Colruyt

No leading practices were identified for the company in the governance and strategy measurement area.

No leading practices were identified for the company in the environment measurement area.

No leading practices were identified for the company in the nutrition measurement area.

No leading practices were identified for the company in the social inclusion measurement area.

Sustainable development strategy
Colruyt has identified 12 sustainability topics on which it believes it can have a positive impact and reports on performance against most of the topics. However, no evidence of the process for identifying and prioritising its most relevant sustainability topics was found.

Governance and accountability for sustainable development
Colruyt discloses the roles and responsibilities of its sustainability domain, which is responsible for the vision, strategy and objectives of the whole organisation and is chaired by the chief executive officer. However, no evidence was found regarding the inclusion of sustainability topics in the remuneration policy of the highest governance body.

Stakeholder engagement
The company does not disclose sufficient evidence of its stakeholder engagement activities, including how it selects the stakeholders, nor an overview of the topics discussed or their outcomes.

Scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions
Carrefour has reduction targets for its scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions and reports progress against the targets. However, it is yet to align its reduction targets with a 1.5-degree trajectory. Moreover, no evidence of reduction targets was found for its scope 3 emissions.

Protection of terrestrial natural ecosystems
Colruyt is committed to deforestation and conversion-free supply chains through its disclosure of the proportion of sustainably sourced high-risk commodities. However, the company only reports on targets for some of its high-risk commodities such as palm oil.

Water use
Colruyt has set targets to reduce water consumption across its operations and reports progress against these. While the company is committed to working with its supply chain partners to reduce water use as part of the Sustainability Initiative Fruit and Vegetables, no evidence of activities or engagement was found.

Food loss and waste
Colruyt has a target to ensure that 60% of unsold food which remains consumable is fermented or incinerated by 2023. It also aims to report progress against the target. While the company works with partners to reduce waste streams, no evidence of activities specifically aimed at preventing food waste was found.

Plastic use and packaging waste
Colruyt discloses a number of initiatives to reduce packaging and has set targets for all of its own-brand products to be reusable, recyclable, compostable or biodegradable. However, the company is yet to report progress against these targets.

Animal welfare
The company discloses animal welfare guidelines covering pigs, beef and chicken species that are upheld by its suppliers in terms of animal suffering, inspections for slaughterhouses and so on. It also discloses inspection processes for its Belgian slaughterhouses and states that 100% of its private-label products use eggs from free-range hens or hens that are allowed to roam free. The company can further strengthen its commitment by expanding it policy to address key animal welfare issues across all its relevant species and products and setting targets to address such welfare issues.

Availability of healthy foods
Colruyt discloses the number of products with improved nutritional composition, including the tonnes of reduction in fat, saturated fat, sugar, salt and added fibre. The company can further strengthen its commitment by setting targets to increase the percentage of such healthy food products in its portfolio.

Accessibility and affordability of healthy foods
The company does not disclose a commitment to address food insecurity by improving the accessibility and affordability of healthy and nutritious foods.

Clear and transparent labelling
Colruyt is committed to making nutritional information available to consumers in a clear, intuitive and accurate way by adopting front-of-pack labelling schemes such as Nutri-Score for its Boni Selection products. It also reports the percentage of products for which such labelling commitments have been rolled out. The company can further improve by increasing its roll-out to at least 80% of all markets or 98% of all products globally.

Responsible marketing
Colruyt is committed to responsible marketing strategies that prioritise healthy foods by being a signatory to the Belgian pledge demanding responsible advertising to children. The company has room for improvement by providing evidence of activities that support promotion of healthy food and setting targets to increase the proportion of marketing budget spent on promoting healthy foods.

Workforce nutrition
Colruyt demonstrates that it is committed to workforce nutrition through initiatives such as nutrition-focused health checks and provision healthy food at work. The company has an opportunity to further strengthen its commitment by promoting nutrition education and disclosing quantitative evidence of the percentage of food offerings with healthy options.

Food safety
The company does not disclose evidence of ensuring safe food for consumers through compliance with national regulations, nor an effective food safety certification scheme.

Child and forced labour
While the company has expectations for its suppliers to respect the exclusion of child and forced labour, no sufficient evidence was found regarding the company’s commitment to prohibiting child and forced labour in its operations and supply chain.

Living wage
The company does not disclose that it pays its workers a living wage nor requires its suppliers to do the same. Neither has it set targets to do so in the future.

Health and safety of vulnerable groups
The company does not disclose that it specifically recognises the health and safety risks to vulnerable groups, such as migrant and temporary labourers, women and young farmers.

Farmer and fisher productivity and resilience
Colruyt provides evidence of activities to support farmer productivity and resilience through initiatives such as farmer training programmes in Northern India and Benin, price agreements with Belgian dairy farmers and working towards paying living incomes to cocoa farmers in Ivory Coast. However, it is yet to report on the impact of these support activities.

Land rights
The company does not commit to recognising and respecting the legitimate tenure rights related to the ownership and use of land of local communities.

While Colruyt provides limited information regarding its commitments to respect human rights, there remains an opportunity for these to be strengthened as well as for increased disclosure. However, no information is disclosed regarding identifying, assessing and taking action to address human rights risks in the company’s own operations and supply chain. No evidence of grievance mechanisms for workers, external individuals and communities was found.

Colruyt discloses its commitment towards respecting the health and safety of its workers, and it discloses a process for monitoring its supply chain partners. While the company provides the percentage of women in its highest governance body, there remains an opportunity to strengthen its commitments and disclosure on gender equality and women’s empowerment. No information was found regarding living wages, working hours, collective bargaining and workforce diversity fundamentals.

Colruyt publicly commits to protecting personal data and has a privacy statement on the use of personal data. The company includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its contracts with supply chain partners but can strengthen its commitment through further disclosure on processes and grievance mechanisms for reporting bribery and corruption concerns. Similarly, the company’s approach to responsible tax can be improved by disclosing a global tax strategy. No evidence was found regarding the company’s commitment towards responsible lobbying and political engagement.