Viterra

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
As part of Viterra’s sustainability strategy, the company discloses objectives related to health and safety, environment, community and human rights, and food and feed safety. However, the company is yet to disclose its processes for identifying and prioritising its most relevant sustainability topics.

Governance and accountability for sustainable development
The company provides an overview of the roles in its sustainability department, which includes oversight by its chief executive officer and chief risk officer, among other members. However, the company lacks disclosure on whether it considers sustainability objectives in its remuneration policies.

Stakeholder engagement
While the company takes part in various industry partnerships, it has an opportunity to develop its strategic stakeholder engagement process. It can do so by identifying its stakeholders, covering its full value chain, and by establishing a continuous feedback process, as well as integrating this into their strategy.

Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions
Viterra has a target to reduce its GHG emissions by 5% by 2023, reporting a 13.1% reduction in 2019. The company can further strengthen its commitment by aligning its target with a 1.5-degree trajectory.

Protection of terrestrial natural ecosystems
While the company has a soya sustainability policy for South America and discloses the proportion of soya sourced from Argentina that is deforestation-free, no mention of targets or certified volumes were found. For its palm oil supply chain, the company states that 80% of its palm oil suppliers are RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil) certified or are RSPO members.

Soil health and agrobiodiversity
The company does not disclose that it is adopting sustainable sourcing practices that improve soil health and increase agrobiodiversity.

Fertiliser and pesticide use
The company does not disclose that it is adopting sustainable sourcing practices that optimise the use of fertilisers and pesticides.

Water use
Viterra discloses a reduction in total water withdrawals as part of its environmental targets to improve performance by 5% over the next five years until 2023 using the 2018 baseline year. Furthermore, the company states that it does not extract any water at facilities in water-scarce areas, as indicated by the World Resources Institute’s Aqueduct tool. The company can further strengthen its commitment by engaging with suppliers to reduce water use across its supply chain.

Availability, accessibility and affordability of healthy foods
Given its role as an agricultural trader, Viterra has less impact on nutrition issues compared to companies involved in the manufacturing of consumer products. However, it is yet to disclose commitments to address food insecurity by supporting the production of healthy and nutritious foods and improving the accessibility of such foods.

Workforce nutrition
The company does not disclose a workforce nutrition programme that prioritises making healthy foods the standard in the workplace.

Food safety
While the company discloses compliance with national regulations, it has an opportunity to disclose that 100% of its operations are certified to a food safety programme certified by the Global Food Safety Initiative or other widely recognised certifications.

Child and forced labour
As part of Viterra’s human rights policy, the company expects its suppliers to respect and comply with its approach to human rights. However, no requirement for suppliers to eliminate and prevent child and forced labour was found.

Living wage
The company does not disclose that it pays its workers a living wage, nor that it requires its suppliers to do so. 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 does not disclose a commitment or examples of activities to support the resilience, productivity and access to markets for farmers, fishers or small-scale producers in its supply chain.

Land rights
The company commits to respecting the legitimate tenure rights related to the ownership and use of land of local communities, and expects the same of its its suppliers. The company has an opportunity to improve by setting requirements for its supply chain to adhere to a similar standard.

Viterra commits to respecting human rights and the ILO core labour rights. It also has a publicly available statement of policy that expects its supply chain partners to commit to respecting the ILO core labour rights. In addition, the company has a grievance mechanism that is accessible to employees and external stakeholders. However, no evidence was found regarding the company’s processes to identify, assess and take action to address its human rights salient risks in its own operations and supply chain.

While the company provides limited disclosure regarding its commitment to respect the health and safety of its workers, there remains an opportunity for this commitment to be strengthened as well as for increased disclosure. No information was found regarding living wage, working hours, collective bargaining, gender equality and women’s empowerment, and workforce diversity fundamentals.

The company has a publicly available global tax strategy, laid out in its group tax policy, but can improve its score by increasing disclosure on its corporate income taxes. In terms of personal data protection, the company discloses global privacy statements relating to the collection, sharing of and access to personal data. The company also discloses its commitment to prohibit bribery and corruption in its supply chain and has a grievance mechanism in place. Furthermore, the company has a publicly available policy statement that specifies that it does not make political contributions.