the Collagen Stewardship Alliance

Len Monheit, CEO of the Industry Transparency Center and Trade Association, the Collagen Stewardship Alliance

Does your association welcome this Directive?

“We certainly support this initiative in principle, and the premise behind this Directive - to gather data, to allow benchmarking, identify risks, build resilience, pressure supply chain partners and to ultimately change behaviour - these are all also pragmatic business decisions. We also support the fact that this will drive transparency, will call out greenwashing and drive better and broader accountability in this area.

“As with many Directives, it is the practical application that really counts. Some concerns we have are even expressed in the Directive and must be navigated, including treatment of SMEs as well as the global supply chain and treatment of companies and regions not part of the EU harmonisation process. In addition, while current standards, goals and benchmarks already exist (such as the UN [Sustainable Development Goals] SDGs), terminology and definitions have either been inconsistent, abstract or difficult to implement in unique business environments with unique starting points and challenges.”

What steps should companies be taking in response to this Directive?

“The first step is awareness, the next is benchmarking - no matter the size of the company. With the first, it would seem that a lexicon is needed, followed by an assessment of key staff understanding of role implications relating to the Directive

“With the second, metrics (as standardised and harmonised across supply chains as possible) are required, followed by baseline analysis. As noted, many companies are well beyond this baseline, but still a common lexicon and a set of metrics needs to be built.”