RCP Explainer Video:
Contracts as Tools for Meeting Sustainability Standards
This RCP Explainer video provides an introduction to Responsible Contracting, explaining how companies can use contracts to support better outcomes for human rights and the environment and meet evolving legal requirements related to human rights and environmental due diligence (HREDD) and forced labor in the EU and the US.
What you'll learn:
✔ Why contracts matter for achieving human rights and environmental (HRE) standards and builds resilient supply chains
✔ Shortcomings of traditional contracts and the risks of one-sided HRE obligations
✔ The core principles of Responsible Contracting and an overview of human rights and environmental due diligence (HREDD)egal compliance and builds resilient supply chains
✔ Legal requirements under: The EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), the EU Forced Labor Regulation, and US trade laws, including the Tariff Act and the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA)
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Sarah Dadush – Professor and Founding Director, RCP, Rutgers Law School
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Claire Bright – Associate Professor and Founding Director, Centre on Business, Human Rights and the Environment, NOVA School of Law, and Senior BHR Advisor, RCP
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Daniel Schönfelder – Lead European Legal Advisor, RCP
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Chavi Keeney Nana – Professor from Practice, University of Michigan Law School, and US Legal Advisor, RCP
Latest News
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May 1 — RCP published a new analysis of the CSDDD and contracting in light of Omnibus I on the Oxford Business Law Blog: Moving Toward Shared Responsibility: How the EU’s CSDDD and Omnibus I Reimagine Contracting for Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence. Also available as a PDF.
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April 27 — RCP Director Sarah Dadush and Senior Advisor John Sherman co-authored an essay for Shift's series marking the 15th anniversary of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), titled, From Social Norm to Legal Practice: Fifteen Years of Integrating the UNGPs into Business Law.
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April 16 — RCP Director Sarah Dadush penned an op-ed in Sourcing Journal arguing responsible contracting is the antidote to supply chain uncertainty: Latest Tariff Chaos Demands a Rethink of Supply Contracts. Also available as a PDF.
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April 9 — RCP has launched its latest tool, the Responsible Contracting in Spice Supply Chains Guidance, developed in collaboration with the Sustainable Spice Initiative (SSI).
Events
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June 2 — RCP Director Sarah Dadush facilitated "Contracting for Sustainability," a workshop at the 2026 Annual Conference on Legal Issues in Social Entrepreneurship and Impact Investing, co-organized by NYU School of Law's Grunin Center and the Impact Investing Legal Working Group, drawing over 40 participants.
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May 19 — Senior Advisor Ben Rutledge spoke at the Sustainable Vanilla Initiative (SVI) General Assembly in Paris, joining industry members and value chain actors for a session on governance, procurement, and collective action in the vanilla sector.
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May 14 — Senior Advisor Ben Rutledge presented RCP's Responsible Contracting in Spice Supply Chains Guidance at the Sustainable Spices Initiative (SSI) General Assembly 2026 in Murcia, Spain, attended by nearly 100 delegates from around 50 organizations.
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May 8 — Senior Advisor Ben Rutledge participated in "From Transposition to Transformation: Designing and Enforcing Effective National HREDD Laws," a policymaker workshop co-organized by NOVA BHRE, BIICL, HIVA/KU Leuven, UNDP, Global Rights Compliance, and Westfälische Hochschule at NOVA School of Law in Lisbon.
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April 23 — RCP Director Sarah Dadush spoke on purchasing practices at Sourcing Journal's SJ Sustainability summit, Road to 2030: Dealing With Detours.
In Collaboration with
