada
    Description:
  • Title: Page Industries
    Place: India
    Description:
  • Title: Wesfarmers (Kmart and Target Australia)
    Place: Australia
    Description:
  • Title: Falabella
    Place: Chile
    Description:
  • Title: SHEIN
    Place: Singapore
    Description:
  • Title: Chevron
    Place: United States of America
    Description:
  • Title: China Energy Investment Group (CHN Energy)
    Place: China
    Description:
  • Title: China National Offshore Oil
    Place: China
    Description:
  • Title: China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation Limited (Sinopec)
    Place: China
    Description:
  • Title: Columbia Sportswear
    Place: United States of America
    Description:
  • Title: ConocoPhillips
    Place: United States of America
    Description:
  • Title: Costco Wholesale
    Place: United States of America
    Description:
  • Title: Devon Energy
    Place: United States of America
    Description:
  • Title: Ecopetrol 
    Place: Colombia
    Description:
  • Title: Eni
    Place: Italy
    Description:
  • Title: EOG Resources 
    Place: United States of America
    Description:
  • Title: Equinor
    Place: Norway
    Description:
  • Title: Exxon Mobil
    Place: United States of America
    Description:
  • Title: Fast Retailing
    Place: Japan
    Description:
  • Title: Foot Locker
    Place: United States of America
    Description:
  • Title: Freeport-McMoRan
    Place: United States of America
    Description:
  • Title: Gap
    Place: United States of America
    Description:
  • Title: Gazprom
    Place: Russian Federation
    Description:
  • Title: Gildan Activewear
    Place: Canada
    Description:
  • Title: Glencore
    Place: Switzerland
    Description:
  • Title: Grupo Mexico
    Place: Mexico
    Description:
  • Title: Hennes & Mauritz (H&M)
    Place: Sweden
    Description:
  • Title: Hanesbrands
    Place: United States of America
    Description:
  • Title: HeidelbergCement
    Place: Germany
    Description:
  • Title: Heilan Group
    Place: China
    Description:
  • Title: Hermes International
    Place: France
    Description:
  • Title: Hugo Boss
    Place: Germany
    Description:
  • Title: Industria de Diseño Textil (Inditex)
    Place: Spain
    Description:
  • Title: Inpex 
    Place: Japan
    Description:
  • Title: ENEOS
    Place: Japan
    Description:
  • Title: Kering
    Place: France
    Description:
  • Title: Kohl's
    Place: United States of America
    Description:
  • Title: Holcim
    Place: Switzerland
    Description:
  • Title: Lojas Renner
    Place: Brazil
    Description:
  • Title: LPP
    Place: Poland
    Description:
  • Title: Lukoil
    Place: Russian Federation
    Description:
  • Title: Lululemon Athletica
    Place: Canada
    Description:
  • Title: LVMH Moet Hennessy - Louis Vuitton
    Place: France
    Description:
  • Title: Macy's
    Place: United States of America
    Description:
  • Title: Marathon Oil
    Place: United States of America
    Description:
  • Title: Marks & Spencer
    Place: United Kingdom
    Description:
  • Title: Mr. Price
    Place: South Africa
    Description:
  • Title: Next
    Place: United Kingdom
    Description:
  • Title: Nike
    Place: United States of America
    Description:
  • Title: Nippon Steel Corporation
    Place: Japan
    Description:
  • Title: Nordstrom
    Place: United States of America
    Description:
  • Title: Nornickel
    Place: Russian Federation
    Description:
  • Title: NLMK Group
    Place: Russian Federation
    Description:
  • Title: Occidental Petroleum
    Place: United States of America
    Description:
  • Title: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation
    Place: India
    Description:
  • Title: OMV
    Place: Austria
    Description:
  • Title: Petrobras
    Place: Brazil
    Description:
  • Title: Phillips 66
    Place: United States of America
    Description:
  • Title: POSCO
    Place: Republic of Korea
    Description:
  • Title: Pou Chen Corporation
    Place: Taiwan, China
    Description:
  • Title: Prada
    Place: Italy
    Description:
  • Title: PTT
    Place: Thailand
    Description:
  • Title: Puma
    Place: Germany
    Description:
  • Title: PVH
    Place: United States of America
    Description:
  • Title: Ralph Lauren Corporation
    Place: United States of America
    Description:
  • Title: Repsol
    Place: Spain
    Description:
  • Title: Rio Tinto
    Place: United Kingdom
    Description:
  • Title: Rosneft
    Place: Russian Federation
    Description:
  • Title: Ross Stores
    Place: United States of America
    Description:
  • Title: Shell PLC
    Place: Netherlands
    Description:
  • Title: Ferragamo
    Place: Italy
    Description:
  • Title: Sasol
    Place: South Africa
    Description:
  • Title: Saudi Aramco
    Place: Saudi Arabia
    Description:
  • Title: Severstal
    Place: Russian Federation
    Description:
  • Title: Shenzhou International
    Place: China
    Description:
  • Title: Siam Cement (SCG)
    Place: Thailand
    Description:
  • Title: Skechers
    Place: United States of America
    Description:
  • Title: Suncor Energy 
    Place: Canada
    Description:
  • Title: Surgutneftegas
    Place: Russian Federation
    Description:
  • Title: Tapestry
    Place: United States of America
    Description:
  • Title: Target Corporation
    Place: United States of America
    Description:
  • Title: Tatneft
    Place: Russian Federation
    Description:
  • Title: Tesco
    Place: United Kingdom
    Description:
  • Title: The Foschini Group (TFG)
    Place: South Africa
    Description:
  • Title: The TJX Companies
    Place: United States of America
    Description:
  • Title: TotalEnergies
    Place: France
    Description:
  • Title: Under Armour
    Place: United States of America
    Description:
  • Title: Adidas
    Place: Germany
    Description:
  • Title: Aeon
    Place: Japan
    Description:
  • Title: Amazon
    Place: United States of America
    Description:
  • Title: Anglo American
    Place: United Kingdom
    Description:
  • Title: Anhui Conch Cement
    Place: China
    Description:
  • Title: ANTA International Group Holdings
    Place: China
    Description:
  • Title: ArcelorMittal
    Place: Luxembourg
    Description:
  • Title: Associated British Foods
    Place: United Kingdom
    Description:
  • Title: BHP Group
    Place: Australia
    Description:
  • Title: BP
    Place: United Kingdom
    Description:
  • Title: Burberry 
    Place: United Kingdom
    Description:
  • Title: Canadian Natural Resources
    Place: Canada
    Description:
  • Title: Capri Holdings
    Place: United Kingdom
    Description:
  • Title: Carter's
    Place: United States of America
    Description:

Previous findings

  • 2022 Corporate Human Rights Benchmark

    This fifth iteration of the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark, assesses 127 companies in the food and agricultural products, ICT and automotive manufacturing sectors on their human rights performance.

    See 2022 findings

  • 2020 Corporate Human Rights Benchmark

    This fourth iteration of the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark assesses 230 companies from the automotive, agricultural products, apparel, extractives and ICT manufacturing companies.

    See 2020 findings

  • 2017, 2018 and 2019 Corporate Human Rights Benchmarks

    See the reports, methodologies, scorecards and announcements published by the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark prior to when it became part of the World Benchmarking Alliance.

    See 2017–2019 findings