Albertsons Companies

Sustainability strategy and accountability
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.

GHG emissions
The company has set targets to reduce its emissions from its own operations by 47% and reports progress against these scope 1 and 2 targets. Furthermore, these targets are aligned with a 1.5-degree trajectory and the company reduces its scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions compared to previous year.

Solid and air pollution
The company discloses that it is reducing the use of plastic in its products and accelerating its transition to a more circular economy.

No leading practices were identified in the social inclusion and community impact area.

Act ethically
The company has a strict policy against bribery and corruption. It also makes a public commitment to safeguard personal data. Vendors who collaborate with Albertsons Companies are obliged, under the terms of their contract, to comply with anti-corruption laws, such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). They are explicitly prohibited from offering any form of payment or making promises to foreign government officials in order to gain or maintain business relationships. Furthermore, the company provides clear channels for reporting grievances, including concerns related to bribery and corruption, without the risk of facing any reprisals.

Provide and promote decent work
The company openly commits to worker health and safety in its policy statement. Moreover, it expects business relationships to uphold the same standard, as stated in another policy. Additionally, the company reveals the proportion of its workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements.

Furthermore, the company shares the percentage of women in various employee categories, including the board of directors and corporate leadership. Lastly, it also discloses the workforce proportion by race or ethnicity across different employee categories.

Respect human rights
The company provides various channels for all workers to raise complaints or concerns, including a telephone number, email address, and website. These channels are open to everyone and offer the option for complainants to remain anonymous or identify themselves. Additionally, the company has implemented a human rights grievance mechanism that is accessible to external stakeholders who may be negatively affected by the company.

Lobbying
The company has an opportunity disclose a list of trade associations of which it is a member. Addtionally, it has an opportunity to disclose a clear and detailed framework for assessing alignment of its trade associations with its sustainability targets and to report (potential) misalignments.

Stakeholder engagement
The company does not disclose how it engages with stakeholders, nor the issues it raises during such activities.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
While the company discloses some sustainability objectives/targets including climate, it has an opportunity to establish group-wide targets for the most material parts of its value chain and report consistently against all its targets beyond climate. Furthermore, it could link performance criteria in senior executives’ remuneration policies to targets and objectives which cover nature, including biodiversity, and social issues. Lastly, the company could improve its transparency by disclosing whether its highest governance body has expertise with respect to the company’s most material sustainability topics.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
No evidence was found regarding the company’s efforts to avoid ecosystem conversion, including deforestation, or promote restoration. The company has an opportunity to develop a strategy and publicly report on specific, time-bound targets.

GHG emissions
The company should set a time-bound target to reduce its scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions as well as report progress against it. Crucially, the company needs to reduce its scope 1,2 and 3 emissions and its targets need to align with a 1.5-degree trajectory.

Impact and dependencies assessment
The company has an opportunity to disclose assessments of its impacts on nature, including biodiversity, within its own operations and in its supply chain. It also has the opportunity to disclose its dependencies on nature within its own operations and upstream business relationships.

Invasive species
The company has not identified any activities that could lead to the introduction of invasive alien species in its own operations.

Key areas and species
The company has an opportunity to disclose locations within or adjacent to areas important for biodiversity, both in its own operations and its supplier locations. It could also disclose existing species populations existing in or adjacent to both its own and its suppliers’ locations, as well as the conservation status of species identified at its own sites according to national and international lists.

Resource exploitation and circularity performance
The company has an opportunity to disclose its inputs according to an international standard, and to report quantitatively on its group-wide circularity performance. The company also has an opportunity to disclose activities to improve soil health or agrobiodiversity in its production or sourcing practices, to disclose a target to improve soil health in its production or sourcing practices and to report progress against it.

Solid and air pollution
The company should commit to avoid developing or marketing new chemicals or products with SVHC (substance of very high concern) properties, as well as work on reducing the production of hazardous substances and waste. It has an opportunity to report on air quality parameters of emissions of harmful air pollutants and disclose time-bound targets to reduce air pollutants across the most material parts of its value chain. The company could also provide quantitative evidence regarding plastic use reduction and use of sustainable packaging, including the amount of plastic waste generated and proportions directed from or to disposal.

Water
The company does not disclose relevant information related to water, in its operations or supply chains.

Indigenous Peoples’ and land rights
The company does not disclose a commitment to respect Indigenous Peoples’ rights. Also, the company does not disclose its processes to identify and recognise the rights of Indigenous Peoples when activities in its own operations may impact their rights, and describes how it obtains Indigenous Peoples’ free, prior and informed consent.

Safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment
The company has an opportunity to commit to respecting local communities’ right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, and to zero tolerance for acts of violence, threats, intimidation or judicial harassment committed against land and environmental rights defenders. Moreover, it should track its actual or potential negative impacts on the health of local communities.

Act ethically
The company can enhance its transparency by describing the process it uses to identify bribery and corruption risks and their impacts in specific locations or activities, particularly within its own operations.

To demonstrate its commitment to transparency, the company can publish a policy statement that states it does not make political contributions. Additionally, the company has the chance to establish a policy that outlines its approach to lobbying and political engagement. Furthermore, the company can disclose information about its expenditures on lobbying activities and make it known that third-party lobbyists are required to adhere to its lobbying and political engagement policy.

Provide and promote decent work
The company has an opportunity to enhance its health and safety commitment by disclosing the methods it employs to monitor business relationships’ health and safety performance.

Shifting to wages, the company’s minimum wage policy could be bolstered by setting a time-bound target for a living wage commitment to employees. Moreover, the company holds an opportunity to detail its living wage determination process across operating regions. Regarding wage standards for suppliers, the company could reinforce expectations by adding a requirement for them to pay a living wage. Simultaneously, transparency could be increased by disclosing mechanisms supporting this payment.

Turning to gender equality, the company’s existing statement can be elevated through translation into a public policy. This commitment could further be solidified by unveiling time-bound targets for gender equality and women’s empowerment. On the board composition, the company discloses that 2 out of 11 directors are female, with 18.18% representation. Here, an opportunity arises to declare a commitment to achieving at least 30% women on the board.

Respect human rights
The company has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect human rights. However, the scope of the policy is only limited to its seafood supply chain, and it has an opportunity to expand its commitment across all operational aspects. Moreover, the company publicly commits to upholding specific workers’ rights in a policy statement, but there’s an opportunity to expand it to encompass all ILO fundamental rights, including freedom of association and collective bargaining. Similarly, its supplier expectations could be fortified by referencing all ILO fundamental rights.

Shifting to risk assessment, the company outlines a process for identifying human rights risks in specific locations, mainly covering its own operations. However, it’s unclear if this extends to all suppliers. Furthermore, while it delineates its process for assessing human rights risks, there’s room to specify its salient human rights concerns. Globally, the company could introduce a system addressing, preventing, and mitigating significant human rights issues.