PhosAgro

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
PhosAgro has objectives covering all pillars of this benchmark and explains the process through which these objectives were determined. Those objectives regard the environment (greenhouse gas emissions, water intensity), nutrition (sales of nutrient enhancing fertilizer) and social inclusion (maintain soil laboratory networks in developing regions to build knowledge and capacity among farmers). However, PhosAgro has not established time bound targets for all of its priority sustainability issues.

Governance and accountability for sustainable development
PhosAgro discloses that sustainability targets are defined by management staff together with a Sustainable Development Department, and that a Sustainable Development Committee approves the overall sustainability framework before sending it for final approval by the board of directors. To facilitate attainment of these targets, variable remuneration linked to them is offered to top management. The company has an opportunity to strengthen accountability by assigning this responsibility to its highest governance body as well as linking sustainability objectives and targets to roles and remuneration at that level.

Stakeholder engagement
PhosAgro discloses a materiality matrix and explains how it engaged with stakeholders to produce it in 2020, for instance through surveys and meetings. The focus areas of this engagement and of its resulting strategy are economic, environmental, and social, and do not include nutrition issues. Further, the company has an opportunity to disclose how it identifies its most relevant stakeholders.

Scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions
PhosAgro monitors its GHG emissions and has set time-bound targets to reduce its scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions by 14% by 2028. However, in recent years, the company has reported an increase of both scope 2 and 3 emissions, thus failing to attain its reduction targets in both areas.

Water use
PhosAgro disclosed group-wide quantitative reductions in water withdrawals between 2013 and 2019 but an increase from 2019 to 2020. It has a time-bound target to reduce withdrawals, which totalled 6.70 metric tons in 2020, to 5.16 m3/t in 2025.

Soil health and agrobiodiversity
PhosAgro has projects to improve soil health, and its environmental policy prohibits employees from abusing natural resources where they are stationed for work. Despite providing some disclosure on relevant developments around agrobiodiversity in Europe and Russia, the company does not disclose sufficient quantitative information on sustainable practices that improve soil health and/or increase agrobiodiversity.

Fertiliser and pesticide use
PhosAgro invests in research and development to improve fertilisers and pesticides. The company intends to launch 50 new products by 2030, including innovative biomineral fertilisers. Under its Regional Soil Laboratory Network programme, it has hundreds of laboratories worldwide available to test soils and help farmers select and apply fertiliser correctly, while specialised labs investigate pesticides as well. However, no time-bound targets related to optimising fertiliser and pesticide use are disclosed, neither is the quantitative impact of PhosAgro’s efforts in this area.

Availability of healthy foods
PhosAgro reports on making available fertilisers with micronutrients, which aim to increase the nutritional quality of foods. The share of these products in the company’s global sales is increasing year on year, and a sales target is in place for 2025. However, the company does not disclose quantitative evidence of its impact of these activities. The company has an opportunity to reports on how its activities contribute to increasing the production, quality and/or variety 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.

Workforce nutrition
While the company discloses a programme to improve workforce nutrition through nutrition education, 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 and fisher productivity and resilience
PhosAgro manages the Regional Soil Laboratories Networks, supporting the activities of the Global Soil Laboratories Networks, of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Through these structures, the company has helped to develop the Soil Doctor Testing Kit to be distributed to 5,000 farmers in the countries participating in the programme. The company has an opportunity to disclose information on the impact of its support activities.

Child labour
The company does not disclose a commitment to prohibit child labour in its operations and supply chain.

Forced labour
While the company commits to prohibiting forced labour in its own operations and supply chain, it has an opportunity to disclose a requirement that prohibits its suppliers from retaining workers’ personal documents and/or 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.

PhosAgro commits to respecting human rights and ILO core labour rights in its operations and provides a grievance mechanism for both workers and third parties. While addressing most ILO core labour rights in its Code of Conduct for Counterparties, PhosAgro does not disclose a statement expecting suppliers to respect the right of employees to bargain collectively. Moreover, the company does not provide evidence of a human rights due diligence process nor demonstrate engagement with affected and potentially affected stakeholders.

PhosAgro commits to guaranteeing the health and safety of its workers, expects its supply chain partners to do the same and monitors their performance. However, it can improve its quantitative health and safety reporting by disclosing the number of fatalities and high-consequence injuries in the workplace. No commitments or reporting related to the other decent work topics – working hours, living wages, collective bargaining, workforce diversity, and gender equality and women’s empowerment – were found.

PhosAgro has a policy prohibiting bribery and corruption in its operations and business relationships and discloses the steps it takes to identify and address the issue. While PhosAgro states that it does not finance political parties, non-governmental organisations and movements to gain financial benefits in its projects, it does not disclose a policy setting out its approach to lobbying and political engagement nor disclose on lobbying expenses. PhosAgro fails to disclose commitments on personal data protection, as well as a global tax policy and its tax expenses for each jurisdiction in which it operates.