WH Group

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
WH Group discloses a process for identifying the most material topics to be addressed by it, as well as a materiality matrix categorizing topics by their importance to the company. Those topics span all three pillars of this benchmark, which are nutrition, social inclusion and environment. However, not all of those topics have associated targets.

Governance and accountability for sustainable development strategy
WH Group discloses that it has an environment, society and governance (ESG) committee within its board of directors. However, no links between remuneration and sustainability-related objectives are disclosed.

Stakeholder engagement
WH Group provides a list of stakeholders they engage with, such as investors, employees, suppliers, and regulators, and this engagement covers all three pillars of this benchmark. However, the process for identifying stakeholders is not disclosed, and the way that this engagement is integrated into the sustainability strategy is not explained.

Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
While WH Group discloses a target for a subsidiary to reduce its GHG emissions, it does not accompany this with a group-wide target and also reports an increase in scope 1 and 2 emissions between 2017 and 2019.

Scope 3 emissions
The company does not disclose quantitative evidence to demonstrate that it is reducing its scope 3 GHG emissions at the group level.

Soil health and agrobiodiversity and fertiliser and pesticide use
While WH Group collaborates with the Environmental Defence Fund (EDF) to optimize fertilizer use and improve soil quality in their supply chain, as well as providing agronomic advice to farmers to use manure as fertiliser, it has an opportunity to set a requirement for suppliers to adopt sustainable practices that improve soil health and increase agrobiodiversity through its sourcing or procurement policies. Furthermore, the company can set targets to increase the percentage of food sourced from sustainable practices that improve soil health and agrobiodiversity, and report progress against the targets.

Water use
While the company discloses its water consumption, it does not demonstrate quantitative reductions in water withdrawals across its own operations.

Animal welfare
While WH Group has a commitment on animal welfare, discloses that it carries out related audits ifor one subsidiary and has globally recognised certifications for some units, the company does not disclose that it addresses specific animal welfare issues for its relevant key species globally.

Antibiotic use and growth-promoting substances
While the company has a commitment on reducing the use of prophylactic antibiotics in its supply chain, this does not apply to all species, geographies and products relevant to the company.

Availability of healthy foods
While WH Group discloses that it has introduced reformulated products with lowered level of sodium and saturated fat, it has an opportunity to disclose quantitative information of its reformulation efforts regarding these key nutrients.

Accessibility and affordability of healthy foods
The company does not disclose a commitment and activities to improve the accessibility and affordability of healthy foods for vulnerable groups.

Clear and transparent labelling
While the company discloses a commitment of compliance 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.

Responsible marketing
The company has a responsible marketing approach that aligns with international codes and guidelines across the US, China and Europe, but does not provide evidence of supporting activities to promote healthy 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 recognised by the Global Food Safety Initiative or other widely recognised (industry-specific) certification.

Farmer and fisherman resilience
WH Group discloses activities to support farmer productivity, such as its partnership with the North Carolina Agricultural Consultants Association to provide independent consulting to growers. However, the company does not provide quantitative data regarding the impact of its programs on farmer productivity.

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

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.

Land Rights
The company does not commit to recognising and respecting the legitimate tenure rights related to the ownership and use of land of local communities.

While addressing human rights and the ILO core labour rights in its reporting, WH Group does not disclose a policy commiting to respectthese rights. WH Group provides a grievance mechanism for workers, but does not disclose whether this is accessible to external individuals and communities nor whether it allows for anonymous reporting. WH Group does not provide evidence of a human rights due diligence process nor how it engages with affected and potentially affected stakeholders.

While addressing the health and safety of workers in its reporting, WH Group does not disclose a policy committing to respect the health and safety of its workers nor a statement expecting its suppliers to do so. Moreover, the company can improve its quantitative health and safety reporting by disclosing the number and rate of high-consequence injuries in the workplace, for example. WH Group commits to advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment and discloses the proportions of its total workforce by gender, by employment category. However, it lacks disclosure on gender pay gaps and other markers of workforce diversity such as ethnicity. No commitments and policies on the other decent work topics – living wage, working hours, and collective bargaining – were found.

Although WH Group addresses bribery and corruption in its reporting, it does not disclose a policy commitment to prohibit these practices in its operations nor evidence that it includes related clauses in its contracts with business relationships. Moreover, WH Group has an opportunity to broaden the scope of its commitment to protect personal data so that it covers all groups the company gathers data from, as well as to disclose a privacy statement on the use of personal data. WH Group does not disclose a global tax strategy nor a policy setting out its approach to lobbying and political engagement. Neither does the company report on lobbying expenses and tax expenses per jurisdiction.