Click to expand Image Smoke rises from a plant in Louisiana’s Cancer Alley, October 18, 2023. © 2023 Eli Reed for Human Rights Watch The government announced on November 4 that it will propose a law regulating the human rights impacts of companies in the United Kingdom’s global supply chain. The UK’s Corporate Justice Coalition, along with some businesses, have long led advocacy efforts for such legislation. The government’s announcement responds to some of those demands and marks a chance to turn corporate responsibility into meaningful legal obligations.According to the announcement, the largest businesses operating in the UK would be required to identify, assess, and address human rights abuses and labor exploitation in their operations and supply chains. Regulators would also be empowered to investigate goods suspected of being made with forced labor and, when companies have failed to meet their obligations, order their removal from the British market.If designed and implemented effectively, these measures could make a real difference to workers. But the opportunity extends beyond labor rights. Human rights and environmental harm are deeply interconnected. The UK should build on its announcement by extending mandatory due diligence to environmental and climate-related human rights risks. Human Rights Watch has documented how hazardous pollution, including from coal and oil operations, sickens nearby communities, and how logging and cattle ranching in some countries arbitrarily or unlawfully deprives rural communities of lands. Rising temperatures, extreme weather, water scarcity and pollution can threaten workers’ and communities’ health and safety. Workers in agriculture, construction, and other outdoor industries are often exposed to extreme heat as are garment workers sewing clothes in factories struggling with heat and increasingly unpredictable weather. The UK has an opportunity to develop coherent legislation that addresses human rights and environmental due diligence, bolstering responsible corporate governance and meaningful transparency. Done well, these reforms could help ensure that respect for people and the planet becomes part of how businesses operate, rather than another unfulfilled commitment on paper. For workers and communities whose lives are shaped by corporate decisions, this announcement is a reason for hope. The task now is to turn that promise into meaningful and coherent reform.