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United Kingdom

UK and EU private-sector supply chain sustainability: a practitioner’s guide to ESG due diligence, supplier codes, contractual controls and risk mitigation

Practice notes
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Embedding sustainability

This Practice Note considers supply chain sustainability through the wider lens of sustainable procurement and environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance, concentrating on leading themes in UK and EU private sector practice. It offers practical direction on setting up a supplier code of conduct and building a comprehensive supply chain sustainability programme that addresses:

  • Human rights and labour standards
  • Environmental impacts and deforestation
  • Corruption and litigation exposure
  • Risk management across the supply chain

Public procurement sits outside the scope of this note. For further information on supply chain sustainability in the UK, including details on UK regulations, see Practice Note: Supply chain sustainability—UK. For further information on supply chain sustainability in the EU, including details on EU regulations, see Practice Note: Supply chain sustainability—EU. For further information on sustainable public procurement in the UK, see Practice Note: A guide to sustainable public procurement.

Supply chain sustainability has moved from the margins to a central business priority. Although the regulatory landscape continues to develop, there is now abundant guidance and precedent to help organisations design and implement robust compliance frameworks that align with both national and international standards...

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Judith Houston
Judith Houston

Judith Houston is a Senior Associate in the London corporate and commercial team at Mills & Reeve LLP.Judith specialises in advising clients on corporate matters and ESG. Her practice covers a wide range of issues including governance reviews, ESG reporting, and general corporate and commercial matters. She advises clients across various industries, offering practical legal guidance on business transactions and governance challenges.Judith brings strong commercial acumen to her role, developed through a previous career in ESG and client secondments to in-house legal teams at GlaxoSmithKline and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). Her earlier ESG roles included positions at the Institute of Business Ethics, Network Rail, and the LEGO Group.Judith is qualified to practise law in England & Wales. She was listed in The Lawyer ‘Hot 100’ 2025....

Alison Ross Eckford
Alison Ross Eckford

Alison is a partner in the London commercial and technology team at Mills & Reeve LLP. Alison specialises in advising on non-contentious commercial and IT matters, including outsourcing, procurement, transformation, and renegotiation projects. Her practice covers projects in relation to business-critical systems and services, as well as business-as-usual commercial contracts. Alison assists clients in developing their strategies and advising on all aspects of the contracting process from end to end: strategy, drafting documentation, change management, re-negotiations, and ongoing lifetime support. Alison is the Lead Partner for Mills & Reeve’s ESG Legal Services offering and Deputy Head of the firm’s national Technology Sector practice. Alison regularly acts for private sector clients across a variety of industries. She has a particular focus on the financial services sector, having spent considerable time in-house on client secondments, including to Lloyds Baking Group, NatWest, and as Head of Legal of...

Web page updated on 22/05/2026

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