Causing an adverse impact on human rights, the environment, or economic sustainability refers to situations where your company's activities or omissions (may) result in negative effects without the involvement of a third party. For instance, if your company engages in discriminatory practices during hiring procedures.

To contribute to an adverse impact on human rights, the environment, or principles of anti-
corruption means that your company’s activities or omissions, in combination with a third-party’s activities or omissions, lead to (risks of) adverse impacts. When your company contributes to an adverse impact, there is a causality between your activities and the negative consequences. Further, you should to a reasonable extent have been able to foresee (i.e., expect or predict) that the adverse impact could occur. For example, if you ask a small supplier to deliver the double amount at half the time, you should be able to predict that such an action may lead to adverse impacts on the supplier’s employees’ right to rest and leisure and right to safe and healthy working conditions.

Being linked to an adverse impact on human rights, the environment, or economic sustainability means that there is a direct link between a third-party causing or contributing to an adverse impact, and your products, services, or operations. When you are linked to an adverse impact, there is no causality between your company’s actions or omissions and the adverse impact, but your company is in a business relationship to the third-party. For instance, if you have a supplier that fails to responsibly manage its wastewater, it can result in the pollution of the local water supply.