Animal Welfare and Rights

Business Case

Brand reputation

Investing in animal welfare sourcing initiatives mitigates severe reputational risk, otherwise resulting in consumer boycotts, retailer delisting and brand damage.

Legal and regulatory compliance

Animal welfare sourcing initiatives allows organizations to get ahead of regulations, avoiding costly last-minute compliance transitions and supply chain disruptions.

Market access

Consumer demand for higher welfare products is growing in key categories including eggs, poultry, dairy and pork. Consumer and regulatory scrutiny of aquatic animal welfare is also growing rapidly. Proactive sourcing standards protect against future compliance risk and gain access to premium market segments and protect against shifting consumer preferences. Welfare‑aligned sourcing directly supports sustainability‑linked customer requirements in retail, hospitality and foodservice procurement tenders.

Strategy & Planning

Assessment

Initial Action

Work with sustainability team to identify procurement categories with significant animal welfare risks.

Intermediate Progress

Conduct baseline assessment of current supplier animal welfare practices for priority categories and introduce species‑specific risk mapping to identify key welfare vulnerabilities depending on geography, production system and product categories.

Advanced Practice

Conduct comprehensive welfare assessments across all animal-sourced procurement categories to identify remaining gaps and improvement opportunities.

Policy

Initial Action

Define minimum animal welfare expectations aligned with internationally recognized standards and set time bound targets to phase out the most harmful practices such as cages, crates or destructive fishing methods or based on frameworks such as the ASPCA Five Freedoms Model.

Intermediate Progress

Establish prohibited practices list covering the most harmful welfare practices in relevant categories, develop category specific animal welfare requirements and require suppliers to implement animal‑handling documentations.

Advanced Practice

Commit to sourcing only from suppliers meeting certified animal welfare standards for relevant categories and require suppliers to demonstrate continuous welfare improvement, not just minimum compliance.

Targets

Initial Action

Set time-bound target for percentage of suppliers with formal animal welfare policies in place.

Intermediate Progress

Set time-bound targets to help suppliers improve their animal welfare policy and adopt third‑party certifications as possible.

Advanced Practice

Set targets for 100% of animal-sourced products meeting certified welfare standards across all procurement categories.

Supplier Selection

Screening

Initial Action

Include animal welfare questions in supplier pre-qualification, such as existence of welfare policies, relevant welfare practices and any history of welfare violations, excluding suppliers with recent welfare violations or unresolved animal cruelty cases.

Intermediate Progress

Include relevant animal welfare questions in RFIs such as:

  • existence of animal welfare policy or commitment
  • housing and husbandry practices
  • aquaculture and fishing practices (breeding practices, stocking density and water quality monitoring; slaughter methods for fish (e.g., percussive stunning vs. live chilling); use of antibiotics; bycatch and discards; certification against ASC (Aquaculture Stewardship Council) or equivalent standards)
  • transport and slaughter standards
  • use of animals in product testing
  • third-party certifications held
  • recent violations or non-compliance incidents
  • grievance mechanisms for reporting welfare concerns
Advanced Practice

Require third-party verification, audit results or evidence such as satellite monitoring for animal welfare practices as a prerequisite to apply for RFP.

Selection

Initial Action

Give preference to suppliers with recognized animal welfare certifications.

Intermediate Progress

Score suppliers based on animal welfare practices and prioritize suppliers demonstrating continuous‑improvement pathways.

Advanced Practice

Select suppliers demonstrating investment in welfare and continuous improvement.

Contracts

Initial Action

Include contract clauses prohibiting:

  • harmful and abusive practices for species within sourced materials
  • habitat destruction
  • illegal land clearing
  • operations in no‑go zones
Intermediate Progress

Including clauses requiring:

  • supplier to notify buyer of any welfare-related violations, investigations or certifications changes
  • contractual right to audit welfare practices and provision of animal‑handling documentation and certifications, including staff training and competency documentation
  • corrective action plans for triggered high‑risk biodiversity flag or termination for serious welfare breaches
Advanced Practice

Require welfare improvement plans with measurable targets as condition of contract and annual third‑party welfare‑audit requirements.

Supplier Engagement

Goal Setting

Initial Action

Communicate animal welfare policy requirements and develop joint targets for improving welfare practices.

Intermediate Progress

Set specific, time-bound welfare improvement targets with suppliers, such as transitioning from caged to cage-free housing systems, reducing transport distances or durations, eliminating specific practices or achieving defined welfare certification levels within agreed timeframes.

Advanced Practice

Set goals with Tier 1 suppliers on cascading animal welfare requirements to their own suppliers and establishing multi-year targets for species‑specific continuous improvement with verified welfare outcomes.

Capacity Building

Initial Action

Provide guidelines, best practices or basic training on animal welfare relevant for priority sourcing categories.

