ZDHC to wait for version 2.0 before making audit protocol public
11/07/2014
ZDHC, whose members include adidas, New Balance, Lin-Ning, Inditex, Puma, Nike and the European Outdoor Group, developed a first version of its “comprehensive environmental audit tool”, with an emphasis on chemicals management, in 2013, and member brands took part in pilot audits to evaluate how well the protocol worked.
At the same time, ZDHC shared the protocol with the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA), the Leather Working Group (LWG) and the Global Social Compliance Programme (GCSP) and has said the feedback it received will be integrated into version 2.0 of the tool.
This feedback and the pilot audits have flagged up what ZDHC refers to as “many opportunities for improving” the tool and it has, therefore, decided to wait until version 2.0 is ready before releasing “the generic environmental audit tool” for wider use.
The group has said it aims to make the tool user-friendly enough for manufacturing companies to be able to use it for self-assessment and it has expressed the hope that the tool will be “endorsed and included” in the suite of tools currently in use by the groups that provided feedback and others.
ZDHC has said version 2.0 of its audit protocol will be complete before the end of this year.
An initial group of six brands set up a group at the end of 2011 to promote a roadmap towards zero discharge of hazardous chemicals in their supply chains, with the year 2020 as the target date. This followed pressure from campaign groups who were concerned about hazardous chemicals being found in rivers in China.
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