Itochu

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

Sustainable development strategy
The company has group-wide targets on key sustainability topics for the most material parts of its value chain.

Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
The company is committed to reducing its scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions within a specified timeframe and reports progress against these targets. Additionally, it discloses a time-bound reduction target for its Scope 3 emissions and tracks progress against it.

Food loss and waste
Between 2021 and 2022, there was a quantitative decrease in the amount of FLW generated by the company.

Water withdrawal
The company actively focuses on reducing water withdrawal in its own operations. To provide transparency, it also reports the amount of water withdrawn for its own operations in areas that are experiencing water stress.

Workforce nutrition
The company discloses that it introduces a Wellness Cafeteria menu to promote its employees’ health.

No leading practices were identified in the social inclusion area.

Act ethically
The company has a strict policy against bribery and corruption, which is applied consistently throughout its operations. It also includes specific anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in all contracts involving direct business relationships.

Provide and promote decent work
The company provides information about the percentage of women in its workforce for different employee categories. it also discloses a target to implement a general employer action plan by the end of fiscal year 2024. This plan includes having 25% of new employees be female, 25% of the overall workforce consist of women, and 9% of the managerial positions held by women.

Respect human rights
The company has made a publicly available policy statement that demonstrates its commitment to human rights. It has established a direct hotline accessible to all workers to raise human rights complaints with the option to remain anonymous. Additionally, the company discloses its processes for identifying human rights risks and impacts within its own operations and conducts human rights risk assessments through fact-finding surveys and on-site visits alongside external experts.

Extending its efforts to its supply chain, the company has a publicly available policy statement which expects suppliers to respect the core labour rights established by the International Labour Organization (ILO). It also conducts supplier surveys as part of its due diligence process.

Governance and accountability for sustainable development
While the company discloses a remuneration policy related to sustainability, it has an opportunity to link this policy to improvement in nature-related objectives and social issues. Furthermore, it could disclose whether 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, 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 by each stakeholder group during its stakeholder engagement activities and to describe its process for engaging with stakeholder groups, beyond its materiality assessment.

Sustainable development strategy
The company has an opportunity to disclose its process for identifying and prioritising its most relevant sustainability topics and impacts. Moreover, while it reports consistently against some targets including social inclusion, water, climate and ecosystem conversion, it could report consistently against all its targets.

Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
The company has the opportunity to align its scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions targets with a 1.5-degree trajectory.

Ecosystem conversion
While the company discloses some evidence of addressing conversion, this does not guarantee DCF-aligned practices. While it has a target to achieve conversion-free supply chains, it could make it time-bound and group-wide.

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

Plastic use and packaging waste
The company has an opportunity to disclose quantitative evidence regarding plastic use reduction and use of sustainable packaging.

Water withdrawal
The company can take advantage of an opportunity to disclose a time-bound target for reducing water withdrawal in its own operations. It should also report its progress towards this target. Additionally, the company has the opportunity to engage with its suppliers and work together 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 provides examples of reformulated products. However, there is potential for improvement in reporting its overall efforts to reduce sugar, salt, and fat, and/or 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 implement front-of-pack labels or other consumer-facing nutrition labels that support consumers in making healthier food choices. Additionally, the company can disclose the percentage of products or menus that have implemented these labeling schemes.

Food safety
The company has an opportunity to showcase that all of its operations are certified to a GFSI food safety scheme/certification program or another widely recognized (industry-specific) certification. Additionally, the company can disclose the percentage of its food suppliers who are certified to 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 the presence of at least one of these two programs: nutrition-focused health check; nutrition education. It could also disclose the length covered by its parental leave policy, as well as any other breastfeeding supports such as dedicated breastfeeding rooms or flexible working hours for breastfeeding mothers. Furthermore, it has an opportunity to expand its nutrition initiatives to its supply chain workers.

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 how it is building the capacity of its suppliers to prevent child labour impacts. While the company prohibits its 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.

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 provide a clear description of its process for identifying bribery and corruption risks in specific locations or activities related to its operations. Additionally, it should clarify if all stakeholders have access to the mechanism for reporting bribery and corruption concerns.

To further enhance transparency, the company should consider establishing a policy that outlines its approach to lobbying and political engagement. While the company mentions that political donations will be made in accordance with public information disclosure standards, it could also disclose whether these donations are exceptional and provide the criteria for making them.

In order to promote transparency and accountability, the company could disclose its expenses related to lobbying activities. Furthermore, it has an opportunity to state that third-party lobbyists are expected to adhere to the company’s lobbying and political engagement policy.

Provide and promote decent work
To solidify its commitment to workers’ health and safety, the company can formalize its stance in a publicly available policy document. Additionally, it can disclose how it monitors the health and safety performance of its suppliers.

Although the company states that it pays minimum wage to its employees, it can further demonstrate its dedication by committing to pay a living wage and establishing a time-bound target for achieving this goal. It can also clarify how it determines what constitutes a living wage in the regions where it operates.
Furthermore, it could enhance its expectation on supplier wages by adding a requirement for them to pay a living wage and by supporting them in meeting this requirement.

While the company has acknowledged gender equality and women’s empowerment in a statement, it has the opportunity to translate these ideals into a public policy document. Currently, the company has a board with only 20% female representation.

Respect human rights
The company’s policy statement commits to respecting certain workers’ rights. However, it has the opportunity to address all the fundamental rights at work outlined by the International Labour Organization (ILO), such as freedom of association, collective bargaining, and protection against forced labor, child labor, and discrimination.

While the company does discuss its process for evaluating human rights risks, it could further enhance its transparency by disclosing what it considers to be its most significant human rights concerns. Furthermore, the company has the potential to reveal a global system that addresses, prevents, or mitigates these salient human rights issues.