Files
hips/HIPs/hip-0270-ai-supply-chain-responsibility.md
zeekay ad5a010f79 Three words for what a proposal is, and a generator that refuses
The same fact lived in nine hand-kept places and they disagreed about 58
proposals. This makes the file the only authority and everything else a
projection of it.

ONE VOCABULARY, in vocabulary.json, read by the lint, the generator and the
doc site. Three words, each answering "can I rely on this?" and nothing else:

    Draft    nothing implements it yet, or its own text says the work is ahead
    Final    the thing it specifies exists in the code
    Living   governance and process: amended in place, never finished

Eight spellings folded in. `Active` was the one doing real damage: on four Meta
and Process HIPs it meant living, on 48 others it meant shipped, and one word
doing two jobs is why nothing agreed. `Review` and `Last Call` described a
queue rather than a document, and a proposal under review is still one you
cannot build against.

STATUS IS EARNED, not declared. Every Standards Track proposal was checked
against the estate: 235 have their implementation, and eight do not and say so.
HIP-0095 carries a twelve-week plan ending at "mainnet launch" and has no code.
HIP-0525 specifies an all-machine meeting while apps/meet refuses a machine a
seat. HIP-0078 names a prover at a "planned location" that does not exist.
HIP-0114 is the cog.* procedure set, and that procedure set returns nothing.
HIP-0003, HIP-0102, HIP-0305 and HIP-0901 likewise: looked, found nothing.

SIXTEEN TOMBSTONES DELETED rather than statused. A dead document kept alive in
the index is one concept wearing two names. Each successor exists and carries
the text, and the 90 references that pointed at a tombstone now point at it --
whole markdown links at once, so link text cannot outlive its target. Three of
the sixteen were pure compatibility: HIP-0028 specified a migration off a
Bitnami chart, HIP-0029 dual-engine MySQL, HIP-0030 a schema-deprecation
policy. We ship no backwards compatibility, so we do not specify it.

Nine links were already broken and had been since the corpus was renumbered:
short-form ./hip-5.md paths that never existed. Two named the wrong proposal --
one cited "HIP-1: Hanzo Multimodal Models" where multimodal is HIP-0003.

THE GENERATOR REFUSES more often than it writes, because a short table looks
exactly as authoritative as a complete one. Rows must equal files; a shrinking
index must say by how much; a section whose input is missing is an error, not
an omission; nothing is written until all of it validates. Its self-test breaks
the corpus eleven ways and requires each to refuse AND leave README byte-
identical -- a guard that reports after half-writing has protected nothing.
The lint's second implementation of the same comparison is gone.

The site rendered 52 proposals with a fallback grey badge and counted them
toward none of its three stat tiles, because docs/lib/source.ts declared a
status union by hand: it admitted a `Stagnant` no file has ever carried and
omitted the one 52 files did. Five components each kept their own copy of the
colours. All six now read vocabulary.json.
2026-08-28 18:05:41 -07:00

10 KiB

hip, title, tags, description, author, discussions-to, status, type, created, requires
hip title tags description author discussions-to status type created requires
270 AI Supply Chain Responsibility
sustainability
supply-chain
ethics
governance
Framework for responsible sourcing of compute, hardware, and data for AI systems. Hanzo AI Team (@hanzoai) https://github.com/hanzoai/hips/discussions Living Meta 2025-12-17 HIP-0200, HIP-0250

HIP-0270: AI Supply Chain Responsibility

Abstract

This HIP establishes the framework for responsible sourcing across Hanzo AI's supply chain, including compute infrastructure, hardware, data, and services. It defines standards for environmental, social, and governance criteria in supplier selection and ongoing management.

Scope

Supply Chain Categories

Category Components ESG Relevance
Compute Cloud providers, data centers Energy, carbon, labor
Hardware GPUs, servers, networking Materials, labor, e-waste
Data Training data, annotations Privacy, labor, consent
Services Software, consulting, contractors Labor, security, ethics

Tier Classification

Tier Definition Due Diligence Level
Critical >$1M annual spend or core to operations Full assessment
Significant $100K-$1M annual spend Standard assessment
Standard <$100K annual spend Basic assessment

Compute Sourcing

Cloud Provider Standards

Cloud Provider Environmental Criteria

Criterion Requirement Weight
Renewable energy >50% renewable, trajectory to 100% High
Carbon reporting Public Scope 1, 2, 3 emissions High
PUE <1.3 average Medium
Water usage WUE reporting, reduction targets Medium
E-waste Responsible disposal, circularity Medium

Cloud Provider Social Criteria

Criterion Requirement Weight
Labor practices Fair labor certification High
Supply chain Conflict mineral due diligence Medium
Community impact Local hiring, engagement Low

Governance Criteria

Criterion Requirement Weight
Security SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 High
Privacy GDPR compliance, data residency High
Business continuity Disaster recovery, SLAs Medium
Transparency Public sustainability reports Medium

Provider Assessment

Current Provider Evaluation

Provider Renewable % Carbon Neutral PUE Assessment
AWS 100% by 2025 2040 target 1.2 Acceptable
GCP 100% matched Carbon neutral 1.1 Preferred
Azure 100% by 2025 2030 target 1.2 Acceptable

Region Selection

Prioritize regions with:

