China Mengniu Dairy

Stakeholder engagement
The company discloses an overview of the issues raised during its stakeholder engagement activities and states the channels it uses to engage with its stakeholder groups. Furthermore, the company’s stakeholder engagement covers nature, nutrition, and social issues.

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 has a time-bound target to reduce its scope 1 and 2 emissions.

Ecosystem conversion
The company discloses its target to achieve zero deforestation by 2030 and is committed to creating a zero deforestation value chain.

Plastic use and packaging waste
The company discloses activities related to plastic use reduction and transitioning towards sustainable packaging such as adopting one-piece injection moulding for the scoop and retaining ring to eliminate the use of wrapping film. Further, it has started adopting plant-based packaging and using plant-based lids made from sugar cane to reduce the use of PE material, while removing PETG material from the bottle label.

Water withdrawal
The company demonstrates reducing water withdrawal in its own operations.

Availability of nutritious foods
The company discloses the revenue share of three types of products: low-fat products, products with no artificially added sugar or reduced sugar, and low-sodium products.

Workforce nutrition
The company has implemented a workforce nutrition education programme via classes, live broadcasts, public articles and short videos on nutrition and health science.

No leading practices were identified in the social inclusion area.

Act ethically
The company includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its contracts with direct business relationships.

Provide and promote decent work
The company has a policy that expects its business relationships to commit to respecting the health and safety of workers and discloses how it monitors the health and safety performance of its business relationships.
Additionally, it has a public expectation that its business relationships shall not require workers to work more than 48 hours in a regular work week or 60 hours including overtime. Furthermore, it discloses the proportion of its total direct operations workforce for each employee category by age group and the proportion of women in its total direct operations workforce for each employee category.

Respect human rights
The company has a publicly available policy statement expecting suppliers to respect the ILO core labour rights.

Governance and accountability for sustainable development
The company has an opportunity to link performance criteria in senior executives’ remuneration policies to targets and objectives which cover environmental and social issues. Furthermore, it could 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 list of trade associations of which it is a member. Furthermore, it could provide a clear and detailed framework for assessing the alignment of these trade associations with its sustainability targets and report any (potential) misalignments between the lobbying activities of its trade associations and its sustainability targets.

Sustainable development strategy
The company has disclosed certain sustainability goals, particularly related to climate, but there is room for improvement in establishing comprehensive group-wide targets for the most critical segments of its value chain. While the company does provide regular reports on some of these goals, such as those related to climate, there is an opportunity to ensure consistent reporting across all its sustainability objectives.

Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
The company has an opportunity to reduce its scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions, as well as report progress against these targets. Lastly, the company could align these emissions targets with a 1.5-degree trajectory.

Animal welfare
The company has an opportunity to set animal welfare targets applicable to all species, geographies and products.

Antibiotic use and growth promoting substances
While the company states that it upholds the veterinary drug use principle of “reduced use and no antibiotics”, it has an opportunity to disclose a policy on reducing the (prophylactic) use of antibiotics and/or growth promoting substances. It could also disclose targets to phase out their use across all species, geographies and products, and report progress against the targets.

Ecosystem conversion
While the company has a target to achieve conversion-free supply chains, it could report progress against it.

Food loss and waste
The company has a chance to declare its FLW reduction targets and track progress towards achieving these targets. Additionally, the company can align its FLW reduction goal with SDG12.3, which aims to achieve a 50% reduction by 2030.

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

Water withdrawal
The company has an opportunity to disclose a time-bound target for reducing water withdrawal in its own operations and to report on the progress made towards achieving this target. Additionally, it could report on the amount of water withdrawn for its operations in water-stressed areas. Moreover, the company can engage with suppliers in order to reduce water withdrawal collectively.

Accessibility and affordability of nutritious foods
The company has an opportunity to disclose its commitment and commercial activities to improve the accessibility and affordability of nutritious foods.

Availability of nutritious foods
The company has an opportunity to adopt a nutrient profiling system that aligns with government-endorsed or externally validated nutritional guidelines and to set a sales-based target to increase the percentage of more nutritious products.

Food safety
The company has an opportunity to demonstrate that 100% of its own operations are certified to a GFSI food safety scheme/certification programme or other widely recognised (industry-specific) certification. Additionally, it can disclose the percentage of food suppliers that are certified to a GFSI-recognized food safety scheme.

Responsible marketing
The company can provide evidence of marketing activities to promote healthier and more nutritious food options in accordance with government-endorsed or externally validated nutritional guidelines. Furthermore, it has an opportunity to disclose a responsible marketing policy specifically tailored to children that is aligned with international codes and guidelines and applicable across all media channels.

Workforce nutrition
The company has an opportunity to disclose evidence of other workforce nutrition programmes, such as workplace breastfeeding support and healthy food offerings.

Child labour
The company has an opportunity to translate its statements and expectations for suppliers on the prohibition of child labour or verifying the age of workers into policy requirements. Additionally, it has an opportunity to disclose examples of remediation programmes when a case of child labour is found in its operations and to indicate how it is building the capacity of its suppliers to prevent child labour impacts.

Forced labour
While the company does not allow suppliers to retain workers’ personal documents and restrict workers’ freedom of movement, it has an opportunity to disclose similar commitments for its operations. Furthermore, it could disclose a prohibition to pay recruitment fees or related costs to secure a job for its value chain. Moreover, the company has an opportunity to indicate how it is building 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.

Land rights
The company has an opportunity to disclose a commitment to respect ownership and use of land and natural resources and related legitimate tenure rights. Furthermore, it could describe a process at its operations and supply chain level to identify legitimate tenure rightsholders when acquiring, leasing or making other arrangements to use land and to negotiate with them to provide adequate compensation.

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
While the company prohibits bribery and corruption, it has an opportunity to formalise this commitment in a public policy document. Furthermore, it could disclose its processes for identifying and addressing bribery and corruption and a grievance mechanism accessible to all stakeholders to raise bribery and corruption concerns and complaints without fear of reprisals. The company also has an opportunity to disclose its approach to lobbying and political engagement in a public policy document and state that it does not make political contributions and divulge its lobbying expenditures.

Provide and promote decent work
While the company states that it respects the health and safety of workers, it could formalise this commitment in a public policy document.

Additionally, it could disclose a time-bound target for paying all workers a living wage or state that it has achieved paying all workers a living wage. Also, the company has an opportunity to describe how it determines a living wage for the regions where it operates and how it works to support its suppliers in paying a living wage although it expects suppliers to pay a legal wage.

Furthermore, the company could commit to gender equality and women’s empowerment and disclose related targets. It could also disclose the representation of women on the highest governance body and the ratio of the basic salary and remuneration of women to men.

Respect human rights
The company has a publicly available statement committing it to respect human rights and the fundamental rights at work declared by the ILO in its operations but has an opportunity to place it in a formal policy document.

Additionally, it could describe a comprehensive process for assessing and identifying human rights risks and impacts across all its activities and supply chain, and its salient human rights issues although it conducts supply chain risk assessment. It could also specify what it considers to be salient human rights issues, how relevant factors are considered such as geographical, economic and social factors, and how it acts to prevent, mitigate or remediate its salient human rights issues through a global system.