Launching our Grievance Escalation Platform
For about two years, Drive Sustainability has been working to develop a solution to a gap that OEMs struggled to address individually in their human rights due diligence efforts. After thorough design and careful internal discussions to ensure a robust legal framework, the Platform was ready for launch.
Launching our grievance escalation platform
A significant highlight for us this year was the launch of our grievance escalation platform. Rather than unveiling it in isolation, we launched it through a consultation with civil society stakeholders held in Brussels during the 2026 CSR Europe Sustainable Industry Summit. We wanted the people closest to the issues to be part of the conversation from the start rather than learning about the tool after the fact.
The dialogue marked the first step towards closer collaboration between the automotive industry and civil society. Participants shared perspectives on how other sectors are working on collaborative grievance mechanisms, where the barriers to remedy lie, and what would make an escalation process credible and trusted. Their input is helping shape how the platform develops and continuously improve it.
The ambition is to build a clear route for OEMs and suppliers to pool together resources and collaborative work on systemic issues that cannot be solved individually due to a lack of leverage and visibility to resolve serious grievances deep in the supply chain.
The platform also reflects what we believe is essential to making progress on sustainability:
- Collaboration – Complex supply chain challenges cannot be solved by any single company or sector. Meaningful progress depends on industry, civil society and other stakeholders working together.
- Transparency – Trust is built when processes are open and stakeholders can understand how concerns are handled and what outcomes follow.
- Accountability – A shared commitment to follow through, and to be held to account for doing so, is what turns policies into real change for people.
This launch is a starting point, not an endpoint.
The next step is establishing an Advisory Board that will bring together OEMs and civil society representatives to help guide the platform’s development and ensure it remains a credible and effective mechanism for collectively addressing human rights risks.
For more information, please reach out to Riccardo Pezzano, Human Rights lead at Drive Sustainability.
