Firmenich

Sustainable development strategy
Firmenich discloses a materiality matrix which identifies and prioritises sustainability topics that are relevant to the business and that ultimately contribute to the company’s strategy. These are structured around three pillars: people, nature and climate change. As part of this process, the company discloses time-bound targets for these sustainability topics and reports progress against them in its 2020 sustainability performance report. The company’s targets are long term and cover all three benchmark dimensions (environment, nutrition and social inclusion) across the company’s own operations as well as its value chain.

Stakeholder engagement
Firmenich undertakes stakeholder engagement activities and provides an overview of the issues raised via these activities, the means by which it has engaged stakeholders and how frequently it engages with each group. The company has a process for identifying and engaging with stakeholders across its value chain, categorising them into nine groups. Through its reporting, the company provides an overview of how it has integrated the outcomes of this process into its sustainability strategy. The topics raised by the stakeholders align with the three benchmark dimensions.

Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions
Firmenich discloses its scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and reports against a target to reduce absolute Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 55% by 2030, against a 2017 base year. The targets covering GHG emissions from company operations (scopes 1 and 2) are consistent with reductions required to keep warming to 1.5 degrees and have been approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).

Availability of healthy foods
Firmenich has made a commitment to reduce calories from sugar in people’s diets by up to 2 billion calories by 2025 and 2.8 billion calories by 2030 through its work on reformulating products for other companies. Moreover, the company provides examples of improving the nutritional quality of foods through its reporting, including research and development on new natural flavour ingredients that improve salt perception and reduce sodium levels as well as quantitative evidence on reducing sugar levels.

No leading practices were identified for the company in the social inclusion measurement area.

Governance and accountability
Accountability for and oversight of its sustainability strategy lie with the company’s highest governance body, the board of directors. In its sustainability governance framework, Firmenich outlines the individuals, teams and committees, including a chief sustainability officer. Decision-making processes and oversight responsibilities, as well as its highest governance body’s remuneration policy regarding sustainability, are connected to performance in environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings, B Corp certification and the company’s 2030 ESG ambitions. However, it is not clear if the remuneration is linked to sustainability topics across all three benchmark dimensions, presenting an opportunity for the company going forward.

Protection of terrestrial natural ecosystems
Through its responsible sourcing policy, Firmenich commits to achieving deforestation and conversion-free (DCF) supply chains for its relevant high-risk commodity, palm oil, by 2021. This includes a commitment to source 100% of palm oil products that comply with Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) standards, using Mass Balance and Book & Claim systems and disclosing the proportion of it palm oil products for each RSPO standard. However, there remains an opportunity for Firmenich to improve its sourcing practices by disclosing the sourcing regions of its high-risk commodity.

Soil health and agrobiodiversity loss
Firmenich provides qualitative evidence of efforts to improve soil health and regenerative agriculture, notably through its SmartProteins solutions. However, there remains room for the company to strengthen its commitments and reporting on this topic. This could include setting targets to increase the percentage of production from sustainable practices that improve soil health and agrobiodiversity and reporting progress against the targets, or by disclosing quantifiable data on the company’s impact on soil health and agrobiodiversity.

Food loss and waste
While Firmenich demonstrates a commitment to circular economy principles and upcycling, there is a lack of evidence regarding reducing food loss and waste (FLW) across its own operations and supply chain. Therefore, there remains an opportunity for Firmenich to disclose efforts to measure FLW across its value chain and set time-bound targets to show that it is addressing the issue.

Accessibility and affordability of healthy foods
Firmenich provides evidence of addressing food insecurity through improving the accessibility and affordability of healthy foods through its Livelihoods Funds together with eight other companies. Moreover, the company discloses evidence of working with value chain partners, including the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) to reach low-income consumers with its products. However, the company does not disclose sufficient quantitative evidence on the impact of its projects that address accessibility or affordability for vulnerable groups, presenting an opportunity for the company going forward.

Workforce nutrition
Firmenich reports that it has programs related to healthy food at the workplace, including healthy food being offered to employees in workplace canteens. Moreover, the company reports that it provides a space for breastfeeding support for employees. However, the company does not disclose quantitative evidence that most of all food offerings to employees are healthy, nor that the majority of cafeteria provide healthy options, presenting an opportunity for the company for future reporting.

Food safety
The company demonstrates compliance with national regulations and guidelines on relevant food hygiene metrics and provides evidence that 100% of its own operations are certified to a food safety scheme recognised by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) and other recognised certification programmes. Nonetheless, it has an opportunity to disclose the percentage of suppliers who also meet GFSI-recognised food safety schemes, or other widely accepted industry certifications.

Child labour
While Firmenich commits to prohibiting child labour in its own operations and requires its suppliers to adhere to the same standard, it has an opportunity to disclose a coordinated and consistent monitoring system for its own operations and which covers 100% of its supply chain.

Forced labour
The company prohibits forced labour in both its own operations and supply chain and indicates that it collaborates with supply chain actors to identify associated risks and find remedies in the event forced labour could be a risk. However, no evidence was found that the company prohibits retention of workers’ personal documents or codifies this for its suppliers.

Land rights
While Firmenich commits to recognising and respecting the legitimate tenure rights related to the ownership and use of land of local communities, it does not require the same of its suppliers such as through a supplier code of conduct. It also has an opportunity to disclose the processes for providing prompt and adequate remediation that includes access to justice when legitimate rights holders are negatively affected.

Firmenich publicly discloses information on most human rights topics, including commitments to respect human rights and the rights of workers in its operations and supply chain. It has processes for engaging with external stakeholders who may be adversely impacted by its activities and grievance mechanisms which are accessible to both employees and external parties. However, there is a lack of public information regarding assessing and integrating human rights risks and impacts, including how the company assesses all salient human rights issues beyond modern slavery.

Firmenich has a collective bargaining approach that extends to its own workers and is expected of its suppliers. Moreover, the company commits to health and safety, paying a living wage, workforce diversity and women’s empowerment but could disclose more on the implementation and monitoring of these commitments. In terms of health and safety, this could include disclosing the number of hours worked, high-consequence work-related injuries and the main types of injuries within the company’s operations and supply chain. Regarding workforce diversity, the company could increase its level of disclosure on key diversity metrics by age group or region. Moreover, the company does not disclose information around regulating working hours across all the regions it operates in.

The company is committed to protecting personal data and eliminating bribery and corruption. Moreover, it discloses some information on responsible lobbying and political engagement but could clarify its approach to these topics. However, there is a lack of sufficient disclosure on responsible tax policies, or a global tax strategy, presenting a risk for the company going forward.