Brown-Forman

Lobbying and advocacy
The company discloses a list of trade associations of which it is a member.

Sustainable development strategy
The company discloses its process for identifying and prioritising its most relevant sustainability impacts as well as the outcome of this process, in relation to its sustainability strategy.

Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
The company is committed to reducing its scope 1 and 2 emissions within a specified timeframe. It regularly reports on its progress towards these targets. Additionally, the company actively works to minimize its scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, the company has set a time-bound target to reduce its scope 3 emissions as well.

Plastic use and packaging waste
The company demonstrates commitment related to plastic use reduction and transitioning towards sustainable packaging.

Soil health and agrobiodiversity
The company discloses activities to improve soil health or agrobiodiversity in its production or sourcing practices.

Water withdrawal
The company demonstrates reducing water withdrawal in its own operations. Additionally, it reports how much water is withdrawn for its own operations in water-stressed areas.

No leading practices were identified in the nutrition area.

No leading practices were identified in the social inclusion area.

Act ethically
The company openly commits to protecting personal data and maintains a policy that strictly prohibits bribery and corruption. It also incorporates anti-bribery and anti-corruption provisions into its contracts with direct business partners. To ensure the safety of individuals reporting concerns or complaints regarding bribery and corruption, the company provides an email address, hotline number, and website, guaranteeing that no reprisals will occur.

Provide and promote decent work
The company publicly commits to respecting the health and safety of its workers and expects its business relationships to uphold the same standard. Moreover, it discloses the proportion of its total direct operations workforce for each employee category, categorized by age group. Additionally, it provides information on the proportion of women in its total direct operations workforce for each employee category.

In terms of diversity targets, the company aims to achieve 50% representation of women in professional and leader-level roles and 40% in senior leadership positions by 2030. It also strives to have 16% of its spending allocated to women or minority-owned businesses in locations where diversity categories are tracked by the government. The company reports having a total of 12 board members, 4 of whom are female. This represents a percentage of women on the board at 33.33%.

Respect human rights
The company has a publicly available policy statement that commits to respecting human rights and the ILO core labor rights. Additionally, the company’s policy statement also expects its suppliers to respect the ILO core labor rights.

Governance and accountability for sustainable development
The company discloses a remuneration policy related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) but could further link this policy to improvement in nature-related objectives and disclose detailed information regarding its remuneration policy related to DEI. Moreover, it has an opportunity to disclose whether its highest governance body has expertise with respect to the company’s most material sustainability topics.

Lobbying and advocacy
The company has an opportunity to disclose a clear and detailed framework for assessing alignment of its trade associations with its sustainability targets. Additionally, it can report any (potential) misalignments between the lobbying activities of its trade associations and its sustainability targets.

Stakeholder engagement
The company has an opportunity to disclose an overview of the issues raised by each stakeholder group during its stakeholder engagement activities and to describe its process, including frequencies and channels, for engaging with stakeholder groups beyond materiality assessment.

Sustainable development strategy
The company discloses some sustainability objectives/targets including climate and social inclusion but could establish group-wide targets for the most material parts of its value chain. While it reports against some targets including climate and social inclusion, it has an opportunity to report consistently against all its targets.

Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
The company has an opportunity to align its scope 1 and 2 emissions targets with a 1.5-degree trajectory. Additionally, the company can work towards reducing its scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions and reporting progress against these targets. It is also possible to align the company’s scope 3 emissions targets with a 1.5-degree trajectory.

Plastic use and packaging waste
While the company describes its commitments to reduce plastic use and transition towards sustainable packaging, it has an opportunity to disclose the associated quantitative data.

Soil health and agrobiodiversity
While the company discloses its target to engage with 100% of its farmers on regenerative agricultural practices by 2025, it has an opportunity to disclose a target to improve soil health in its production or sourcing practices and report progress against it.

Water withdrawal
The company has set a target to achieve water balance in 100% of its high-risk and business critical watersheds by 2030. However, it currently has an opportunity to report on its progress towards this goal. Additionally, the company has the chance to work with its suppliers to reduce water withdrawal.

Availability of nutritious foods
The company has an opportunity to demonstrate how it is improving the nutritional quality of its products and to set targets to increase the share of more nutritious products in its portfolio.

Clear and transparent labelling
The company 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.

Food safety
The company has an opportunity to disclose its commitment to food safety and demonstrate that its operations and supply chain adhere to food safety standards.

Forced labour
The company has an opportunity to disclose forced labour requirements for its operations and supply chain such as a prohibition to pay recruitment fees, to retain workers’ personal documents or to restrict workers’ freedom of movement. Further, it could provide evidence of how it builds the capacity of its suppliers to prevent forced labour impacts.

Health and safety of vulnerable groups
The company has an opportunity to recognise and assess the health and safety risks to vulnerable groups, such as migrant and temporary labourers, women and young farmers. Furthermore, it could provide evidence of support activities that improve the health and safety of vulnerable groups.

Living wage
The company has an opportunity to set a target for paying a living wage across its direct suppliers and describe how it determines a living wage for the regions where it sources. Also, it could disclose the percentage of workers across its own operations or suppliers that are paid a living wage.

Act ethically
The company has a process in place for identifying bribery and corruption; however, it could further disclose the details of this process. Furthermore, the company has an opportunity to develop a policy that outlines its approach to lobbying and political engagement.

Additionally, the company could disclose a publicly available policy statement stating that it does not make political contributions, and reveal its expenditures on lobbying activities to enhance transparency. Finally, the company should also consider disclosing that it requires third-party lobbyists to adhere to its lobbying and political engagement policy.

Provide and promote decent work
The company has an opportunity to improve transparency regarding how it monitors the health and safety performance of its suppliers. In addition to paying minimum wage to its employees, the company could consider setting a specific timeframe to commit to paying a living wage and disclosing its methodology for determining a living wage in the regions it operates.

Furthermore, while the company already expects its suppliers to meet certain wage standards, it should also require them to pay a living wage and provide details on how it facilitates this payment. Additionally, the company could publicly commit to gender equality and women’s empowerment as well as disclose the ratio of basic salary and remuneration between women and men in its direct operations workforce.

Respect human rights
The company has the chance to explain how it identifies human rights risks and impacts in specific locations or activities related to its own operations. Although the company states that it conducts due diligence in general, it should specify that it also conducts due diligence on human rights in its supply chain. Additionally, the company could outline its process for assessing and identifying its most significant human rights issues. It would be beneficial for the company to disclose the findings of its human rights risk assessment and establish a global system to address, prevent, or alleviate these significant human rights issues.