Raw Materials Sourcing

We are committed to sourcing the raw materials used in our own-brand products responsibly, collaborating with others to drive systemic change and being transparent about our progress. 

 

We recognise the potential negative impacts that raw materials used in our products can have on people, animals and the natural environment. At the same time, there is a huge opportunity through our sourcing decisions to drive positive change in communities and landscapes across the world.

Our Strategy

We form strong and enduring relationships with our suppliers and expert partners, collaborating to develop ethical and responsible approaches to sourcing practices, and to collectively raise industry standards. Taking a risk-based approach we focus our attention on our highest volume and highest impact raw materials and supply chains first. We are committed to ensuring the key raw materials in our own-brand products will be from more sustainable or recycled sources (this applies to soya, palm oil, cocoa, timber, cotton, feather & down and cashmere by 2025, and leather, polyester and man-made cellulosics by 2028. We’re also working to improve the transparency of our sourcing practices. 

Deforestation

We are committed to zero deforestation in the sourcing of our key raw materials across relevant Waitrose and John Lewis own-brand product supply chains (soy, palm oil, cocoa, beef, leather, timber and man-made cellulosics). We do not have all the answers today but building on our work to date, we will create change through improving our own sourcing standards and by directly engaging with businesses in our supply chains. 

 

What we know for sure is that if we are to ultimately stop deforestation and loss of precious ecosystems like the Amazon, achieving sufficient scale of impact to deliver systemic change in global commodity supply chains is vital. This means that the best possible outcomes for nature must necessarily come from an ongoing process of engaging, advocating and collaborating with other businesses and organisations, to influence policy, raise standards, and take action to make responsible sourcing and zero deforestation production the norm across producer and consumer markets. 

 

We are committed to doing this proactively, and are currently working to an own-brand zero deforestation target date of 2028 for those key raw materials where we don't already have a target of 2025. As part of our SBTi FLAG target, we have also committed to a zero deforestation target for soya covering all products by 2025/26. The definitions and cut-off dates used for these deforestation targets align with the best practice guidance of the Accountability Framework Initiative.

 

As part of the UK Environment Act, the introduction of due diligence legislation for forest risk commodities will support our efforts to source commodities more responsibly, through the implementation of measures to tackle deforestation in commodity supply chains from high risk areas.

 

Human rights in commodity supply chains

We take the human rights of those working in these raw material supply chains very seriously. You can find out more on our approach to Human rights in our latest Modern Slavery Statement.

Timber

Cocoa

Soya

Feather & Down

Cotton

Palm Oil

Cashmere

Leather, Polyester and Man-made Cellulosics