Minerva

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

Animal welfare
Minerva discloses an approach to animal welfare and a policy which applies to the entirety of its operations and businesses. The company has identified 18 priority welfare-related KPIs for its key species and reports on its progress against all of these over the 2018-2020 period. Furthermore, Minerva demonstrates a comprehensive third-party auditing process across its key locations of Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina, reporting between 96-99% compliance levels across all locations.

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’s sustainability strategy is formed of three pillars – stewardship of our planet, prosperity for our people, and product quality and respect for life – which covers sustainability topics across all three benchmark dimensions (environment, nutrition and social inclusion). Minerva discloses how it identified and prioritised its eight key sustainability topics and discloses related key performance indicators (KPIs) for some, but not all, of its topics, therefore offering an opportunity for improvement.

Stakeholder engagement
The company reports that ten plants, or 43% of its total operations, are covered by a stakeholder engagement plan and informed by a stakeholder mapping exercise. Minerva developed the plan, but its rollout was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the company does not disclose any other evidence of engaging with external stakeholders.

Governance and accountability for sustainable development
The company reports that it has created a sustainability committee, comprising the chief executive officer, chief financial officer and other key executives, to advance its sustainability agenda. Governance and accountability for the company’s strategy therefore does not lie with its highest governance body, the board of directors, and the company’s remuneration policy is not available in English.

Scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions
The company has a target to reduce the intensity of its scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 30% by 2030, compared to a 2020 baseline, and reports an overall decline in both between 2018-2020. Minerva has an opportunity to improve its performance by setting similar targets for its scope 3 emissions and aligning said targets with a 1.5-degree warming trajectory.

Protection of natural terrestrial ecosystems
Minerva has a target for zero illegal deforestation throughout its supply chain in South America by 2030, reports that it has monitoring criteria for 100% of purchases in Brazilian territory and is committed to geospatial monitoring of 100% of its direct supply farms in Paraguay by 2021, Colombia by 2023 and Uruguay by 2025. The company reports that in 2020, 3,770 supplier properties were monitored and, of these, 154 were blacklisted for failing to meet the required standards. However, while the above disclosure on the company’s beef supply chain is extensive, it has an opportunity to disclose similar levels of information in relation to its sourcing of soya, its other high-risk commodity.

Water use
While Minerva reports a group-wide reduction in water withdrawals between 2018-2020, it has an opportunity to strengthen its commitment by setting an associated target and reporting progress against it. The company could also demonstrate that it is mapping and taking action in water-stressed areas in its operations and supply chain.

Protein diversification
The company demonstrates that it is committed to diversifying proteins within its product portfolio through its USD 4 million investment in Clara Foods, a San Francisco-based food start-up involved in the development of animal-free proteins produced using fermentation. Minerva could strengthen its commitment by disclosing a sales-based target for alternative proteins.

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, for instance via reformulating its consumer products or adopting a nutrient profiling system.

Accessibility and affordability of healthy foods
While Minerva discloses various philanthropic activities, it does not disclose a commitment or strategic commercial activities to improve the accessibility and affordability of healthy foods for vulnerable groups.

Clear and transparent labelling
While the company discloses a commitment to comply with national regulations regarding labelling and commits to providing nutritional information on key relevant nutrients through back-of-pack labels, it has an opportunity to make nutritional information more visible to consumers through the adoption of front-of-pack labels and/or any other consumer-facing nutrition label.

Workforce nutrition
While the company is committed to improving workforce nutrition through its Estar-Bem programme, which supports healthy foods at work, it has an opportunity to develop this programme further to ensure the provision of healthy foods at work, nutrition education, nutrition-focused health checks and breastfeeding support throughout its operations.

Farmer productivity and resilience
The company has a commitment to support livestock farmers in its supply chain and, in 2020, doubled the number of participants in its Carcass Yields Program to 500 ranches and 237,000 head of cattle. Minerva has an opportunity to improve its performance by disclosing further information or quantitative data on the impact of this programme in relation to farmer productivity.

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.

Child and forced labour
The company commits not to use child labour and codifies the same expectation in its contracts with suppliers, but it does not explicitly indicate if or how it verifies the ages of workers. In relation to forced labour, despite being a signatory to the National Pact for the Eradication of Slave Labour in Brazil, Minerva does not explicitly state that it prohibits the retention of workers’ documents or restriction of workers’ freedom of movement in its own operations and supply chain.

The company 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 that it conducts stakeholder surveys, it does not identify these stakeholders or, more specifically, identify those whose human rights have potentially or actually been impacted.

Minerva publicly commits to respecting the health and safety of workers and expects the same of its business relationships. It also discloses the percentage of workers covered by collective bargaining agreements in the five countries in which it operates as well as the percentage of employees by age and gender. Minerva could improve its score by disclosing commitments and time-bound targets to pay all workers a living wage and extending this commitment to its supply chain.

The company publicly commits to protecting personal data and has a privacy statement on the use of personal data. Moreover, it has a policy prohibiting bribery and corruption and an associated grievance mechanism. It also includes clauses in contracts with business relationships addressing the issue. Although Minerva specifies that it does not make political contributions, it does not disclose its approach to lobbying and political engagement, nor its lobbying expenditures. It also lacks a global tax strategy and details on its income tax payments per tax jurisdiction.