International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF)

Stakeholder engagement
IFF reports on its stakeholder engagement activities by providing an overview of the issues raised by each stakeholder group identified via these activities. The company reports that these issues are integrated into its wider strategy via a materiality assessment. Moreover, the company discloses the means of engagement with each group (such as through surveys or working groups) and that it covers sustainability topics across all three benchmark dimensions (environment, nutrition and social inclusion). Finally, these stakeholder engagement activities cover the company’s entire value chain.

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
IFF discloses objectives covering sustainability topics under four broad themes, which align with the three dimensions of the benchmark. IFF also reports on the process for identifying and prioritising its most relevant sustainability topics through a materiality assessment. Moreover, the company discloses time-bound targets for its most relevant sustainability topics and reports progress against them. However, it is not clear if this extends across the company’s entire value chain, nor if the time-bound targets cover all material topics, presenting an opportunity for the company in future reporting.

Governance and accountability for sustainable development
IFF discloses that it has an Innovation and Sustainability Committee that is responsible for assisting the board of directors in overseeing the company’s overall strategic direction. Moreover, the company confirms that accountability and oversight of its sustainability strategy lies with the highest governance body, the board of directors. However, no relevant information was found on the remuneration policy of the board being aligned to the company’s sustainability performance.

Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions
IFF commits to reducing absolute scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions 30% by 2025, from a 2015 base year. The targets covering emissions from company operations (scope 1 and 2) are consistent with reductions required to keep global warming well-below 2 degrees. However, the target is not aligned with a 1.5 degree scenario, presenting an opportunity for the company going forward.

Protection of terrestrial natural ecosystems
IFF has a deforestation and conversion-free (DCF) target for palm oil, whereby it aims to have 100% DCF supply chains by 2020. However, no other information was found on other relevant high-risk commodities, including soya, coffee and cocoa. Moreover, IFF does not disclose the regions where it sources its commodities from, presenting a risk for the company.

Water use
IFF reports a time-bound target to reduce water withdrawals across its operations and reports progress against the target. IFF discloses that it met its 2020 goals to reduce water use intensity by 25% and 50%, against a 2010 baseline. Moreover, the company discloses that it reduced its water intensity by 1.38% from 2019 to 2020. However, while the company reports on water stress for its own operations, there is a lack of sufficient evidence on whether it expects its suppliers to reduce water use also, for example through policies, programmes or targets.

Availability of healthy foods
The company does not disclose a commitment or activities to increase the availability of healthy and nutritious foods.

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.

Food safety
While the company discloses compliance with national regulations, it has an opportunity to strengthen its commitment by disclosing the percentages of its own operations that are certified to a food safety scheme/certification programme recognised by the Global Food Safety Initiative or other widely recognised certification.

Child labour
While the company commits to prohibiting child labour in its own operations and requires its suppliers to adhere to the same standard, it has an opportunity to disclose a coordinated and consistent monitoring system for its own operations and supply chain.

Forced labour
While IFF commits to prohibiting forced labour in its own operations and supply chain and not restricting workers’ freedom of movement, it has an opportunity to disclose a requirement that prohibits its suppliers from retaining workers’ personal documents.

Farmer and fisher productivity and resilience
Through its responsible sourcing programme, IFF discloses activities and programmes which support farmers and small-scale producers. However, going forward, the company could improve its performance by disclosing the specific impact of a proportion of its support activities and present data highlighting the change that has resulted from the company’s intervention, such as an increase in yields.

IFF publicly commits to respecting both human rights and the rights of workers in its operations and supply chain and provides a grievance mechanism for both its workers and external parties. However, there is insufficient public information regarding how the company’s due diligence system and how it assesses and integrates human rights risks and impacts as well as how it engages with potentially affected stakeholders, presenting an opportunity for IFF to increase its disclosure in these areas to improve its score.

While IFF publicly commits to respecting the health and safety of workers, gender equality and women’s empowerment, the company can improve its performance by increasing its disclosure on these topics. Moreover, the company could increase its level of disclosure on collective bargaining fundamentals, including how it works to support the practices of its supply chain partners in relation to freedom of association and collective bargaining. Lastly, there is insufficient information in the public domain regarding regulating working hours for employees and promoting a living wage in its own operations and supply chain.

IFF addresses all key issues for ethical business conduct through publicly available policies or statements, but there remains an opportunity for these to be strengthened. There is also room for IFF to improve by increasing disclosure on taxes paid and corruption identification processes, and by extending its lobbying and political engagement requirements to its business partners.