We respect the integrity and dignity of every human being, and we recognise and acknowledge our responsibility to operate with respect for human rights across our operations and value chain.
Governance
Our human rights governance is anchored within Group Management, overseen by the Board of Directors and directed by the Sustainability Council. In 2024, we established the Human Rights Steering Group to support the ongoing development, strategic integration and implementation of our human rights programme across divisions and functions.
The Lead Human Rights Officer within Group Sustainability reports to the Sustainability Council and leads the Human Rights Steering Group. Day-to-day responsibility rests with functional leaders throughout our value chain, including those in Purchasing, Legal, Human Resources, Environment and Health & Safety.
Due diligence
As part of our human rights due diligence, we conduct impact assessments to systematically identify, prioritise, and address human rights and environmental risks, understand their impacts, and evaluate our capacity to respond.
Own operation
Robust due diligence processes are in place through our broader policies including our Code of Conduct, Harassment Prevention Policy, our Health, Safety, and Wellbeing, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) and environmental initiatives to reduce our footprint. We gather employee feedback on the work environment through channels such as surveys and management dialogues, and we adjust our practices accordingly to cultivate a healthy work environment characterised by respect, dignity, and equality for all.
Value chain
For supplier due diligence we use tools such as new supplier screening, supply chain heatmaps, online self-assessments, onsite audits, corrective action plans, conflict minerals due diligence and capacity-building initiatives. Internal and external auditors regularly conduct on-site inspections and confidential worker interviews. Ongoing due diligence for other business relationships and customers ensures we comply with export control regulations and closely monitor dual-use products to prevent misuse and avoid adverse human rights impacts.
Salient human rights issues
We have identified and prioritised the salient human rights issues which are at risk of the most severe negative impacts by our operations and business relationships.
We regularly review our identified salient issues based on our human rights impact assessments (HRIAs), spot checks, external trends, internal and external expert insights and other relevant sources. We consider the likelihood, scope, scale and remediability during these assessments. Read our Salient Human Rights Issues
Stakeholder engagement, partnerships and advocacy
Stakeholder engagement
We conduct our due diligence process and respond to salient human rights issues through engagement with employees, contractors, suppliers, their workers, distributors, civil society organisations, NGOs, local authorities and community members. This includes surveys, interviews, training, workshops and discussions to understand potential risks and impacts on various groups and the effectiveness of our human rights management.
Partnerships and advocacy
We collaborate across our industry to better advance, advocate and promote respect for human rights in business. As an active member of the UN Global Compact since 2002 and through engagement in various networks, we share knowledge with human rights experts to help us continually improve our understanding of risks and gain guidance on improving our performance. This includes the Nordic Business Network for Human Rights, Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) and the UN Forum on Business and Human Rights.
Grievance and remediation
Grundfos is committed to taking measures, based on due diligence processes, to avoid causing or contributing to adverse impacts on affected individuals, workers, and communities through its own activities. When such impacts occur, we commit to addressing and remediating them through legitimate processes, including judicial and non-judicial mechanisms, as appropriate. This commitment extends to our suppliers, who are also expected to uphold these standards. Additionally, we seek to prevent or mitigate adverse human rights impacts directly linked to our operations, products, or services through our business relationships.
Our whistleblower system enables employees, external partners, workers and other stakeholders to confidentially report suspected Code of Conduct breaches without fear of retaliation, including human rights and environment related risks and violations in our own operation and value chain. Concerns can be submitted anonymously in any language and are promptly addressed by the Grundfos Ethics Committee.
A Code of Conduct poster, available in over twenty languages, features a link to our whistleblower hotline and is prominently displayed at Grundfos locations for all employees, contracted workers and stakeholders.
Communication and reporting
We communicate on our human rights progress through channels including our Sustainability Report, annual Modern Slavery and Transparency Statement, website, and social media posts.
Our latest Modern Slavery and Transparency Statement describes our efforts on how we comply with human rights regulations like the Norwegian Transparency Act, German Supply Chain Act, UK and Australian Modern Slavery Acts*, and the Canadian Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act.
*In accordance with the Australian Modern Slavery Act, we have submitted our Modern Slavery and Transparency Statement 2023 to the Attorney-General’s Department for approval. It is currently under consideration for publication by the Attorney-General’s Department. We will update this notice once the statement has been approved and officially published.
Download previous statements here.
Our policies
Available to download in multiple languages.