The term ethical trade first gained currency in the mid-1990s, where it was used as a term for socially responsible sourcing. Ethical trade addresses the ethical aspects of organisations including worker welfare, agricultural practice, natural resource conservation, and sustainability of the environment. Since then, numerous multinational organisations have adopted ethical trade policies by outsourcing to auditing companies to monitor the conditions of workers in their supply chains. The leading alliance of these companies, trade unions and non-governmental organisations is the Ethical Trading Initiative. to support business
