Restaurant Brands International

Lobbying and advocacy
The company discloses a list of trade associations of which it is a member. The list covers multiple jurisdictions in which it operates.

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 discloses its targets for reducing scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 50% before 2030 compared to the 2019 base year and to reach net zero by 2050. Notably, the company’s targets for scope 1 and 2 emissions align with a 1.5-degree trajectory.

In addition, the company has also disclosed its target to reduce the intensity of scope 3 GHG emissions by 50% before 2030, based on the 2019 base year. This target has been approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and is based on the SBTi Criteria and Recommendations. The company’s scope 3 emissions target is also aligned with a 1.5-degree trajectory.

Plastic use and packaging waste
The company partakes in activities related to plastic use reduction and transitioning towards sustainable packaging. For instance, one of its subsidiary brands has launched a strawless cold beverage lid in Canada and the US that uses 15% less plastic than the former lid-and-straw combination.

No leading practices were identified in the nutrition area.

No leading practices were identified in the social inclusion area.

Act ethically
The company has a grievance mechanism for stakeholders to raise concerns and complaints regarding bribery and corruption. Furthermore, the company includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its contracts with direct business relationships.

Provide and promote decent work
The company has a publicly available policy statement in which it commits to respecting the health and safety of workers and expects its business relationships to commit to do so. Furthermore, it discloses how it monitors the health and safety performance of its business relationships.

Moreover, the company discloses the proportion of women in its total direct operations workforce for each employee category and that 3 out of 10 of its board of directors are female. In addition, it aims to increase the representation of women directors by at least 30% by 2024.

Respect human rights
The company has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect human rights. Additionally, the company indicates that it has a human rights grievance mechanism accessible to all workers and to all external stakeholders who may be adversely impacted by the company.

Governance and accountability for sustainable development
The company has an opportunity to link performance criteria in senior executives’ remuneration policies to targets and objectives that cover environmental 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 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 disclose an overview of the issues raised by each stakeholder group during its stakeholder engagement activities and to describe its process, including frequencies and channels, for engaging with stakeholder groups beyond materiality assessment.

Sustainable development strategy
While the company discloses some sustainability objectives/targets including climate and ecosystem conversion, 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 the opportunity to reduce its scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas emissions, as well as report progress against these targets.

Ecosystem conversion
The company discloses some evidence of addressing conversion. However, this does not guarantee DCF-aligned practices. Moreover, while it has a target to achieve conversion-free supply chains, it could cover all high-risk commodities.

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.

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 discloses that in 2019, it reviewed its permanent menu items at Burger King US and developed new recipes, resulting in a sodium reduction of up to 18% on those products. However, there is potential for improvement in reporting its overall efforts to reduce sugar, salt, and fat, and increase the presence of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and whole grains in its global portfolio. Additionally, there is an opportunity for the company to adopt a nutrient profiling system and set a sales-based target to increase the proportion of more nutritious products, aligning with government-endorsed or externally validated nutritional guidelines.

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 menus for which its front-of-pack labelling schemes have been rolled out.

Food safety
The company has an opportunity to demonstrate that 100% of its own operations are certified to a GFSI food safety scheme or other widely recognised (industry-specific) certification. Additionally, it can disclose the percentage of food suppliers certified to a GFSI-recognised food safety scheme.

Child labour
The company could provide examples of remediation programmes when a case of child labour is found in its operations and indicate how it is building the capacity of its suppliers to prevent child labour impacts. While the company has in place expectations on the prohibition of child labour for its suppliers, it could disclose related policy requirements including the use of an age verification system for the workers recruited.

Farmer and fisher livelihoods
While the company has set up brand initiatives to support smallholder coffee farming families and states that it aims to improve the livelihoods of coffee farmers, it has an opportunity to provide more evidence of these efforts and disclose how it works to increase farmers’ income resilience through its procurement practices or supply chain relationships. Also, it could identify living income benchmarks and assess living income gaps for some regions or commodities.

Forced labour
While the company does not allow suppliers to retain workers’ personal documents or restrict workers’ freedom of movement, 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.

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 commitment to prohibiting bribery and corruption, but could formalise this commitment in a public policy document. Furthermore, it has an opportunity to describe the process for identifying its bribery and corruption risks and impacts in specific locations or activities covering its own operations.

In regard to political contributions, the company states that such contributions are made only after approval from its general counsel or government relations department. However, the company could disclose whether these contributions are made as exceptions and the criteria for making them.

While the company discloses some information on its lobbying expenditures, it could further disclose expenditures in all locations where lobbying activities take place or specifying if it is limited to specific countries or regions. Lastly, the company could also disclose that it requires third-party lobbyists to adhere to its guidelines to ensure compliance with its lobbying and political engagement policy.

Provide and promote decent work
While the company states that it offers wage rates that are competitive within the labour markets where it operates and that meet or exceed all applicable legal requirements, it has an opportunity to commit to paying a living wage by setting a time-bound target. Furthermore, it could also disclose how it determines a living wage for the regions where it operates and how it works to support the payment of a living wage by its suppliers.

Moreover, while the company has a statement on gender equality and women’s empowerment, it has an opportunity to translate the latter into a public policy document. Additionally, it could disclose the ratio of the basic salary and remuneration of women to men in its total direct operations workforce for each employee category, by significant locations of operation.

Respect human rights
The company has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect specific workers’ rights but has an opportunity to reference all of the ILO fundamental rights at work. Similarly, while expecting its suppliers to commit to respect ILO fundamental rights, it could use stronger language to turn the statement into a formal commitment.

Furthermore, it could describe the process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts in specific locations or activities, covering its own operations and supply chain. Additionally, the company could describe its process for assessing and identifying what it considers to be its salient human rights issues and the results of its human rights risk assessment. Moreover, the company could disclose a global system to act on, prevent or mitigate its salient human rights issues.