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Type of Impacts

Updated over 5 months ago

Actual Impacts

Actual Impacts have already occurred and have measurable or observable effects. These can be positive or negative, direct or indirect, short-term or long-term.

Examples:

  • Actors in the supply chain cause demonstrably high CO₂ emissions that contribute to the climate crisis.

  • Human rights violations, such as a lack of occupational safety, occur in a supplier factory.

  • Sustainable product design significantly reduces resource consumption .

Actual impacts refer to events or processes that have already been realized and whose effects are documented.


Potential Impacts

Potential Impacts have not yet occurred or could possibly occur in the future. All possibilities must be considered here, especially if the Impacts could have serious consequences. In this context, the probability with which the Impacts will or could occur in the future must be assessed.

Examples:

  • Human rights violations couldbecome known in companies in the Supply chain that operate in countries where such violations frequently occur

  • Occupational accidents during the processing of hazardous chemicals can lead to long-term impacts on the health of employees or the environment, even if safety precautions have so far prevented incidents from occurring.

  • Inadequate disposal or incorrect/lack of recycling of certain ingredients in the end product could lead to environmental pollution and adverse health effects for humans and animals

Potential Impacts require forward-looking analyses to assess the probability of occurrence and the possible consequences.

This article has been machine translated. In case of errors, please contact [email protected].

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