Intermediate Progress

Conduct supplier training on priority welfare issues, including species-specific welfare requirements and best practices.

Advanced Practice

Provide advanced training to suppliers on embedding animal welfare into their own procurement practices and supplier management systems.

Data

Initial Action

Support suppliers with collecting baseline welfare data to understand current practices, including housing systems and transport conditions.

Intermediate Progress

Establish regular welfare data reporting from suppliers on agreed metrics, including housing conditions, mortality rates, antibiotic use and transport distances.

Advanced Practice

Create shared platforms for welfare monitoring data and benchmarking across supplier base.

Certifications

Initial Action

Share information on relevant welfare certification pathways and their requirements, such as: Certified Humane, Animal Welfare Approved (A Greener World), Global Animal Partnership (G.A.P.) 5-Step Rating, RSPCA Assured, ASC (Aquaculture Stewardship Council), Global G.A.P.

Intermediate Progress

Support suppliers with achieving and maintaining relevant welfare certifications.

Advanced Practice

Require recognized welfare certification (e.g., Certified Humane, Animal Welfare Approved, G.A.P. Step 3+) for strategic suppliers and support Tier 2 suppliers in achieving certification.

Advisory

Initial Action

Provide guidance to suppliers on recognizing welfare risks and implementing basic welfare improvements.

Intermediate Progress

Provide technical support to suppliers transitioning to better animal welfare practices.

Advanced Practice

Consult and work with suppliers on embedding animal welfare due diligence into their own procurement practices, including developing their own supplier welfare codes, screening processes and engagement programs to cascade welfare requirements to their supply chains.

Financial Support

Initial Action

Fund supplier access to animal welfare assessment tools, training resources and certification guidance materials.

Intermediate Progress

Co-invest in infrastructure to improve supplier animal welfare.

Advanced Practice

Provide commercial incentives to suppliers for improvements in animal welfare performance, such as price, volume, duration, preferred supplier status or premium payment models linked to verified animal welfare outcomes.

Audits

Initial Action

Require suppliers to complete self-assessment questionnaires on animal welfare practices, covering topics relevant for the sourcing category, such as housing, handling, transport, slaughter and any history of welfare incidents.

Intermediate Progress

Conduct supplier animal welfare assessments or audits to verify practices, including on-site visits and documentation review.

Advanced Practice

Implement third-party audit programs with unannounced visits.

Project Partnerships & Innovation

Initial Action

Launch pilot projects with suppliers to trial higher welfare systems and document outcomes, costs and benefits.

Intermediate Progress

Scale animal welfare programs across sourcing regions by expanding pilots.

Advanced Practice

Partner with animal welfare organizations, research institutions and industry peers to develop and scale higher welfare production systems across shared supply chains or develop supplier‑to‑supplier learning networks to exchange best practices across regions and species.

Continuous Improvement

Metrics

Initial Action

Track the following:

  • aggregated supplier compliance with minimum animal welfare requirements and certifications
  • reported welfare incidents (number and nature)
  • number of suppliers engaged in animal welfare initiatives
  • percentage of purchases from suppliers with animal welfare initiatives
  • supplier participation in buyer sponsored animal welfare programs
  • percentage of suppliers with formal welfare policies
Intermediate Progress

Track progress indicators such as:

  • aggregated supplier progress against welfare improvement targets
  • welfare audit completion rates and findings
Advanced Practice

Track indicators such as:

  • welfare outcome improvements over time across supplier base
  • percentage of animal-sourced spend meeting certified welfare standards
  • percentage of strategic suppliers with cascaded welfare requirements

Scorecards

Initial Action

Introduce basic animal welfare criteria into supplier evaluation forms covering welfare policy, certifications and incident history.

Intermediate Progress

Integrate relevant animal welfare KPIs into supplier scorecards and require corrective action plans for suppliers with welfare audit failures or incidents.

Advanced Practice

Weigh animal welfare performance in supplier scorecards, with top performers receiving preferential weighting in tenders and bottom performers required to submit improvement plans.

Impact Verification

Initial Action

Gather feedback from suppliers on effectiveness of welfare engagement programs and feasibility of welfare requirements.

Intermediate Progress

Assess whether supplier engagement initiatives are delivering measurable welfare improvements for selected sourcing categories, validated with third-party welfare audit findings and outcome data (mortality rates, injury rates, antibiotic use).

Advanced Practice

Verify animal welfare outcomes through independent audits and independent welfare outcome assessments using recognised protocols (e.g., Welfare Quality Assessment, GCAW Global Welfare Metrics) , measuring measure welfare outcome improvements attributable to engagement programs.

Sources consulted

Biodiversity Land Use and Protection (Including Deforestation)