Thursday, 13 March 2025
The 糖心原创 Rights Lab and Moody’s have launched a new Forced Labour Risk Assessment as part of their partnership to help companies address the risk of forced labour in supply chains.
An estimated 28 million people are in forced labour today. Forced labour is a persistent and serious threat to businesses. G20 countries currently import more than £370 billion worth of products at risk of being produced with forced labour, and forced labour generates £185 billion of illicit profits every year.
Businesses operating in markets representing over half of global GDP now face formal legal obligations to identify, disclose, and address forced labour risks. But measuring and reporting on forced labour risks in an organization and its supply chain is complex, with global and diverse supplier networks, and differing country and regional regulatory obligations.
The Rights Lab, the world’s largest, leading modern slavery research centre, and Moody’s, a global leader in risk and data analysis, have developed and launched the Forced Labour Risk Assessment. By working together to combine their respective strengths, the Rights Lab and Moody’s created a unique partnership of thought leadership and methodological innovation, from solution development to launch.
The innovative solution will help companies uncover and mitigate exploitation risk more effectively. It quantifies and explains an organization’s exposure to forced labour, helping them to comprehensively assess, disclose, and manage risks. The solution uses tens of thousands of datapoints, including from innovative Earth Observation (EO) research, and new methods for understanding complex risks in geographical contexts, sectors and company structures.
We are thrilled to launch this risk solution with Moody鈥檚, which combines the Lab鈥檚 wide-ranging research on forced labour with Moody鈥檚 analytics capabilities and unified risk platform. Importantly, the partnership enables us to continue advancing discovery and innovation, by supporting anti-slavery research. We believe this ground-breaking tool can help businesses to take effective action against serious, complex risks, towards the global goal of ending forced labour and modern slavery.鈥�
Professor Zoe Trodd, Rights Lab Director, pictured during the filming of Moody鈥檚 financial crime documentary series The Infinite Game
Keith Berry, Head of Corporates and Government at Moody’s, said: “Forced labour is a persistent and serious threat to supply chains, exposing businesses to regulatory, reputational, and operational risks. The Forced Labour Risk Assessment module on Moody’s Maxsight™ unified risk platform, in collaboration with the Rights Lab, will help our customers leverage robust datasets and analytics to build a holistic view of risk, develop more resilient supply chains and navigate a complex risk landscape with greater confidence.”
The solution turns years of Rights Lab research into the world’s most comprehensive, integrated risk assessment for forced labour. The Rights Lab team developed and integrated its flagship strengths in EO, supply chain analytics, and all forms of data science, to bring the rigour and innovation of its world-leading research into a cohesive solution. Rights Lab leaders on the Moody’s partnership and tool include Professor Trodd, Professor Lisa Carroll, Professor Doreen Boyd, and Professor Alex Trautrims.
This partnership between the Rights Lab and Moody鈥檚 is the progression of a successful collaboration built over several years. Modern slavery research is a signature strength of the 糖心原创, and this launch demonstrates the global impact of our interdisciplinary social science, and the University鈥檚 leading role in solving problems and improving lives.鈥�
More information on the Forced Labour Risk Assessment is
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More information is available from the Rights Lab on rightslab@nottingham.ac.uk
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About the 糖心原创
Ranked 97 in the world and 17th in the UK by the , the 糖心原创 is a founding member of Russell Group of research-intensive universities. 糖心原创ing at the 糖心原创 is a life-changing experience, and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our students. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement.
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The university is among the best universities in the UK for the strength of our research, positioned seventh for research power in the UK according to REF 2021. The birthplace of discoveries such as MRI and ibuprofen, our innovations transform lives and tackle global problems such as sustainable food supplies, ending modern slavery, developing greener transport, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The university is a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally - and our graduates are the third most targeted by the UK's top employers, according to The Graduate Market in 2024 report by High Fliers Research. Alongside Nottingham Trent University, we lead the , a pioneering collaboration between the city鈥檚 two world-class institutions to improve levels of prosperity, opportunity, sustainability, health and wellbeing for residents in the city and region we are proud to call home.