With the start of 2026, we are introducing an updated version of our LkSG and LkSG (detailed) perspective articles + 2 new articles for 2026.
You are currently reading one of the new articles for 2026: LkSG 2026 Perspective.
You can find the LkSG 2026 Perspective (detailed) here.
These changes are the result of a careful review across three dimensions:
recent developments in the legislative landscape,
the evolution of Prewave’s risk portfolio,
and a structural alignment between the two LkSG perspectives, which had previously mildly differed in scope.
Our objective with this update is to:
ensure that the perspectives continue to:
support being legally robust,
operationally practical,
and auditor-ready due diligence under the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG).
Meanwhile, they should not overburden customer’s organizational resources with redundancy, which is why we continuously strive for optimization.
Detailed information about Changes
1. Reflection of legislative developments
1. Reflection of legislative developments
Recent amendments to the LkSG, in particular the introduction of the so-called Schwere-Prinzip (§ 24 LkSG, as reflected in the BMAS draft and the government bill), clarify that only particularly severe violations remain subject to administrative fines. These primarily concern failures to implement preventive or remedial measures in the context of severe human rights violations.
In line with this clarification, we have reduced the associated criticality of three non-human-rights-specific environmental event types within the LkSG perspectives:
Mercury Emissions
POP Pollution
Waste Disposal Problem
Alerts affecting supplier sites or the broader supplier organization under these event types will now carry Medium criticality. This means they will continue to influence scoring and risk visibility, while no longer implying immediate action requirements or an inherent risk of non-compliance.
As a reminder, environmental risks such as chemical leakage or deforestation remain firmly within scope of the LkSG where they threaten living conditions or livelihoods and therefore constitute human rights risks in the spirit of the law.
2. Alignment of LkSG and LkSG (detailed)
2. Alignment of LkSG and LkSG (detailed)
To improve consistency and transparency, we have aligned the scope of the two perspectives. Two event types that were previously only included in LkSG (detailed) are now reflected in both perspectives:
Living Wage
Biodiversity Degradation
This alignment simplifies interpretation, comparison, and internal governance processes for customers using both views.
3. Expansion of the risk type portfolio
3. Expansion of the risk type portfolio
In response to more granular requirements emerging across European legislation, we have added nine event types to both LkSG perspectives, where they provide meaningful value for LkSG due diligence. These include:
Indigenous Right to Lands Violation: reflects the risk for negligence of indigenous people's right to lands by companies active in the area
Restriction of Liberty: reflects human rights violations via abuses caused by private or public security forces related to the company
Human Trafficking: reflects severe modern slavery issues with evidence of human trafficking
Mercury Emissions: reflects risk of non-compliance with the Minamata convention
Land Degradation: reflects the risk of degrading land/soil through chemical pollutants
Transboundary Water Pollution: reflects risks related to sea dumping or other types of pollution of transboundary water bodies
Freedom of Thought Violation: reflects a type of discrimination in employment abusing the rights to freedom of religion and thought of individuals in the workforce
Social Dialogue Issue: reflects risks of the company taking adverse action against the right to social dialogue of its workforce, including but not limited to the rights of assembly and association
Wildlife Trafficking: reflects the risk of engaging in degrading biodiversity by trafficking endangered animal or plant species
4. Removal of non-performing risk types
4. Removal of non-performing risk types
Finally, four event types have been removed due to limited accuracy, relevance, or legal necessity:
Bomb Threat: reflected primarily bomb threats by third parties or customers, thus having no association to the spirit of the law of the LkSG, where employee health and safety is evaluated in terms of company policy and due care
Disease, Employee Infection, and Quarantine: these event types were included due to the Coronavirus pandemic but are not relevant to today's reality, since their pipelines were specialized to its context
Timeline and documentation
All customers with access to the 2025 LkSG perspectives will receive access to the 2026 versions in January 2026.
The 2025 and 2024 perspectives will remain available for comparison, but will be treated as phased out from March 2026 - this means that resources for support and maintenance will be redirected to the 2026 perspectives.
Updated documentation in our Help Center for the 2026 indices will follow in early 2026 accordingly.