The Guiding Principles are based on fundamental principles of social, environmental, and governance responsibility consistent with applicable laws and international standards. They outline the expectations of automotive companies towards suppliers on issues related to sustainability. With additional sections on circularity, carbon neutrality, animal welfare, biodiversity, land use, and deforestation, the newly revised Guiding Principles aim to address the latest trends and industry expectations for supply chain sustainability.

To fulfil the Guiding Principles, automotive suppliers should implement a management system/s — defined as a combination of policies, processes, functions, tools and internal controls — that help an organization to control its operations, reach objectives, and ensure continuous improvement. The recommendations concerning the practical application of the Guiding Principles are outlined in the Practical Guidance.

Based on the Guiding Principles, the Automotive Sustainability Practical Guidance provides a practical explanation of each expectation as well as examples of actions suppliers could take in an attempt to improve overall sustainability performance.

For example, the document outlines several examples of how to meet the expectations described in the Guiding Principles regarding Business Ethics, Environment, Human Rights and Working Conditions, Health and Safety, and Responsible Supply Chain Management.

With more thorough guidance overall and an approach that better highlights current industry guidelines and expectations, these updates were once again the result of extraordinary alignment between AIAG and Drive Sustainability and automakers BMW Group, Daimler Truck, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Honda, Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes Benz, Nissan, Scania, Stellantis, Toyota Motor Europe, Volkswagen Group, Volvo Cars, and Volvo Group. All participated in this most recent revision of the 2014 document, as well as its first update in 2017.

Be sure to update your files with the latest versions of these global documents today. Click here to download the Guiding Principles itself, as well as the supplementary Practical Guidance.