E-Mart

Stakeholder engagement
The company discloses an overview of the issues raised during its stakeholder engagement activities and the channels it uses to engage with its stakeholder groups. Issues raised include sustainable eco-friendly products, value-oriented consumption, reasonable and convenient shopping environment, customer satisfaction, privacy protection, investment in local communities and revitalizing local economies.

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. This includes a double materiality assessment, which is regular and ongoing. Issues derived are reflected in its sustainability management strategies.

Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
The company has a time-bound target to reduce its scope 1 and 2 emissions. Its discloses that its medium and long term GHG reduction goal is to reduce carbon emissions  by 25% by 2030.

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. Additionally, it discloses quantitative data with regards to plastic use reduction and use of sustainable packaging.

Sustainable fishing and aquaculture
The company demonstrates a strong commitment to sustainable fishing and aquaculture by providing qualitative evidence and adhering to environmental sourcing criteria. It reports the number of commodities certified by the Marine Stewardship Council and outlines steps taken for more sustainable sourcing of fisheries, including antibiotic-free certified products and ASC-certified imported products.

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 grievance mechanism for stakeholders to report concerns and complaints regarding bribery and corruption. Reporting channels include the Support Channel Helpline, managed by Shinsegae Group, and Singmungo, Emart’s own reporting channel.

Provide and promote decent work
The company publicly states that workers shall not be required to work more than 48 hours in a regular work week or 60 hours including overtime.

Respect human rights
The company indicates it has a human rights grievance mechanism accessible to all workers and external stakeholders who may be adversely impacted by the company. Emart runs a corporate reporting system, where anyone can report wrong doings that violate internal policies or the public interest. Reporting channels include the Support Channel Helpline and Singmungo.

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 nature, including biodiversity, and social issues. Furthermore, it has an opportunity to disclose if 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, the company can provide a clear and detailed framework for assessing the alignment of these trade associations with its sustainability targets. Additionally, the company 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 the outcomes of its stakeholder engagement.

Sustainable development strategy
While the company discloses some sustainability objectives/targets including those related to climate, there is room to establish group-wide targets for the most material parts of its value chain. Additionally, the company has an opportunity to report consistently against all its targets.

Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
The company has the opportunity to report progress on its scope 1 and 2 emissions targets and align them with a 1.5-degree trajectory. Additionally, it can reduce its greenhouse gas emissions in scope 1 and 2. There’s also a chance to decrease scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions. To demonstrate commitment, the company can disclose a time-bound target for reducing scope 3 emissions and report progress. Furthermore, it can align scope 3 emissions targets with a 1.5-degree trajectory.

Antibiotic use and growth promoting substances
While the company states that some of its products hold the antibiotics-free certification, it has an opportunity to disclose a policy on reducing the prophylactic use of antibiotics and growth promoting substances. It could disclose targets to phase out the prophylactic use of antibiotics across all species, geographies and products, and report progress against them.

Ecosystem conversion
The company has an opportunity to disclose its efforts to avoid ecosystem conversion, including deforestation or restoration. The company could develop a strategy and publicly report on specific, time-bound targets.

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

Sustainable fishing and aquaculture
Although the company shows a dedication to sustainable fishing and aquaculture, it could further improve by providing measurable data showcasing its progress in this area. One way to achieve this is by disclosing targets for sustainable fisheries and aquaculture for its entire portfolio, and regularly reporting on the progress made towards these 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 currently provides examples of reformulated products. However, there is potential for improvement in reporting its overall efforts to reduce sugar, salt, and fat, and increase the presence of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and whole grains in its entire portfolio. Additionally, there is an opportunity for the company to adopt a nutrient profiling system and to set a sales-based target to increase the proportion of more nutritious products.

Clear and transparent labelling
The company has an opportunity to disclose how it provides nutritional information on its products and how it supports consumers with making healthy food choices through its labelling schemes.

Food safety
The company has an opportunity to showcase its commitment to food safety by certifying all of its own operations to a GFSI food safety scheme/certification program or a similarly recognized certification specific to the industry. Additionally, the company can disclose the percentage of food suppliers that have achieved certification under a GFSI-recognized food safety scheme.

Responsible marketing
The company has an opportunity to disclose its commitment to responsible marketing and its marketing activities to promote healthy food options.

Workforce nutrition
The company has an opportunity to disclose evidence of workforce nutrition programmes.

Child labour
The company has an opportunity to disclose a commitment to prohibit child labour in its supply chain and establish an age-verification system for its value chain. Further, it could provide evidence of how it builds the capacity of its suppliers to prevent child labour impacts.

Farmer and fisher livelihoods
The company has an opportunity to identify living income benchmarks and assess living income gaps for some commodities and regions. Also, it could adopt procurement practices and develop supply chain relationships that improve farmers’ income resilience.

Forced labour
The company has the opportunity to disclose forced labour requirements for its operations and supply chain. Specifically, it could prohibit the payment of recruitment fees, the retention of workers’ personal documents, and the restriction of workers’ freedom of movement. Furthermore, 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.

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
The company has an opportunity to disclose a publicly available policy statement prohibiting bribery and corruption, and to include anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its contracts with business relationships. Furthermore, it could describe the process for identifying its bribery and corruption risks and impacts in specific locations or activities covering its own operations.

Additionally, the company has an opportunity to have a policy setting out its lobbying and political engagement approach and specifying that it does not make political contributions. Moreover, it could disclose its expenditures on lobbying activities.

Provide and promote decent work
The company has an opportunity to disclose a policy statement committing to respect the health and safety of workers, and extend the same commitment to its suppliers. It could also disclose how it monitors the health and safety performance of its suppliers.
Additionally, the company has an opportunity to disclose a time-bound target for paying all workers a living wage or that it has achieved this goal. Furthermore, it could disclose how it determines a living wage for the regions where it operates and how it works to support the payment of a living wage by its suppliers.

Furthermore, the company has an opportunity to disclose a public commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment, along with time-bound targets. It could also disclose that it has at least 30% women on the board and the ratio of the basic salary and remuneration of women to men.

Respect human rights
The company has an opportunity to disclose a policy statement committing it to respect human rights. Currently, it has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect specific workers’ rights in its operations and supply chain, but it could reference all the ILO fundamental rights at work.

Moreover, the company has an opportunity to describe the process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts in its operations and supply chain. Furthermore, it could disclose its process for assessing and identifying what it considers to be its salient human rights issues. Lastly, it has an opportunity to disclose a global system to act on, prevent or mitigate its salient human rights issues.