Ergon were commissioned by the World Bank to research and write a background paper for the World Development Report 2013. The paper, on the impact of codes of conduct and other private voluntary initiatives, was written by Senior Consultant Kirsten Newitt.

The paper concludes that there is evidence that private sector voluntary initiatives have had important positive impacts on working conditions for workers in global supply chains, particularly on workplace health and safety. Codes of conduct have also contributed to a shift in business awareness of labour standards issues. However, importantly, hard data demonstrating the development impact of private sector voluntary initiatives on labour standards is scarce.