At Arcadis, our ‘Maximizing Impact’ strategy rests on two pillars: taking care of people and our planet. Foundational to focusing on people is treating them with dignity and respect, something on which Arcadis has based its purpose—"improving quality of life”— and which we continue to pursue with vigor, aligning our approach closely with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
In doing so, our aim is not simply to meet international expectations, but also to act in a manner that allows us to fully realize our core purpose. Our long-term human rights objective is to embed purposeful actions and behaviors, within and around Arcadis, that create a positive impact for people, communities, and our planet. We understand that positive impacts to people flow directly from respecting human rights and see this as key to unlocking a sustainable present and future, meeting the Sustainable Development Goals, and tackling significant societal challenges like discrimination and inequality.
When it comes to respecting human rights, more than ever, it is vital for businesses to have a deep understanding of the changing world around us. That’s why, in creating our current strategy, we identify four megatrends - Urbanization, Climate Change, Digitalization and Societal Expectations - that we believe are particularly relevant for Arcadis and shape the environment and markets in which we operate. All of these trends interact closely with human rights and with the tackling inequality agenda and influence the choices we make as a company and the work we do for clients.