Chipotle Mexican Grill

Governance and accountability for sustainable development
The company provides evidence of linking performance criteria in senior executives’ remuneration policies to targets and objectives which cover nature, including biodiversity, and social issues.

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. Furthermore, it reports consistently against all its targets.

Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
The company has set a target to reduce its absolute greenhouse gas (Scope 1 and 2) emissions by 50% by 2030 from a base year of 2019. These emissions reduction targets are in line with a trajectory of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees. Additionally, the company has set a target to reduce its absolute greenhouse gas Scope 3 emissions by 50% by 2030 from the same 2019 base year. These scope 3 emissions reduction targets are also aligned with a trajectory of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees.

Animal welfare
The company discloses evidence of processes of animal welfare third-party certifications or third-party audits. It also discloses a target that addresses animal welfare issues in its supply chain and reports progress against it.

Fertiliser and pesticide use
The company discloses quantitative evidence and a target on optimising the use of fertilisers in its production and/or sourcing practices, and reports progress against the target.

Plastic use and packaging waste
The company demonstrates commitment, has policies or partakes in activities related to plastic use reduction and transitioning towards sustainable packaging.

Protein diversification
The company discloses quantitative evidence of increasing alternative proteins within its portfolio.

No leading practices were identified in the nutrition area.

No leading practices were identified in the social inclusion area.

Act ethically
The company has a policy on prohibiting bribery and corruption and includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its business relationships’ contracts. Additionally, it discloses a public commitment to protect personal data.

Provide and promote decent work
The company has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect the health and safety of workers in its own operations and supply chain. It also reports the proportion of its total direct operations workforce for each employee category by race or ethnicity. Currently, women make up 33% of its Board members.

Respect human rights
The company has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect human rights, along with a grievance mechanism accessible to all workers and all external stakeholders who may be adversely impacted by the company.

Governance and accountability for sustainable development
The company 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 its materiality assessment.

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

Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
The company has an opportunity to both decrease its scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions and track its progress towards these targets. Additionally, the company can also reduce its scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions and report on its progress in meeting these scope 3 targets.

Animal welfare
While the company has a target that addresses animal welfare issues in its supply chain, it has an opportunity to make it applicable to all species, geographies and products.

Fertiliser and pesticide use
The company has an opportunity to disclose a target to minimise the use of pesticides in its production and/or sourcing practices, and report progress against it.

Food loss and waste
The company has an opportunity to disclose its food loss and waste (FLW) reduction target(s) and report progress on achieving this/these target(s). Additionally, the company can align its FLW reduction goal with SDG12.3, which aims for a 50% reduction by 2030.

Plastic use and packaging waste
The company has an opportunity to disclose quantitative evidence regarding plastic use reduction and use of sustainable packaging.

Protein diversification
The company has an opportunity to set a sales-based target to increase alternative proteins across its portfolio, as well as report progress against this target.

Soil health and agrobiodiversity
While the company states that it strives to source ingredients from farms with sustainable agriculture practices that improve soil health, it has an opportunity to disclose specific activities and targets to improve soil health or agrobiodiversity in its production or sourcing practices. It could also report progress against the targets.

Water withdrawal
The company has an opportunity to enhance its disclosures relating to water use and withdrawal.

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 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.

Food safety
The company has a chance to showcase that all of its operations are certified to a GFSI food safety scheme or another reputable industry-specific certification. Additionally, the company can also disclose the percentage of food suppliers certified to a GFSI-recognized food safety scheme.

Responsible marketing
The company can provide evidence of marketing activities to promote heathier and more nutritious food options (in accordance with a government-endorsed or externally validated nutritional guidelines). Additionally, 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.

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 the opportunity to establish a process to identify and address risks and impacts associated with bribery and corruption. Currently, the company does have a mechanism in place for stakeholders to raise concerns about bribery and corruption. However, it could further clarify if this mechanism is accessible to all stakeholders and if individuals can choose to identify themselves or remain anonymous when making a complaint.

Furthermore, the company has made its policy statement on lobbying, personal political activities, and engagement with government officials publicly available. However, it could further elaborate on its political engagement strategy and emphasize its non-participation in political contributions, or alternatively, state the criteria for any exceptions that may exist. It could also transparently disclose all lobbying expenditures.

Provide and promote decent work
The company stated that it may conduct inspections, audits, and evaluations to assess suppliers’ business practices, facilities, and accommodations, if provided. However, it has an opportunity to provide evidence of how it monitors suppliers’ compliance with its health and safety standards for workers.

In addition, the company could establish a time-bound target for ensuring all workers receive a living wage and describe the methodology used to determine the living wage in the regions where it operates. While the company has set expectations for the wages paid by its suppliers, it can further require suppliers to pay a living wage and disclose how it supports this payment.

Furthermore, the company has commitments to gender equality and women’s empowerment but could translate these statements into a public policy document and disclose a related time-bound target. The company could also disclose the ratio of basic salary and remuneration between women and men.

Respect human rights
The company has an opportunity to strengthen its commitment to the ILO’s fundamental rights at work by clarifying whether the commitment is applicable across all contexts and locations. While it expects suppliers to respect specific workers’ rights, the company could broaden its focus to encompass all the ILO fundamental rights at work.

Additionally, the company could describe the process for identifying human rights risks and impacts in specific activities or locations, covering both its operation and value chain, as well as the process for assessing and identifying its salient human rights issues. Moreover, the company could establish a global system to address its salient human rights issues by implementing preventive, mitigative, or remedial measures.