Buying companies can use risk analysis to assess social and environmental risks in production areas, and to identify risk of non-compliance within their supply base. This risk analysis should then inform the development of a responsible sourcing strategy and associated timebound implementation plan.

This element aims to:

·       provide downstream and upstream beef buyers with an understanding of risk analysis and how it can be used to inform the development of a responsible sourcing strategy

·       set out different methods and tools for identifying supply chain risk

·       explain how companies can leverage the risk analysis results to prioritise their supplier engagement efforts.

How to carry out a risk analysis

1.       Supplier Performance Evaluation – Beef buyers can evaluate the performance of their direct suppliers against their responsible beef sourcing policy/commitments. This can be done through a scorecarding or questionnaire approach which looks at the policies and procedures that a supplier has in place.

2.       Social and Environmental Risk Assessment – Risk assessment assesses social and environmental risk data alongside information about the origin of production. This can be approached at country level through using third-party data sources, or through supply chain specific analysis involving geospatial assessment and the use of GIS.

3.       Human Rights Risk Assessment – A human rights or social risk assessment looks at actual and potential human rights impacts a company causes, contributes, or is directly linked to in its own sourcing activities and those it may be directly linked to via business relationships.

4.       Prioritisation – having assessed the risks in its supply chain, companies can then make informed choices in terms of prioritising suppliers for engagement and upstream investment.

More information is available in the briefing note below - BN02b Risk Analysis