Our actions are consistently geared towards ensuring respect for human rights in global supply chains. We comply with the requirements of the German Act on Corporate Due Diligence Obligations in Supply Chains (LkSG). Our human rights officer monitors and evaluates the status of implementation.
We collaborate with alliances, standards, initiatives and long-term partnerships such as amfori, Cotton made in Africa®, the “Forum Nachhaltiger Kakao” (German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa) and the International Accord for Health and Safety in the Garment Industry. We are a member of the “Arbeitsgruppe des deutschen Einzelhandels zu existenzsichernden Einkommen und Löhnen” (German retail working group on liveable incomes and wages; Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chain Initiative, SASI).
The REWE Group supports the establishment of grievance mechanisms in relevant supply chains and we have been operating our own complaints channel since 2023. In addition, REWE in Germany is participating in the development of appellando, an initiative to develop an international grievance management system for retailers and their suppliers. appellando has been operating in the fruit and vegetable sector in Spain since 2024. In 2025, the system was also launched in South Africa and Italy.
We have defined guidelines with requirements and objectives based on risk analyses for focus raw materials such as coffee, cocoa, bananas and natural stone and therefore integrated social issues into our procurement processes.
- Suppliers, such as those supplying bananas or coffee, are obliged, through framework agreements and our Supplier Code of Conduct, to respect human rights and comply with the ILO’s core labour standards.
- We source raw materials such as bananas, cocoa1 and coffee from more sustainable production systems, and to this end we work in accordance with standards such as Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance, Naturland and EU Organic. 100 per cent of the natural stone from China listed at toom Baumarkt DIY store are XertifiX PLUS-certified. Further information on this can be found in the “Successes” section and in the chapter Objectives and KPIs. When it comes to natural stone as a raw material, we work with independent experts from the NGO XertifiX, and the supply chain is fully traceable right back to the quarry.
We have set up a training programme for suppliers on the EcoVadis sustainability platform. Selected strategic suppliers have also completed an intensive EcoVadis training course. In our factory improvement training, we support strategic production sites, for instance, in establishing internal grievance mechanisms and training on topics such as health and safety, wages and working hours, and ethical Human Resources management with a focus on women. In addition, all food and non-food Tier 1 production sites in risk countries are integrated into our social improvement programme. 99.7 per cent of those sites have a recognised social audit (2024: 99.9 per cent).
Due diligence obligations under the German Act on Corporate Due Diligence Obligations in Supply Chains (LkSG) are enshrined in our Supplier Code of Conduct and are communicated to strategic suppliers. We keep our staff regularly informed about the key provisions of the LkSG – for example, via the intranet, as part of our combine-wide compliance training, or, for the purchasing departments at REWE and PENNY, via an internal e-learning programme.
The DERTOUR Group has been a member of Futouris e. V., the sustainability initiative for the German-speaking travel industry, since 2015. As part of this, projects are carried out, amongst other things, to minimise the impact on human rights. In addition, training courses on human rights due diligence within the tourism value chain are offered to partners.
To implement our human rights due diligence obligations throughout the entire value chain, we regularly analyse the risks and adapt our measures accordingly (see chapter Supply Chain).
In 2025, we achieved our goal of improving access to grievance mechanisms within the supply chain: Through our participation in amfori working groups, the industry-wide “amfori Speak for Change” mechanism has been implemented and is already operational in Vietnam, Turkey, Bangladesh, Cambodia and parts of India; further countries will follow. In this way, we are supporting a consistent approach for production sites in high-risk countries.
We had set ourselves the goal of working towards living wages through dialogue with standard-setting bodies, the industry and other stakeholders, and of supporting measures that improve living conditions in our raw material supply chains. In 2025, the focus was on cocoa, bananas and coffee. We have made significant progress in pilot projects and scaled up solutions:
- Bananas: Since 2021, we have been part of the pilot project run by the Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chain Initiative (SASI) retail trade group, and since 2025 we have been making a financial contribution to closing the income gap for 50 per cent of our private label bananas. This is passed on directly to the farms and workers via our suppliers.
- Coffee: A SASI pilot project was also launched here in 2025. The aim is to improve the income of coffee farms in Peru and Honduras through responsible sourcing practices and the professionalisation of producer organisations.
- Cocoa: We are actively involved in the retailers’ working group on a living wage within the “Kakaoforum” (Cocoa Forum). Since 2025, we have been working with partners in our private label supply chains to trial mechanisms for measuring and verifying living wages.
We are committed to more sustainable cocoa farming, with the aim of continuously improving social, environmental and economic conditions in the producing countries. Fair remuneration for cocoa farmers is a key factor in this regard. In 2025, the REWE Group, in collaboration with a strategic private label supplier, launched a pilot project for six REWE and PENNY organic chocolate bars in Germany. The farm-gate price of the organic cocoa beans from Ecuador used in 2025 was at least equal to the reference price for a living income. An independent audit ensured that this price reached the cocoa farmers.
We have maintained partnerships for decades; for example, we have been working with Fairtrade since 1993. REWE now offers one of the widest ranges of Fairtrade products in Germany.
TRES – a strong partnership for secure supply chains
The climate crisis is affecting agriculture in southern Europe. As around 20 per cent of our fruit and vegetable requirements are met by produce from Spain, we have been relying on the TRES producer programme for the fruit and vegetables we source through our subsidiary Eurogroup since 2020. Starting with four citrus growers in Valencia, TRES now also supplies leafy vegetables and stone fruit, for example from Catalonia. Five pillars – social responsibility, biodiversity, fertilisation, plant protection, and water and energy – strengthen the resilience of farms. In line with its commitment to human rights due diligence, TRES also supports access to effective, low-threshold grievance mechanisms – for example, via appellando. By 2028, the programme is set to cover all fruit and vegetable groups. In this way, we contribute to quality assurance, healthcare provision and environmental responsibility.
