The Hershey Company

Sustainable development strategy
The Hershey Company discloses an overview of its sustainability strategy, which includes sustainability objectives and targets covering topics across the three benchmark dimensions of environment, nutrition and social inclusion. Moreover, The Hershey Company demonstrates that it has identified and prioritised its most relevant sustainability topics through a materiality assessment. The company reports progress against its targets annually and these cover the entire value chain of the company.

Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions
The Hershey Company demonstrates leading practice in reducing scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by setting a 2030 target to reduce absolute emissions by 50%. The company reports progress against this target annually. The target is aligned with a 1.5 degrees scenario and has been approved by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTI).

Protection of terrestrial natural ecosystems
For both of its high-risk commodities, palm oil and cocoa, The Hershey Company provides evidence of working towards achieving deforestation and conversion-free (DCF) supply chains. The company has set DCF targets for both commodities, reporting that, by 2020, it will source 100% certified and sustainable Mass Balance cocoa and, by 2025, achieve a verified deforestation-free palm oil supply chain with 100% traceability to the plantation. The company reports progress against these targets annually as well as the sourcing regions of these commodities. However, it has not yet achieved 100% DCF supply chains for palm oil and cocoa.

Food safety
The Hershey Company discloses that 100% of its operations are certified to a scheme recognised by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI). Moreover, the company discloses that 89% of its suppliers are certified to GFSI recognised schemes, leaving room for the company to ensure that the remainder of its suppliers also attain certification in future reporting.

No leading practices were identified for the company in the social inclusion measurement area.

Governance and accountability for sustainable development
The Hershey Company has teams within the organisation to facilitate the implementation of its sustainability strategy, with accountability for managing sustainability across the company sitting with the vice president of corporate communications and global sustainability. Moreover, the company discloses that the board of directors is ultimately responsible for overseeing the company’s sustainability performance. However, the company has an opportunity to demonstrate that it aligns executive and/or board-level remuneration to sustainability performance.

Stakeholder engagement
While The Hershey Company refers to several stakeholder activities in its reporting, it does not provide an overview of key stakeholder groups and issues raised with them. Moreover, the company has an opportunity to disclose how it identifies stakeholders as well as how outcomes from stakeholder engagement activities are integrated into its sustainability strategy.

Plastic use and packaging waste
The Hershey Company has set targets to reduce its plastic use and transition to more sustainable forms of packaging. These targets include that, by the end of 2022, the company will eliminate hard-to-recycle materials such as PVC and by 2030, 100% of its plastic packaging will be recyclable, reusable or compostable. However, the company is yet to report progress against these targets yet. Therefore, there is an opportunity for The Hershey Company to provide quantitative evidence of how it is progressing towards these targets in future reporting.

Soil health and agrobiodiversity
The company discloses evidence of activities to improve soil health and agrobiodiversity, such as through supporting the development of agroforestry in its cocoa supply chain. However, it can strengthen its commitment by setting targets to increase the percentage of production from sustainable practices that improve soil health and agrobiodiversity, reporting progress against the targets and disclosing quantifiable data on its impact on soil health and agrobiodiversity.

Food loss and waste
The Hershey Company is addressing food loss and waste in its operations by provide evidence of recycling its food waste. However, the company has an opportunity to disclose a stronger commitment by setting targets to reduce food loss and waste across its own operations and supply chain and reporting progress against these targets regularly.

Availability of healthy foods
The Hershey Company discloses that it is introducing reformulated products, such as zero-sugar candy alternatives and high-protein snacks. However, the company should provide more supportive evidence of these activities, such as more quantitative information on its reformulation activities, to demonstrate its commitment to promoting healthier foods.

Clear and transparent labelling
The Hershey Company complies with national regulations regarding the labelling of its products and has introduced nutrition labels that can be scanned with smartphones for a portion of its products in the United States. However, the company has an opportunity to make nutritional information more visible to consumers through the adoption of front-of-pack (FOP) labels, or any other consumer-facing nutrition label, and report the percentage of products which currently meet these standards.

Responsible marketing
While the company discloses a responsible marketing policy which includes a commitment to market its products responsibly, particularly to children and young people, it has an opportunity to disclose evidence of activities promoting healthy foods.

Child labour
The Hershey Company prohibits the use of child labour in its operations and supply chain. Moreover, the company confirms that it requires suppliers to verify the age of workers . However, while the company discloses that it monitors its operations on a three-year basis, it only provides evidence of child labour monitoring for its cocoa suppliers. Indeed, it has set a goal to enrol all high-risk suppliers into its supplier audit programme by 2021, though it is unclear if this has been achieved yet, or if it covers all suppliers, in the time period analysed. Nonetheless, the company reports evidence that it works with suppliers to eliminate child labour and reports annually on the number of children identified as doing inappropriate work.

Forced labour
The Hershey Company prohibits the use of forced labour and to respecting workers’ rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining in its own operations and requires suppliers to adhere to the same standards. While the company discloses that it monitors its operations on a three-year basis, no evidence that all suppliers are regularly monitored for forced labour was found. Indeed, it has set a goal to enrol all high-risk suppliers into its supplier audit programme by 2021, though it is unclear if this has been achieved yet, or if it covers all suppliers, in the time period analysed.

Farmer and fisher productivity and resilience
Through its Cocoa for Good programme, The Hershey Company provides evidence of activities to support the resilience and productivity of farmers in its supply chain. While the company provides metrics on the scope of this programme, such as the number of farmers trained on additional livelihoods, it can improve by demonstrating that it is measuring the impact of its support activities on the farmers.

Thanks to its publicly available policies and commitments across all key topics, The Hershey Company performs strongly across key topics relating to respecting to human rights, with high disclosure on every topic. It provides commitments to respect human rights and the ILO core labour rights as well as disclosure on how it identifies and assesses its salient human rights risks and takes action to address them. Moreover, the company has grievance mechanisms in place for its operations and supply chain, which it confirms is accessible to both potentially affected workers and external parties.

The Hershey Company has in place policies or commitments on most decent work issues, including a strong disclosure on its living wage commitments. While it has addressed healthy and safe, collective bargaining and workforce diversity and gender equality issues, the company could improve further by providing more metrics on these topics. For example, in health and safety, the company could disclose information on the number and rate of high-consequences work related injuries and types of work-related injuries. Moreover, there was a lack of sufficient evidence regarding respecting working hours, including a statement that workers shall not be required to work more than 48 hours in a regular work week or 60 hours including overtime.

The Hershey Company provides strong disclosure towards eliminating bribery and corruption in its practice. Moreover, while the company addresses responsible tax and lobbying principles, there is room for The Hershey Company to provide more supporting metrics towards these commitments, including the tax paid for each tax jurisdiction where the company is a resident for tax purposes. In addition, the company can improve its commitment to protect personal data by committing to protect personal data collected beyond just its websites.