About the Fairmiles Just Transition Principles

Why these Principles matter

Strong, resilient supply chains are built on better decisions. Organisations that successfully balance environmental, social, and commercial considerations are better placed to manage risk, strengthen supplier relationships, build stakeholder trust, and deliver lasting sustainability outcomes.

The Fairmiles Just Transition Principles provide a practical decision-making framework to help organisations navigate complex sustainability challenges while reducing unintended consequences for suppliers, workers, communities, and the environment. They support organisations in making decisions that deliver positive environmental outcomes while also protecting livelihoods, strengthening resilience, and promoting fair and inclusive development.

Who these Principles are for

The principles are intended for organisations that influence supply chains, including retailers, brands, buyers, producers, certification bodies, policymakers, industry initiatives, investors, and large suppliers. They are particularly relevant for those responsible for developing sustainability strategies, responsible sourcing programmes, standards, policies, regulations, purchasing decisions, and supply chain governance.

When these Principles apply

The principles can be applied whenever decisions have the potential to affect suppliers or supply chains. This includes, for example:

• developing climate, biodiversity, human rights, or responsible sourcing strategies;
• changing sourcing locations, product specifications, transport modes, or purchasing volumes;
• introducing or revising standards, certification schemes, supplier requirements, audits, or codes of conduct;
• responding to new legislation, customer expectations, investor requirements, or market commitments;
• reviewing existing policies and practices to identify unintended consequences and opportunities for improvement.

The principles are intended to complement existing sustainability strategies, due diligence processes, reporting frameworks, certification schemes, and regulatory requirements. They support sound judgement rather than replacing it.

Why they are needed

Businesses are increasingly expected to make changes to their supply chains in response to climate goals, biodiversity commitments, human rights concerns, evolving regulations, public commitments, customer expectations, and new sustainability standards. The urgency of these challenges means action is needed. However, sustainability decisions are rarely straightforward.

Actions intended to improve sustainability in one area can unintentionally create impacts elsewhere, transfer burdens to those least able to bear them, or undermine broader environmental, social, or economic outcomes. There is also a risk that organisations become focused on achieving individual targets, standards, or reporting requirements without fully considering the wider consequences of their decisions.

Sustainability should not become a justification for actions that create unnecessary harm, nor should it be used to legitimise decisions driven primarily by commercial objectives. Instead, sustainability strategies should contribute to genuinely better outcomes for people, communities, the environment, and long-term supply chain resilience.

The challenge is therefore no longer whether change is needed, but how change is designed, implemented, and managed. The Fairmiles Just Transition Principles support better decision-making by helping organisations consider risks and opportunities, understand impacts, gather and use evidence responsibly, assess whether proposed actions are proportionate, and ensure change is implemented fairly.

What is a Just Transition?

The concept of a just transition is widely used to describe the process of moving towards a more sustainable economy in a way that is fair and inclusive for those affected by change.

For the purposes of the Fairmiles Just Transition Principles, a just transition is understood as the transition towards more sustainable supply chains that operate within planetary boundaries while helping to create and maintain the conditions for people to meet their social and economic needs.

In practice, this means ensuring that progress towards environmental, social, and ethical objectives does not come at the expense of livelihoods, communities, resilience, or long-term development. It means recognising that the costs, benefits, risks, and opportunities associated with change are not experienced equally and that particular care should be taken to avoid placing disproportionate burdens on vulnerable groups, developing-country suppliers, workers, or communities.

It also recognises that sustainability decisions can create unintended consequences and that actions intended to improve one outcome may create new impacts elsewhere. A just transition therefore requires decision-makers to consider the wider consequences of their actions and seek solutions that deliver the best overall outcomes for people, communities, and the environment.

The Fairmiles Just Transition Principles help organisations apply this concept in practice by providing a structured approach to decision-making for supply chain strategies, sourcing decisions, standards, policies, regulations, and other sustainability-related measures.

What these Principles are

The Fairmiles Just Transition Principles provide a practical decision-making framework for organisations considering changes that affect suppliers, sourcing decisions, or supply chains.

They are designed to help decision-makers:

• understand risks and opportunities for the business;
• consider impacts on people, communities, and the environment;
• gather and use evidence responsibly;
• assess whether proposed actions are proportionate to the issue being addressed; and
• ensure change is implemented fairly.

The principles are intended to support sound judgement, not replace it.

They are not a technical standard, certification scheme, or compliance framework. Rather, they provide a structured approach to decision-making that can be applied alongside existing sustainability strategies, standards, due diligence processes, reporting frameworks, and regulatory requirements.

Responsibility and Accountability

The principles are particularly relevant to organisations that have significant influence over supply chains, including retailers, brands, buyers, policymakers, certification bodies, industry initiatives, standards organisations, and large suppliers.

Those with the greatest influence over sourcing decisions often have the greatest ability to shape outcomes and should therefore take a leading role in applying these principles and demonstrating how they have informed decision-making.

Organisations applying the principles should be prepared to explain and, where appropriate, demonstrate how they have been applied in practice. This should include the evidence considered, stakeholders engaged, risks and impacts assessed, alternatives explored, and actions taken to mitigate potential harms. Transparent communication helps build trust, supports accountability, and enables decisions to be challenged, improved, and learned from.

Standards, certification schemes, industry frameworks, regulations, and responsible sourcing programmes are encouraged to incorporate the Fairmiles Just Transition Principles into their own governance, decision-making, and assurance processes. Where appropriate, they should also encourage or require organisations within their scope to demonstrate how the principles have been applied when developing strategies, introducing requirements, or making significant sustainability-related decisions.

Independent review, validation, or verification may be appropriate where decisions have significant consequences for suppliers, workers, communities, or the environment.

Applying the principles is not intended to create an additional compliance burden. Rather, they are intended to improve the quality, transparency, and fairness of decision-making where significant sustainability-related decisions are being made.

About Fairmiles

Fairmiles is a collaborative initiative bringing together businesses, supply-chain actors, academics, NGOs, policymakers, and other stakeholders to explore how sustainability goals can be achieved without causing unintended harm to livelihoods, communities, or wider development outcomes.

The principles have been shaped through practical experience, dialogue, and consultation with a wide range of stakeholders. The initiative is facilitated by COLEAD, supporting collaboration, coordination, and shared learning across participants.

The Fairmiles Just Transition Principles are intended to support real-world decisions and encourage balanced, evidence-based approaches to sustainability challenges rather than one-size-fits-all solutions. They recognise that sustainable supply chains depend not only on environmental progress, but also on fairness, resilience, and shared responsibility across the value chain.