Costco Wholesale

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
The company does not disclose a sustainable development strategy that includes sustainable development objectives or targets, nor an identification and prioritisation process to determine the topics where it has the most impact. Costco Wholesale discloses that it will undertake a materiality assessment and develop its sustainability development strategy between December 2021 and 2024.

Governance and accountability for sustainable development
While responsibility for sustainability lies with the Environmental Compliance Executive Team, the company has an opportunity to strengthen accountability by assigning this responsibility to its highest governance body and disclosing further information on its decision-making processes and oversight responsibilities, as well as linking sustainability objectives and targets to roles and remuneration.

Stakeholder engagement
The company does not disclose 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
While the company demonstrates that it is measuring scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gases by disclosing emissions, it also provides quantitative evidence that its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have increased year on year since 2016. On scope 3 the company discloses that it intends to start measuring segments of its scope 3 emissions by December 2023. The company has an opportunity to improve its performance by setting time-bound targets which cover scopes 1, 2 and 3 and align with a 1.5-degree scenario.

Protection of terrestrial natural ecosystems
The company has a time-bound target for achieving deforestation and conversion-free palm oil supply chains, which it reports against. The company is targeting that 100% of its palm oil will be RSPO certified by 2021. However, the company lacks reporting on achieving DCF supply chains for its soya, cocoa, coffee and beef commodities.

Sustainable fishing and aquaculture
While the company has a commitment to sustainable sourcing of seafood and aquaculture feed ingredients, it has an opportunity to strengthen its commitment by setting targets and reporting against them.

Food loss and waste
While the company is addressing food loss and waste in its own operations through activities such as creating alternative products from unsold food in order to avoid waste (for example, in Japan unsold melons at peak ripeness were made into smoothies), it has an opportunity to set time-bound targets to reduce food loss and waste across its own operations and supply chain and report against them.

Plastic use and packaging waste
The company discloses quantitative evidence to demonstrate that it is reducing plastic use. Changes in packaging have enabled the company to reduce its plastic footprint by 6 million pounds annually. The company has an opportunity to improve its performance by setting time-bound plastic use and packaging waste reduction targets and reporting against them.

Antibiotics use and growth-promoting substances
While the company has a commitment on reducing the use of prophylactic antibiotics in its supply chains, the commitment does not apply to all species, and products relevant to the company.

Availability of healthy foods
The company does not provide evidence of improving the nutritional quality of its products and of proportionally increasing the sales of healthy and nutritious foods.

Accessibility and affordability of healthy foods
The company does not disclose a commitment and activities to improve the accessibility and affordability of healthy foods for vulnerable groups.

Clear and transparent labelling
The company does not disclose that it provides nutritional information through clear, transparent and accurate labelling.

Responsible marketing
The company does not disclose a responsible marketing policy, nor guidelines specific to marketing to children.

Workforce nutrition
The company does not disclose sufficient evidence of having any workforce nutrition programmes.

Food safety
While the company discloses that all suppliers of consumable products and food-contact packaging materials are required to be certified by a Global Food Safety Initiative recognised food safety scheme, it does not demonstrate that its own operations are certified to a GFSI-recognised food safety scheme.

Child labour
While the company commits to prohibiting child labour in its supply chain, it does not disclose a commitment to prohibit child labour in its operations.

Forced labour
While the company commits to prohibiting forced labour in its supply chain, it does not disclose a commitment to prohibit forced labour in its operations. However the company does disclose that it prohibits its suppliers from retaining workers’ personal documents and restricting workers’ freedom of movement.

Living wage
The company does not disclose that it pays its workers a living wage or 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
The company has a commitment to support the resilience and productivity of farmers, through the Sassandra Cocoa Programme in Côte d’Ivoire, which helps farmers to develop cooperatives, access finance and training and get a premium price for their product. The company has an opportunity to improve its performance by quantitatively disclosing the impact of its support activities.

Land rights
While the company states that “ensuring free, prior and informed consent of indigenous people” is good practice for suppliers, it does not commit to recognising and respecting the legitimate tenure rights related to the ownership and use of land of local communities.

Costco Wholesale has committed to respecting human rights and discloses a grievance mechanism for both workers and external stakeholders whose human rights have been impacted. However, no information was found in the public domain in reference to the company engaging with stakeholders whose human rights have been affected. Furthermore, Costco Wholesale does not disclose a due diligence process to identify, assess and take action on human rights risks.

Costco Wholesale has committed to respecting the health and safety of workers and expects its supply chain partners to do the same. However, no relevant information was found in the public domain on living wages or regulating working hours. While the company discloses the absolute number of employees in unions, it does not disclose the proportion of its total workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements. Costco Wholesale generally lacks disclosure on workforce diversity, though the company does disclose the proportion of women on the highest governance body.

Costco Wholesale has a public policy prohibiting bribery and corruption. However, it only commits to protecting the personal data of users in the United States and no relevant information was found in the public domain in reference to tax, or lobbying and political engagement.