Union Invivo

No leading practices were identified in the governance and strategy area.

Soil health and agrobiodiversity
The company discloses activities and targets to improve soil health or agrobiodiversity in its production or sourcing practices, and reports progress against the targets.

No leading practices were identified in the nutrition area.

Farmer and fisher livelihoods
As a national union of agricultural cooperatives, the company discloses various programmes and platforms it has developed to improve the competitiveness of cooperatives, improve farmers’ incomes, facilitate market access and professionalise the farms.

Act ethically
The company has a policy prohibiting bribery and corruption.

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. It also discloses the proportion of women in its total direct operations workforce for each employee category.

Governance and accountability for sustainable development
The company states it has a CSR committee who is responsible for monitoring its CSR strategy but could further clarify whether this strategy covers both environmental and social aspects. Furthermore, it could link performance criteria in senior executives’ remuneration policies to targets and objectives which cover nature, including biodiversity, and social issues, and 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 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
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. While it discloses certain sustainability objectives, including those related to social inclusion and nutrition, there is room to establish group-wide targets for the most material parts of its value chain. Additionally, it has an opportunity to report consistently against all its targets.

Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
The company has an opportunity to disclose reductions in Scope 1 and 2 and Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions, and set time-bound targets aligned with the Paris agreement’s 1.5 degree pathway.

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.

Food loss and waste
The company has an opportunity to disclose its food loss and waste (FLW) reduction targets and report progress against these targets. Additionally, it can consider aligning its FLW reduction goal with SDG12.3, which aims for a 50% reduction 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 has an opportunity to enhance its disclosures relating to water use and 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 for which its front-of-pack labelling schemes have been rolled out.

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.

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 should provide insights into its process for identifying bribery and corruption risks, with a focus on specific locations and activities within its operations. It also has an opportunity to incorporate anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses into its contracts with business relationships.

To enhance transparency, it should clarify the accessibility of its mechanism for reporting bribery and corruption concerns, ensuring that it is open to all stakeholders with the option to remain anonymous.

Additionally, the company should consider adopting a policy that outlines its approach to lobbying and political engagement while explicitly stating that it refrains from making political contributions. Providing information on lobbying expenditures and the requirement for third-party lobbyists to adhere to the company’s policies would further demonstrate its commitment to ethical practices.

Provide and promote decent work
The company can enhance its transparency by introducing a policy requiring its suppliers to prioritize workers’ health and safety. It can also share its monitoring methods for supplier health and safety performance.

Furthermore, the company has an opportunity to set clear, time-bound targets for paying all workers a living wage and explain how it determines this wage in different regions. It can also detail its strategies for supporting suppliers in achieving living wages.

In terms of gender equality, the company can make a public commitment and establish time-bound targets. Additionally, it should consider increasing the representation of women on its board of directors and disclosing salary ratios to reinforce its commitment to diversity and gender equity.

Respect human rights
The company has an opportunity to disclose a policy statement that commits to respecting human rights recognized as fundamental rights at work by the ILO, and extend this expectation to its suppliers. In terms of risk identification, the company has the chance to describe the process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts, covering both its own operations and its supply chain. Furthermore, it can outline a process for assessing and identifying its salient human rights issues. Finally, it could establish a global system to address its salient human rights issues.