Kewpie Corporation

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

Sustainable development strategy
The company reports consistently against all its targets.

Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
The company reduces its Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions, as well as its Scope 3 emissions.

Plastic use and packaging waste
The company demonstrates commitment and partakes in activities related to plastic use reduction and transitioning towards sustainable packaging.

Water withdrawal
The company has a time-bound target to reduce water withdrawal in its own operations and reports progress against the target.

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 public commitment to safeguard personal data and also maintains a policy that strictly prohibits bribery and corruption.

Provide and promote decent work
The company has a publicly available statement of policy that expects its business relationships to commit to respecting the health and safety of their workers. Further, it discloses the proportion of women in its total direct operations workforce for each employee category. Additionally, the company aims to increase the ratio of female managers to 18% by 2024 and to 30% by 2030.

Respect human rights
The company has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect human rights and the ILO core labour rights. Additionally, the company has a publicly available policy statement expecting suppliers to respect the ILO core labour rights.

Governance and accountability for sustainable development
The company has an opportunity to link performance criteria in senior executives’ remuneration policies to targets and objectives which cover nature, including biodiversity, 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, it could provide a clear and detailed framework for assessing the alignment of these trade associations with its sustainability targets and 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.

Sustainable development strategy
The company states that it has a materiality assessment but could further disclose its process for identifying and prioritising its most relevant sustainability topics and impacts, including how external stakeholders are involved in the process and how regularly the assessment is undertaken. While it discloses some sustainability objectives/targets including social inclusion, water and climate change, 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 openly shares its CO2 emissions reduction goals, aiming for at least a 30% reduction by 2024 and a minimum of 50% by 2050, in comparison to its emissions in FY2013 [Integrated Report 2022, 10]. Regarding progress, the company achieved a reduction rate of 24.0% in FY 2021 [Integrated Report 2022, 10]. However, there is no evident commitment from the company to reduce its scope 1 and 2 emissions. Furthermore, there is an opportunity for the company to align its scope 1 and 2 emissions targets with a 1.5-degree trajectory. Additionally, disclosing a time-bound target to reduce scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions and reporting progress on these targets would also be beneficial. Lastly, aligning scope 3 emissions targets with a 1.5-degree trajectory presents an opportunity for the company.

Animal welfare
The company has an opportunity to set animal welfare targets applicable to all species, geographies and products.

Ecosystem conversion
The company has an opportunity to disclose activities and time-bound targets to achieve conversion-free supply chains.

Fertiliser and pesticide use
The company has an opportunity to disclose targets to optimise the use of fertilizers and minimise the use of pesticides in its production and/or sourcing practices, and report progress against the targets.

Plastic use and packaging waste
While the company describes its activities to reduce plastic use and transition towards sustainable packaging, it has an opportunity to disclose the associated quantitative data.

Water withdrawal
The company has an opportunity to provide quantitative evidence of reductions in water withdrawal within its own operations. Additionally, it can disclose the amount of water withdrawn for its own operations in water-stressed areas. Furthermore, the company can engage with its suppliers to actively 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. Additionally, it can disclose the percentage of products/menus 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.

Responsible marketing
The company has an opportunity to disclose its commitment to responsible marketing and its marketing activities to promote healthy food options.

Child labour
The company has an opportunity to disclose a commitment to prohibit child labour in its supply chain and an age-verification system for its value chain. Further, it could provide evidence of how it builds the capacity of its suppliers to prevent child labour impacts.

Farmer and fisher livelihoods
The company has an opportunity to identify living income benchmarks and assess living income gaps for some commodities and regions. Also, it could adopt procurement practices and develop supply chain relationships that improve farmers’ income resilience.

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.

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 states that it would strengthen internal regulations to avoid bribery, evaluate the effectiveness of the bribery prevention system, and conduct periodic evaluations with the participation of management members as required. However, it could describe the process to identify its bribery and corruption risks and impacts in specific locations or activities covering its own operations.

Furthermore, the company has an opportunity to include anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its contracts with business relationships. While the company has a mechanism for stakeholders to raise bribery and corruption concerns, it is unclear if this mechanism is accessible to all stakeholders and if complainants have the option to identify themselves or remain anonymous. Furthermore, the company could disclose its approach to lobbying and political engagement in a public policy document and specify that it does not make political contributions and to divulge its lobbying expenditures.

Provide and promote decent work
While the company states that it respects the health and safety of workers, it could formalise this commitment in a public policy document. Additionally, it could disclose how it monitors the health and safety performance of its suppliers. Furthermore, the company has an opportunity to disclose a time-bound target for paying all workers a living wage and could also disclose how it determines a living wage for the regions where it operates. Additionally, the company has an opportunity to disclose how it works to support the payment of a living wage by its suppliers. While the company has a statement on gender equality and women’s empowerment, it has an opportunity to translate the latter in a public policy document. Moreover, the company has an opportunity to disclose the ratio of the basic salary and remuneration of women to men.

Respect human rights
The company discloses that it builds mechanisms for practicing human rights due diligence in accordance with the UNGPs. Also, it discloses its human rights due diligence framework in which it conducts risk identification and assessment. However, it does not provide further details on the process. The company has an opportunity to describe the process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts in specific locations or activities, covering its supply chain. Additionally, it could describe its process for assessing and identifying what it considers to be its salient human rights issues and could also disclose the results of its human rights risk assessment. Moreover, it could disclose a global system to act on, prevent or mitigate its salient human rights issues.