  1. Lowest carbon intensity
  2. Highest renewable percentage
  3. Acceptable latency
  4. Data residency compliance

Data Center Requirements

For colocation or owned infrastructure:

Requirement Standard
Renewable energy 100% or credible pathway
PUE <1.4
Water efficiency WUE <1.0 L/kWh
Certifications ISO 14001, ISO 50001
Location Climate-resilient, low-carbon grid

Hardware Sourcing

GPU & Server Standards

Hardware Environmental Criteria

Criterion Requirement
Manufacturer sustainability Public ESG commitments
Energy efficiency Current generation, efficient design
Conflict minerals Conflict-free sourcing certification
Packaging Minimal, recyclable packaging

Hardware Social Criteria

Criterion Requirement
Labor practices RBA (Responsible Business Alliance) membership
Supply chain audits Third-party labor audits
Health & safety Documented H&S programs

Hardware Lifecycle

Procurement

Practice Implementation
Right-sizing Match hardware to actual needs
Consolidation Shared resources where possible
Efficiency focus Latest generation for efficiency

Operation

Practice Implementation
Utilization tracking Monitor and optimize usage
Maintenance Proper maintenance for longevity
Lifecycle planning Plan refresh cycles

End-of-Life

Practice Implementation
Reuse Internal redeployment first
Resale Certified resale for working equipment
Recycling R2/e-Stewards certified recyclers
Data destruction Certified data destruction

Data Sourcing

Training Data Standards

Requirement Standard
Licensing Clear commercial use rights
Consent Appropriate consent for personal data
Attribution Proper attribution where required
Opt-out Respect opt-out requests

Quality & Ethics

Requirement Standard
No stolen content Due diligence on data sources
No illegal content Filtering for illegal material
Bias review Assessment of representation
Privacy protection PII handling procedures

Annotation & Labeling

Labor Standards

Requirement Standard
Fair wages Living wage in local context
Working conditions Reasonable hours, breaks
Worker wellbeing Support for disturbing content
Transparency Disclosed labor practices

Provider Assessment

Criterion Evaluation
Wage verification Third-party or self-reported
Conditions audit Annual assessment
Worker feedback Grievance mechanisms
Certifications B Corp, Fair Trade, or equivalent

Data Provider Selection

Tier Due Diligence
Primary Full assessment, ongoing monitoring
Secondary Standard assessment, periodic review
Incidental Basic assessment, terms review

Services & Contractors

Software & Services

Category ESG Criteria
SaaS Security, privacy, accessibility
Consulting Labor practices, D&I
Contractors Fair treatment, proper classification

Contractor Standards

Requirement Standard
Classification Proper employee/contractor classification
Benefits Appropriate benefits for relationship
Payment Timely, fair payment
Conditions Reasonable working conditions

Supplier Management

Assessment Process

Initial Assessment

1. Categorize by tier
    ↓
2. Complete assessment questionnaire
    ↓
3. Review publicly available information
    ↓
4. Conduct due diligence (tier-appropriate)
    ↓
5. Score against criteria
    ↓
6. Make selection decision

Ongoing Monitoring

Activity Frequency Tier
Performance review Quarterly Critical
ESG review Annual Critical, Significant
News monitoring Continuous Critical
Re-assessment Biennial All

Supplier Scorecard

Dimension Weight Criteria
Environmental 30% Carbon, energy, waste
Social 30% Labor, community, safety
Governance 20% Ethics, transparency, security
Performance 20% Quality, reliability, cost

Issue Management

Issue Severity

Severity Examples Response
Critical Human rights violation, major breach Immediate suspension
High Labor violations, significant ESG failure Remediation plan
Medium Policy gaps, minor violations Improvement plan
Low Documentation gaps, minor issues Noted for improvement

Remediation Process

Issue identified
    ↓
Severity assessment
    ↓
Supplier notification
    ↓
Remediation plan development
    ↓
Implementation monitoring
    ↓
Verification
    ↓
Closure or escalation

Termination Criteria

Automatic termination consideration for:

  • Verified human rights violations
  • Severe environmental damage
  • Material fraud or corruption
  • Failure to remediate critical issues

Reporting & Transparency

Internal Reporting

Report Frequency Contents
Supplier dashboard Real-time Key supplier metrics
Quarterly review Quarterly Performance, issues, actions
Annual assessment Annual Full supplier ESG review

External Reporting

Disclosure Location Contents
Annual ESG report Public report Supply chain summary
CDP Supply Chain CDP platform Detailed supplier data
Website Company website Supplier standards

Transparency Commitments

Commitment Implementation
Standards publication Public supplier code
Issue disclosure Material issues in ESG report
Progress reporting Annual improvement tracking

Governance

Oversight Structure

Body Role
Procurement Lead Day-to-day management
ESG Committee Policy oversight
Legal Compliance, contracts
Finance Spend analysis

Policy Review

Activity Frequency
Standards review Annual
Criteria update As needed
Process improvement Continuous
  • HIP-200: Responsible AI Principles
  • HIP-250: Sustainability Standards Alignment
  • HIP-251: AI Compute Carbon Footprint
  • HIP-260: Efficient Model Practices
  • HIP-290: Evidence Locker Index

Changelog

Version Date Changes
1.0 2025-12-17 Initial draft

Copyright and related rights waived via CC0.