Dutch commitment: 2025 results
The Dutch commitment was set up in 2020 as the first retailer commitment on living wages in the banana sector. A group of 6 retailers (Albert Heijn, Deka, Dirk, Jumbo, Nettorama, Superunie) set a bold ambition to close the living wage gaps for their banana volumes by at least 75% by the end of 2025.
This ambition came from the common agreement that the absence of living wages in banana supply chains is a high human rights risk and that living wages are not only necessary to lift people out of poverty but also a key component of a sustainable supply chain. Since then, 3 other national commitments followed suit: in Germany, Belgium and the UK. As the first group setting up such a commitment, the Dutch group pioneered many of the approaches and steps needed to close the living wage gaps.
In 2024, all Dutch retailers committed to exploring the solution of voluntary contributions as a short-term solution to close the living wage gaps. Since then, retailers have started defining strategies and plans with their suppliers to bring this into implementation.
With the Dutch commitment coming to an end in 2025, retailers have reported data for the first time on the closure of their living wage gaps using voluntary contributions. Based on this self-reported data we can conclude that the Dutch retailers have surpassed their overall target, with an aggregate gap closure percentage of 96%. This includes both volumes with no gap as well as volumes for which a voluntary contribution has been paid. Taking the volumes with no gaps out of the equation, we observe that Dutch retailers have paid a voluntary contribution to their suppliers for 92% of their volumes with a gap in 2025. They did this either through the Fairtrade system or through individual contributions. These contributions will be further distributed to the workers over the course of 2026. Looking at the individual results of the retailers, we observe that all retailers except one hit the target of 75% gap reduction. However, it should be noted that the retailer that did not meet the target only joined the commitment in 2024. As mentioned before, the numbers are based on self-reported data. Therefore, no independent verification of the payment of these contributions has been made. IDH recommends that retailers start doing this moving forward.
Looking ahead, all Dutch retailers decided to uphold their ambition. IDH will continue to provide support to these retailers in 2026 to help them maintain and make progress on their ambitions.