Lamb Weston

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 area.

Sustainable development strategy
Within its sustainability strategy, the company has set goals across the three benchmark dimensions of environment, nutrition and social inclusion. Specifically, Lamb Weston has updated its 2020 goals and extended these commitments to 2030. Key areas covered are food safety, sustainable agriculture, sourcing, producing and packaging. However, it is yet to report on performance metrics for its activities in Australia and Argentina. The company has an opportunity for improvement in its next reporting cycle.

Governance and accountability for sustainable development
The company has an internal environmental, social and governance (ESG) committee that is responsible for strategy development, management and communication of ESG programmes. The board of directors is responsible for reviewing the company’s 2030 sustainability goals and the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee regularly reviews the performance and progress against targets. The company can improve its performance by disclosing more information about the decision-making and oversight process of its highest governance body. Moreover, no evidence was found of the remuneration policy for executives and/or board members being linked to sustainability performance.

Stakeholder engagement
Lamb Weston demonstrates that it undertakes stakeholder engagement activities and provides a list of the stakeholders consulted. While the company shows that it engages with stakeholders on topics across the three benchmark dimensions, it can improve its disclosure by describing in detail the process for identifying key stakeholders and it engagement methods.

Scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions
The company is committed to a 20% reduction of scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions per pound produced by 2030, and it reports progress against the target. While the company has committed to validating the target through the Science Based Targets initiative, it is not clear whether the target covers company’s global operations. Moreover, Lamb Weston can strengthen its commitment by setting a target to reduce its scope 3 emissions.

Soil health and agrobiodiversity, and fertiliser and pesticide use
Through the Soil Health Initiative, Lamb Weston promotes soil management practices such as crop rotation and cover cropping. This initiative uses science-based research to better understand soil biology, physical properties and other critical factors to help farmers in their practices. Moreover, the company supports farmers with optimal nutrient application data and encourages them to seek alternatives to minimise the use of pesticides. It further measures the impact of its sustainable agriculture practices. While the company reports progress on key metrics for its North America and China operations, it can improve its performance by disclosing information for the rest of its operations.

Water use
The company has set a target of a 20% reduction in water use per pound produced by 2030. Because of the recent establishment of the target, the company is yet to report progress against it. Additionally, the company can strengthen its target by extending it to all its operations globally. Moreover, Lamb Weston conducted a water-risk assessment in 2019 and determined that most of its growers are located in regions where the risk of water scarcity is low or medium. High water risk areas have been identified in US and China.

Food loss and waste
The company has set a target to reduce food waste from production by 50% by 2030. The commitment covers its North America and China operations. However, the company has an opportunity to improve its performance by reporting progress against the target and by expanding it to the rest of its operations.

Availability of healthy foods
While the company states that its global and food service products made in North America and China comply with certain standards (e.g. no trans-fat, no hydrogenated oils, sodium reduction), it lacks evidence of reformulation activities to uphold these standards and improve the nutritional quality of its portfolio. The company can improve its performance by reporting on the reduction of salt and fat in its portfolio. Moreover, no evidence of a commitment to increase the share of healthy products was found.

Clear and transparent labelling
While the company discloses a commitment to comply with national regulations in the United States regarding labelling, it has an opportunity to strengthen its commitment to make nutrition information more visible and transparent to consumers and to adopt front-of-pack labels and/or any other consumer-facing nutrition label.

Food safety
While the company discloses compliance with national regulations, it has an opportunity to strengthen its commitment by disclosing the percentages of its own operations that are certified against a food safety scheme/certification programme recognised by the Global Food Safety Initiative.

Child labour
While the company 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 policy requiring its suppliers to have an age-verification system in place.

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 and/or restricting workers’ freedom of movement.

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

Farmers productivity and resilience
Lamb Weston commits to enhancing farmer resilience across its growing regions by advancing farmworker safety, food safety and sustainable agriculture practices. Specifically, the company has developed programmes to provide farmers with data on best agricultural practices that can help with farming decisions regarding minimising pesticide, fertiliser and water use while optimising yields and crop quality. The company can improve its performance by reporting on the impact of these activities.

Lamb Weston commits to respecting the human rights of workers in its supply chain but does not commit to upholding freedom of association and collective bargaining. Moreover, the company provides grievance mechanisms for its workers and third parties, but it is not clear whether these mechanisms are available in all the countries where the company operates. In addition, Lamb Weston lacks a sufficient overall human rights commitment, and no evidence of a human rights due diligence process was found in the public domain.

The company publicly commits to respecting the health and safety of workers in its own operations and supply chain but can strengthen its commitment by disclosing how it monitors the health and safety performance of workers in its supply chain. Moreover, no evidence of commitments or policies related to other key decent work issues – collective bargaining, workforce diversity, payment of a living wage and gender equality – was found in the public domain.

Lamb West discloses a policy statement on bribery and corruption, but there remains an opportunity for this commitment to be strengthened as well as for increased disclosure. Regarding tax, the company discloses little information, and no publicly available tax strategy was found. In addition, the company does not demonstrate a sufficient commitment to responsible lobbying and political engagement and does not report on key metrics related to this topic.