The regulatory trend in the EU is moving towards mandatory, risk-based social due diligence as regulations, such as the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), take shape. Companies will need robust systems to demonstrate compliance with human rights and labour standards throughout their supply chains.

Over the past year, we have received an increasing number of enquiries from our System Users about implementing social criteria across the entire supply chain under ISCC PLUS. The feedback highlights a shared need: practical, auditable requirements that support companies in meeting rising expectations around social responsibility, while remaining feasible and consistent across global supply chains. The ISCC PLUS Social Due Diligence Criteria aim to provide such a framework.

Social Sustainability with ISCC

Social sustainability has always been a core element of our certification at the primary production level. Through ISCC Principles 2–6, binding requirements on safe working conditions, labour and human rights, community relations, land rights and good management practices have been audited for many years at farms and plantations. The development of the voluntary ISCC PLUS Social Due Diligence Criteria, therefore, builds on a well-established foundation, translating proven social criteria and risk-based verification approaches into a framework that can be applied beyond primary production and across the full supply chain, in line with evolving due diligence expectations.

The ISCC PLUS Social Due Diligence Criteria Workshop

At our Technical Stakeholder Meeting – Circular Economy and Bioeconomy on 25 September 2025, we announced the development of the criteria, which generated strong interest and positive feedback from participants.

We will now establish a dedicated stakeholder workshop to support the development of the criteria. Its purpose is to bring together diverse expertise from across the ISCC network to ensure that the resulting requirements are credible, aligned with international standards, and practical to implement and audit.

Apply Now to Join the Workshop

Are you a System User or ISCC Member with experience in social due diligence, labour and human rights, health and safety, gender issues or decent working conditions?

We invite you to participate in our stakeholder workshop! Participation is limited to 20 organisations, each of which may send one representative, to enable exchange and balanced representation across sectors, scopes, feedstocks, and regions.