FMC

No leading practices were identified for the company in the governance and strategy measurement area.

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

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

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

Sustainable development strategy
FMC has a sustainability strategy that includes the prioritisation of product safety and stewardship, employee safety and well-being, and sustainable innovation, which were considered foundational to FMC’s business. Meanwhile, the pursuit of climate change mitigation, biodiversity conservation and food security were considered global challenges to which the company could make a positive contribution. All the foundational topics are linked to time-bound targets for 2025 or 2030, while only the climate component of the global challenges topics has associated targets. FMC could improve its sustainability strategy by establishing long-term targets for all the identified issues.

Governance and accountability for sustainable development strategy
FMC has a board of directors’ Sustainability Committee, an Executive Sustainability Council, an Office of the chief sustainability officer and an External Sustainability Advisory Council. The Sustainability Committee is tasked with overseeing and evaluating the effectiveness of FMC’s sustainability strategy. However, the company does not disclose its highest governance body’s remuneration policy or if it is linked to environmental, social or nutrition targets.

Stakeholder engagement
Community engagement is stated to be among FMC’s environmental, social and governance targets. The company discloses that it follows the Global Reporting Initiative’s standards for stakeholder engagement. Its lists the stakeholder groups it engaged with, the channels of engagement and the key topics addressed with each group, such as hunger, disaster relief, endangered species, climate change, fair wages and labour, diversity and inclusion. FMC could improve by disclosing its criteria for prioritizing stakeholders for engagement.

Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions
FMC has a target to reduce its GHG emissions intensity by 25% by 2030, against a 2018 baseline. It also discloses its scope 1 and 2 emissions and reports progress against its target, which stood at 15.3% in 2020. However, the company’s strategy is not aligned with a 1.5-degree trajectory.

Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions
FMC has calculated some of its scope 3 emissions and published these in a CDP Climate Change Report in 2020, but no targets or reductions are associated with these emissions at this time. FMC’s initiatives for reducing its scope 3 emissions are currently still mostly related to mapping its supply chain’s impact.

Soil health and agrobiodiversity
FMC invests in research and development (R&D) to better understand soils and create biopesticides, which are products that introduce certain microorganisms into a field to manage the overall microbiodiversity in the field, increasing agrobiodiversity at the micro level. However, no targets related to this are disclosed.

Fertiliser and pesticide use
FMC provides qualitative evidence of optimising pesticide use in its value chain through local projects such as supporting use of biopesticides and similar products in Brazil, and training farmers on correct pesticide application techniques in India. Furthermore, the company also has a target to ensure all of its R&D budget is spent on sustainability-advantaged products by 2025, and reports progress against the target. However, the company has an opportunity to strengthen its commitment by setting targets to optimise the use of pesticides and fertilisers across its value chain, and reporting progress against the target.

Water use
While FMC has a target to reduce water use intensity at high-risk locations (water-stressed areas) by 20% by 2030, it does not have a target to reduce water withdrawals.

Plastic use and packaging waste
FMC funds the Ag Container Recycling Council, which collects and recycles agricultural crop protection and other containers at no cost to consumers. The company also launched Vantacor™ Insect Control in 2020, a concentrated version of its active ingredient Rynaxypyr, which requires approximately 12 times less packaging. However, no targets were found related to plastic use reduction in the company’s own operations.

Availability of healthy foods
While the company has a commitment to increase the availability of healthy and nutritious foods, it has an opportunity to undertake activities that contribute to increasing the production, quality and/or variety of healthy and nutritious foods.

Accessibility and affordability of healthy foods
The company does not disclose a commitment to address food insecurity by improving the accessibility and affordability of healthy and nutritious foods.

Workforce nutrition
The company does not disclose a workforce nutrition programme that prioritises making healthy foods the standard in the workplace.

Farmer and fisher productivity and resilience
FMC collaborates with the Australia-Indonesia Partnership for Promoting Rural Incomes through Support for Markets in Agriculture, aiming to increase Indonesian smallholders’ competitiveness and access to new markets and technology, engaging more than 8,500 farmers across the country. FMC India also works with the South Asia Biotechnology Centre to launch Project SAFFAL (Safeguarding Agriculture and Farmers against Fall Armyworm) to educate farmers about fall armyworm, reaching over 7,000 farmers in its first year through dedicated training workshops across 11 states. The company also has an awareness-raising campaign in India on the correct use of pesticides, which has trained 9,000 farmers.

Child labour
The company does not disclose a commitment to prohibit child labour in its operations nor in its supply chain.

Forced labour
While the company commits to prohibiting forced labour in its own operations and supply chain, it has an opportunity to disclose a requirement that prohibits its suppliers from retaining workers’ personal documents or restricting workers’ freedom of movement.

Living wage
The company does not disclose that it pays its workers a living wage or requires its suppliers to do the same. Neither has it set targets to do so in the future.

Health and safety of vulnerable groups
The company does not disclose that it specifically recognises the health and safety risks to vulnerable groups, such as migrant and temporary labourers, women and young farmers.

Land rights
The company does not commit to recognising and respecting the legitimate tenure rights related to the ownership and use of land of local communities.

FMC commits to respecting human rights and the ILO core labour rights and has a publicly available statement that codifies a similar expectation for its supply chain partners. The company also makes a grievance mechanism publicly available. However, disclosure on identifying and assessing human rights is lacking.

FMC commits to the health and safety of its workers in its own operations and along its supply chain but does not explain how it ensures them. The company shows evidence of collective bargaining in its own operations and could benefit from supporting its supply chain partners in doing the same. FMC has a target of 50% women in the global workforce by 2027, but female leadership is lacking. Commitments to paying a living wage and placing limits on total working hours throughout the supply chain are also lacking.

FMC commits to personal data protection that is collected on its website. The company has an anti-bribery and anti-corruption commitment and a whistle-blower mechanism, but it does not disclose how it identifies those cases and their impacts. Neither does FMC disclose any policies regarding responsible tax or political engagement, showing a lack of transparency regarding these issues.