Associated British Foods

Lobbying
Associated British Foods discloses a list of trade associations of which it is a member.

Stakeholder engagement
Associated British Foods discloses an overview of the issues raised during its stakeholder engagement activities along with frequency and channels it uses to engage with its stakeholder groups. Furthermore, its stakeholder engagement encompasses nature, including biodiversity, nutrition and social issues.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
Associated British Foods 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.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
Associated British Foods discloses some activities to minimise ecosystem conversion.

GHG emissions
Associated British Foods has a time-bound target to reduce its scope 1 and 2 emissions and reports progress against these targets.

Key areas and species
Associated British Foods discloses the locations that are in or adjacent to areas important for biodiversity within its own operations.

Resource exploitation and circularity performance
Associated British Foods discloses activities to improve soil health or agrobiodiversity in its production or sourcing practices.

Solid and air pollution
Associated British Foods partakes in activities related to plastic use reduction and transitioning towards sustainable packaging and discloses related quantitative data. It is also reducing the production of hazardous substances.

Water
Associated British Foods engages with suppliers to reduce water withdrawal. The company provides evidence of dependency on water-stressed areas in its supply chain and has a target to engage with suppliers on the management of water-stressed areas, and reports progress against it. Finally, the company demonstrates reducing water withdrawal in its own operations, and works with its business relationships to improve practices regarding access to water and sanitation.

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

Act ethically
Associated British Foods discloses that it has a global tax strategy, and its compliance lies within the Board of Directors accountability. Additionally, it has a policy prohibiting bribery and corruption and includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its contracts with direct business relationships.

Provide and promote decent work
Associated British Foods has public policy statements committing it to respect the health and safety of its workers and extends this expectation to its business partners. It also expects partners to not require work hours more than 48 hours in a regular week or more than 60 hours with overtime.

The company’s Board of Directors comprises 33.3% women, and it discloses the percentage of women in each employee category within its direct operations workforce.

Respect human rights
Associated British Foods has a publicly available policy statement expecting its suppliers to respect the ILO core labour rights. Additionally, it describes different approaches it uses to identify its salient human rights issues in the supply chains and engages with stakeholders whose human rights have been or may be affected by its activities. Moreover, it has a human rights grievance mechanism accessible to all workers through its speakUp phone line and web service.

Lobbying
Associated British Foods 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.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
Associated British Foods discloses some sustainability objectives/targets including water, social inclusion, climate change and ecosystem conversion. However, it has an opportunity to establish group-wide targets for the most material parts of its value chain. Also, while the company consistently reports on some targets, such as climate, there is an opportunity to ensure consistent reporting across all targets. Furthermore, although the company discloses a remuneration policy related to sustainability, there is an opportunity to enhance this policy by linking it to the improvement of nature-related objectives and social issues. Lastly, it could disclose whether its highest governance body has expertise with respect to the company’s most material sustainability topics.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
Associated British Foods provides some evidence of addressing conversion, but this does not necessarily mean that their practices are aligned with DCF standards. Although the company aims for conversion-free supply chains, there are no specific time-bound targets or group-wide commitments in place. Additionally, the company does not disclose any commitment to minimizing ecosystem conversion or ensuring zero conversion. There is also a lack of commitment regarding restoring ecosystems. Moreover, Associated British Foods does not provide any details or outcomes of ecosystem restoration projects in areas affected by its own operations or by its suppliers.

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

Impact and dependencies assessment
Associated British Foods acknowledges the environmental impact of its value chain but could further build trust and transparency by disclosing the methodology and results of its assessments. Similarly, while the company notes its dependencies on ecosystems, a more robust approach would include detailed assessments of how its operations are specifically dependent on nature. Finally, the company has an opportunity to complete its environmental responsibility profile by also assessing and disclosing how its upstream business relationships are dependent on natural ecosystems.

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

Key areas and species
Associated British Foods has an opportunity to disclose species populations in or adjacent to its own and its suppliers’ locations, and the conservation status of species identified at its own sites according to national and international lists. Additionally, it could reveal the locations of its suppliers that are near areas vital for biodiversity.

Resource exploitation and circularity performance
Associated British Foods 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 a target to improve soil health in its production or sourcing practices and to report progress against it.

Solid and air pollution
Associated British Foods 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 waste. It has an opportunity to report on the amount of plastic waste generated and proportions directed from or to disposal. The company could also report on air quality parameters of emissions of harmful air pollutants and set time-bound targets to reduce air pollutants across the most material parts of its value chain.

Water
Associated British Foods has an opportunity to disclose targets to reduce water withdrawal, and report up to date information on its withdrawals from water-stressed areas. Furthermore, the company has an opportunity to disclose relevant information on water pollution, and it does not disclose a commitment to respect the right to water. Finally, Associated British Foods  does not disclose its processes for implementing preventive and corrective action plans for identified specific risks to the right to water and sanitation in its own operations.

Indigenous Peoples’ and land rights
Associated British Foods does not show if it is committed to respecting Indigenous Peoples’ rights or land rights of local communities.

Safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment
Associated British Foods 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
Associated British Foods has a monitoring system to identify bribery and corruption but could disclose details of this identification process. While there is a mechanism for stakeholders to report concerns, it’s unclear whether it’s available to all stakeholders and if complainants can choose anonymity.

Moreover, the company can demonstrate ethical practices by disclosing a policy setting out its approach to lobbying and political engagement, clarifying its non-participation in political contributions, and adding requirements to third-party lobbyists to adhere to its guidelines in lobbying and political engagement activities.

Provide and promote decent work
Associated British Foods has an opportunity to strengthen its commitment to its operations and supply chain workers’ health and safety by providing evidence of monitoring suppliers’ compliance. Furthermore, it could set a time-bound target for ensuring all workers receive a living wage and describes the living wage determination methodology for the regions where it operates. While it has set expectations on the wage paid by its suppliers, it has an opportunity to add a requirement for them to pay a living wage and to disclose how it supports the payment.

While the company has a statement on gender equality and women’s empowerment, it has an opportunity to solidify this into a public policy document and to disclose time-bound targets. The company discloses the gender pay gap ratio of whole group employed in Great Britain except one of its subsidiaries, Primark, which reports separately. It has an opportunity, however, to disclose the ratio of the basic salary and remuneration of women to men across all employee categories by significant operation locations.

Respect human rights
Associated British Foods has an opportunity to strengthen its commitment to human rights in its operations by referencing all the ILO fundamental rights at work in its commitment statements in respecting workers’ rights. It could consolidate its public statements on respecting human rights and workers’ right into a formal policy document and outline the methods it uses to identify human rights risks, including the results of its human rights risk assessment.

While the company discloses its approach to assessing modern slavery risks among suppliers or in specific regions, it lacks a comprehensive process to determine which human rights are most at risk in its overall operations, allowing prioritizing the most salient ones. Moreover, the company could establish a global system to act on, prevent or mitigate its salient human rights issues.