Ebro Foods

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

Stakeholder engagement
The company discloses the frequencies and channels it uses to engage with its stakeholder groups.

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 reduces its scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions.

Food loss and waste
The company collaborates with value chain partners to prevent FLW from being generated.

Plastic use and packaging waste
Specifically, the company has set targets for reducing virgin polymer production and overall plastic use, as well as increasing the use of reusable or refillable packaging. Regular progress reports are provided to track their advancements towards these targets.

Water withdrawal
The company reports how much water is withdrawn for its own operations in water-stressed areas.

Food safety
The company provides evidence that 100% of its own operations are certified to a Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI)-recognised food safety scheme.

No leading practices were identified in the social inclusion area.

Act ethically
The company has a policy prohibiting bribery and corruption and specifies that it does not make political contributions.

Provide and promote decent work
The company has a publicly available policy statement committing to respecting the health and safety of workers in its operations and supply chain and stating that workers shall not be required to work more than 48 hours in a regular work week or 60 hours including overtime. Additionally, it discloses the proportion of its total direct operations workforce for each employee category by age group and covered by collective bargaining agreements.
In terms of gender equality, the company discloses the proportion of women in its total direct operations workforce for each employee category and a target that the number of female directors should represent at least 40% of the board members by and beyond the end of 2022. Furthermore, it has 35.7% women on the board.

Respect human rights
The company has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect human rights.

Governance and accountability for sustainable development
While the company states it has committees responsible for supervising ESG rules, it has an opportunity to disclose having persons, teams or committees within the company who are responsible for the implementation of its sustainability strategy and to assign decision-making and oversight to its highest governance body. It could link senior executives’ compensation to sustainability targets and objectives which cover nature, including biodiversity, and social issues. Additionally, it could disclose if the highest governance body has expertise in its 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 during its stakeholder engagement activities and the outcomes of its stakeholder engagement.

Sustainable development strategy
The company discloses some sustainability objectives/targets including social inclusion; however, it has an opportunity to establish group-wide targets for the most material parts of its value chain. Furthermore, it 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 disclose reductions in Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, they can set time-bound targets in line with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5-degree pathway, as well as report progress against these 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 consider aligning its FLW reduction goal with SDG12.3, which aims for a 50% reduction by 2030.

Plastic use and packaging waste
While the company reports on the amount of plastic packaging used, it has an opportunity to reduce the amount in the future.

Soil health and agrobiodiversity
The company has an opportunity to disclose activities and targets to improve soil health or agrobiodiversity in its production or sourcing practices, and report progress against them.

Water withdrawal
The company can take advantage of an opportunity to disclose measurable evidence of reductions in water withdrawal within its own operations. Additionally, it can choose to disclose a specific target to decrease water withdrawal across its operations within a specified period, while also providing updates on the progress made towards achieving the target. Furthermore, the company has the opportunity to collaborate with suppliers in order to reduce water 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.

Clear and transparent labelling
The company has an opportunity to adopt front-of-pack labels or any other consumer- facing nutrition labels that support consumers with making healthier food choices. Furthermore, it can disclose the percentage of products for which its front-of-pack labelling schemes have been rolled out.

Food safety
The company has an opportinity to disclose the percentage of food suppliers certified to a GFSI-recognised food safety scheme.

Child labour
The company has a due diligence system on child labour in place for its operations. However, 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. While the company prohibits suppliers from using child labour, it could require them to have an age-verification system in place.

Farmer and fisher livelihoods
The company has set up initiatives to improve the productivity of the farms but it has an opportunity to demonstrate how it improves farmers’ income resilience through its procurement practices and supply chain relationships. Also, it could demonstrate how it identifies living income benchmarks and assesses living income gaps for some regions or commodities.

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.

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 describe the process for identifying its bribery and corruption risks and impacts in specific locations or activities covering its own operations and include anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its contracts with business relationships. Additionally, although the company has a mechanism for employees to raise concerns, it could clearly disclose if whistleblowers have the option to identify themselves or remain anonymous without fear of reprisals.
Concerning lobbying and political engagement, the company has an opportunity to have a policy setting out its approach. The company could disclose its expenditures on lobbying activities and requirement for third-party lobbyists to comply with its lobbying and political engagement policy.

Provide and promote decent work
When it comes to health and safety, the company has an opportunity to disclose how it monitors the health and safety performance of its suppliers.
Concerning a living wage, while the company states that it pays minimum wage to its employees, it has an opportunity to commit to paying a living wage by setting a time-bound target and disclose how it determines a living wage for the regions where it operates. Similarly, although the company has set expectations on the wage paid by its suppliers, it could add a requirement for them to pay a living wage, and disclose how it supports the payment.
In terms of gender equality and women’s empowerment, while the company has a statement on gender equality, it has an opportunity to disclose a public commitment to women’s empowerment. Also, it could disclose the ratio of the basic salary and remuneration of women to men in its total direct operations workforce for each employee category, by significant locations of operation.

Respect human rights
The company has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect specific workers’ rights in its operations and supply chain but has an opportunity to reference all the ILO fundamental rights at work. Furthermore, it could describe the process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts in specific locations or activities, covering its own operations and its supply chain and what it considers to be its salient human rights issues. Lastly, the company could also disclose the results of its human rights risk assessment and a global system to act on, prevent or mitigate its salient human rights issues.