Givaudan

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

Stakeholder engagement
The company discloses an overview of the issues raised during its stakeholder engagement activities and states the channels it uses to engage with its stakeholder groups. Furthermore, the company’s stakeholder engagement covers nature, nutrition, and social areas.

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 on progress against all its targets.

Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
The company has reduced its scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Additionally, it set time-bound targets to reduce its scope 1, 2, and 3 GHG emissions, which are in line with the 1.5-degree trajectory. Moreover, it reports progress against its scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions reductions targets.

Soil health and agrobiodiversity
The company discloses activities to improve soil health or agrobiodiversity in its production or sourcing practices. For example, the company’s Agronomy Team, working with local partner Brazbio, has been helping guarana farmers in soil preservation through regenerative agricultural practices in Brazil.

Water withdrawal
The company reports how much water is withdrawn for its own operations in water-stressed areas. Also, it engages with suppliers to reduce water withdrawal.

Availability of nutritious foods
The company provides evidence of ingredients that contribute to the reduction of salt, sodium, and fat in food products. For instance, its sugar ingredient product provides a solution that allows less or no sugar on the label for a better nutritional value.

Food safety
The company discloses that it drives the full implementation of its global food safety standards in its acquisitions and manufacturing sites. Currently, 100% of its Taste & Wellbeing manufacturing sites are Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI)-certified.

Child labour
The company verifies the age of workers recruited in its own operations by means of the Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit (SMETA) audits. Furthermore, it conducts initiatives and awareness training programmes such as the child risk assessment framework in Malaysia and the child work/labour awareness training programmes in Côte d’Ivoire to eradicate child labour in its supply chain.

Land rights
The company has a commitment to respect ownership and use of land and natural resources and related legitimate tenure rights. When acquiring, leasing land or making other arrangements, it also discloses its processes to identify legitimate tenure rights holders and negotiate with them to provide adequate compensation.

Act ethically
The company discloses a global tax strategy, and reveals that an executive level individual has responsibility for its global tax strategy. Moreover, the company has a policy prohibiting bribery and corruption, and includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its contracts with direct business relationships.

Provide and promote decent work
The company has a policy statement committing it to respect the health and safety of workers in its operations and supply chain, and provides evidence on how it monitors supplier compliance. Additionally, it publicly states that overtime work of its workers must be consensual and be paid at a premium rate. It also has a public expectation that its business relationships shall not require workers to work more than 48 hours in a regular work week or 60 hours including overtime.

Furthermore, it discloses the proportion of its total direct operations workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements. Moreover, it discloses information on the proportion of its total direct operations workforce for each employee category by age and by gender. It further reveals that it has 33% women in the board, and sets a target to achieve 50% of women in senior leadership before 2030.

Respect human rights
The company has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect human rights and the ILO fundamental rights at work in its operations and supply chain. Additionally, it describes the process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts across all its activities and supply chain. It also delineates its approach in assessing and identifying its salient human rights issues.

Furthermore, the company provides a case study describing how it has acted on a salient human rights risk issue, and engages with stakeholders whose human rights have been or may be affected by its activities. It also has a human rights grievance mechanism accessible to all workers and all external stakeholders who may be adversely impacted by the company.

Governance and accountability for sustainable development
While the company states that the board of directors has expertise in ESG, it 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
While the company states that it participates in multiple industry associations, it has an opportunity to disclose a list of trade associations of which it is a member for all the jurisdictions where it operates. The company could also 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 explain how it has responded to key issues raised by each stakeholder group and disclose specific outcomes implemented to respond to key issues for each stakeholder group, beyond materiality assessment.

Sustainable development strategy
While the company discloses some sustainability objectives/targets including climate, social inclusion, and water, 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 reduce its scope 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in line with the set target.

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 has an opportunity to align its FLW reduction goal with SDG12.3, which aims for a 50% reduction by 2030.

Soil health and agrobiodiversity
The company has an opportunity to disclose a target to improve soil health in its production or sourcing practices and report progress against it.

Water withdrawal
The company has an opportunity to disclose a time-bound target for reducing water withdrawal across its own operations and to report progress against this target. Additionally, the company has an opportunity to disclose quantitative evidence of the reductions in water withdrawal achieved across its own operations.

Availability of nutritious foods
The company has an opportunity to disclose the outcomes of its nutrition-sensitive activities and provide data demonstrating how its initiatives are contributing to addressing malnutrition.

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

Child labour
The company has an opportunity to disclose examples of remediation programmes when a case of child labour is found in its operations and to indicate a progressive trend in eliminating child labour in its supply chain. While the company prohibits suppliers from using child labour, it could require them to have an age-verification system in place.

Forced labour
While the company does not allow suppliers to retain workers’ personal documents, it has an opportunity to disclose similar commitments for its operations. Furthermore, it could prohibit the payment of recruitment fees or related costs in its value chain. To conclude, the company has an opportunity to indicate how it is building the capacity of its suppliers to prevent forced labour impacts.

Land rights
The company could require its business relationships to have a process to identify legitimate tenure rights holders and to negotiate with them to provide adequate compensation.

Living wage
While the company indicates it uses living wage benchmarks, it has an opportunity to describe the methodologies or platforms it uses to determine a living wage for the regions where it sources. Also, it has an opportunity to disclose a target for paying a living wage across its direct suppliers and disclose the percentage of workers across its own operations or direct 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. The company provides a confidential and anonymous mechanism that all employees and suppliers can access to report concerns and complaints related to bribery and corruption without fear of reprisals. However, it could clarify whether the separate grievance channel intended for other stakeholders can also be utilised for raising complaints without the risk of retaliation.

Additionally, while the company discloses that it actively engages in advocacy activities through local industry associations, there is an opportunity for the company to formalise its approach to lobbying and political engagement in a policy document. The company could further disclose that it does not make political contributions, and divulge its expenditures on lobbying activities.

Provide and promote decent work
The company has an opportunity to disclose how it determines a living wage in each region. While the company states that it pays a living wage in line with local legal standards and the ETI Base Code, the company has an opportunity to disclose that this wage is enough to provide a decent standard of living for a worker and his or her family. Moreover, while the company has set expectations on the wage paid by its suppliers, it has an opportunity to require them to pay a living wage, and disclose how it supports the payment.

Additionally, while the company is committed to diversity, it could explicitly commit to gender equality and women’s empowerment. Lastly, it has the opportunity to disclose the ratio of the basic salary and remuneration of women to men.

Respect human rights
The company explains the measures it has taken to prevent and mitigate its key human rights issues within its own operations and throughout its supply chain. However, it can elaborate on its global global system designed to address, prevent, mitigate, or remediate all of its salient human rights issues.