Jeronimo Martins

Sustainable development strategy
The company has set a number of time-bound sustainability targets under its five action pillars as well as reporting its progress and achievement against similar objectives and targets for the period 2018-2020. These sustainability pillars include topics from across the three benchmark measurement areas of nutrition, environment and social inclusion, and include significant consideration of the company’s footprint and influence throughout its value chain as well as its own operations.

Plastic use and sustainable packaging
Jeronimo Martins discloses several targets on this topic, including ensuring that 100% of its private brand plastic packaging is reusable or recyclable; incorporating at least 25% of recycled content in its private brand plastic packaging; and reducing specific plastic consumption by 10% compared to 2018 levels. The company also reports progress against the targets, for example disclosing that it used 152,563 tonnes of recycled materials in 2020, a 21.7% increase on 2019 levels.

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.

Governance and accountability for sustainable development
The company’s Committee on Corporate Governance and Corporate Responsibility is headed by its chief operating officer (CEO) and chairperson, demonstrating highest level accountability for its sustainability strategy. The renumeration policy for the CEO is based on quantitative and qualitative key performance indicators (KPIs), including some based on an evaluation by environmental, social and governance analysts. However, the company does not disclose additional information on whether these KPIs also address key sustainability issues.

Stakeholder engagement
Jeronimo Martins states that it carries out significant stakeholder engagement activities and discloses its key stakeholder groups and the means by which it engages them. The company also discloses the material topics raised as part of these activities and how they are integrated into its strategy. It has an opportunity to improve its performance by demonstrating how it identifies and prioritises its key stakeholder groups.

Scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions
Jeronimo Martins has a time-bound target to reduce its scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by at least 40% by 2023 compared to 2017, and it reports a 1.2% year-on-year reduction. The company has also set a new scope 3 GHG reduction target but is yet to report on it. The company could further improve by aligning its targets with a global 1.5-degree warming trajectory.

Protection of natural terrestrial ecosystems
In relation to its high-risk deforestation commodities, Jeronimo Martins reports that it has achieved 100% Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil for the palm oil that it sources through its Portuguese and Polish businesses. The company has a target to reduce by 50% the soya it sources from unknown origins, to 16%, and to reduce volumes sourced from high-risk deforestation countries by 25%. Similarly, it has a target to reduce the unknown origins of its sourced beef to 2.5% of total purchases. Although the company has a commitment to increase the amount of coffee and cocoa it purchases from certified sources, it could further improve its performance by addressing these commodities with deforestation-free targets and reporting.

Food loss and waste
The company has a target to halve the food waste generated by its activities by 2030, and to limit food waste to 16.1 kilos per tonne of food sold in the period 2021-2023. Despite also engaging with its value chain partners to address this issue, for instance by integrating by-products into animal feed and selling non-graded food at discounted prices, the company reports that its group-wide food waste increased by 5% over the 2019-2020 reporting period.

Animal welfare
Jeronimo Martins’ animal welfare approach requires group companies and suppliers to address several welfare issues across its key species, including livestock and aquaculture. The company reports that it carries out quality and food safety audits, including third-party certifications such as Welfair for its Terra Alegre agribusiness operations, but could improve its performance by disclosing further group-wide details on these and setting time-bound targets to track progress on the issues raised within its policy.

Protein diversification
The company had a 2018-2020 target to develop food solutions that did not include animal proteins, reporting that it achieved this with the launch of 78 new products within its portfolio. Jeronimo Martins could reinforce this commitment by introducing new targets as part of its revised sustainability strategy, or by introducing sales-based targets for alternative protein products.

Availability of healthy foods
The company reports that it has a nutritional policy and discloses quantitative data to demonstrate how it has reformulated its private brand product portfolio, preventing 2,468 tonnes of sugar, 184 tonnes of saturated fat, 28 tonnes of fat and 58 tonnes of salt from entering the market. It could strengthen its commitment by disclosing targets based on meeting its healthy food guidelines and reporting progress against them.

Labelling and responsible marketing
In addition to committing to back-of-pack labelling regulations, the company has adopted more front-of-pack labels, reporting that 91% of its private brand alcoholic beverages carried a caloric icon in Portugal and 60% in Poland.  It also includes intuitive icons for some products that are a source of Omega-3, lactose-free, gluten-free, without added sugar and without fat. The company could improve its performance by rolling out similar intuitive labelling schemes across the remainder of its private brand product portfolio.

Accessibility and affordability of healthy foods
While the company has a commitment to address food insecurity by improving the accessibility and affordability of healthy foods, it has an opportunity to develop commercial activities designed to make healthy foods more accessible and affordable for vulnerable groups.

Food safety
While the company discloses evidence that some sites of its own operations are certified to a Global Food Safety Initiatibe (GFSI)-recognised certification programme, Jeronimo Martins has an opportunity to roll this programme to all of its operations. Furthermore, while it reports on how it audits perishables and private brand suppliers in Colombia, Poland and Portugal to ensure compliance with its corporate responsibility policies, the company has an opportunity to disclose how many of its suppliers are GFSI-certified.

Farmer productivity and resilience
The company has a commitment to support the productivity of farmers and small producers through its ‘strategy of being local in the markets where we are present’. It gives specific examples such as Biedronka’s Czas na wspieranie małych producentów (Time to Support Small Producers) programme. It has an opportunity to improve its performance by disclosing more details on the impact of these programmes.

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 policy requiring its suppliers to have an age-verification system in place.

Forced labour
While the company codifies an expectation that suppliers prevent forced labour through its supplier code of conduct, states that it does not retain personal documents or restrain freedom of movement, and carries out external audits, it has an opportunity to strengthen its commitment to prevent forced labour within its own operations.

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.

Jeronimo Martins discloses a commitment to respect the human rights of its workers and has a grievance mechanism that is accessible to both employees and external stakeholders. However, the company lacks disclosure on how it identifies, assesses and takes action to address its human rights salient risks in both its operations and supply chain. Similarly, although it discloses its main stakeholders, it could improve its score by identifying those whose human rights have potentially or actually been impacted.

Jeronimo Martins publicly commits to respecting the health and safety of workers and to gender equality and women’s empowerment, the latter through its Gender Equality Plan, which includes targets for board gender diversity and the company’s gender pay gap ratio. The company also discloses data related to overall workforce diversity fundamentals. However, it lacks commitments or targets related to paying a living wage and only reports on collective bargaining fundamentals in relation to its Portuguese activities.

The company has a policy prohibiting bribery and corruption, a grievance mechanism as well as clauses in contracts with business relations addressing the subject. It also has a privacy statement related to the use of personal data and a policy which outlines its approach to lobbying and political engagement. However, it does not disclose its lobbying expenditures and similarly does not disclose a global tax strategy or income tax payments for all its tax jurisdictions.