Astra Agro Lestari

Lobbying
Astra Agro Lestari discloses trade associations it is a member of. It has however an opportunity to disclose a full list of trade association for all jurisdictions in which it operates.

Stakeholder engagement
Astra Agro Lestari discloses an overview of the issues raised during its stakeholder engagement activities and states the channels it uses to engage with its stakeholder groups. Furthermore, its stakeholder engagement covers nature, nutrition, and social issues.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
Astra Agro Lestari 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
Astra Agro Lestari has a commitment to minimise ecosystem conversion, and discloses details and outcomes of ecosystem restoration projects in areas affected by its own operations or by its suppliers.

GHG emissions
Astra Agro Lestari has a time-bound target to reduce its scope 1 and 2 emissions and reports progress against these targets.

Resource exploitation and circularity performance
The company discloses activities to improve soil health or agrobiodiversity in its production or sourcing practices.

Solid and air pollution
Astra Agro Lestari has targets to phase out the production of hazardous substances or increase the production of safer alternatives and reports progress against the targets.

Water
Astra Agro Lestari demonstrates reducing water withdrawal in its own operations and discloses 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
Astra Agro Lestari is committed to respect Indigenous Peoples’ rights. Also, the company discloses 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.

Provide and promote decent work
Astra Agro Lestari has a public policy statement in which it commits to respecting the health and safety of workers.

Respect human rights
Astra Agro Lestari has a public policy statement committing it to respect human rights.

Lobbying
The company 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
The company discloses some sustainability objectives/targets including climate and water. However, there is an opportunity to establish group-wide targets for the most material parts of its value chain. Also, while the company reports consistently against some targets including climate, it has an opportunity to report consistently against all its targets. Additionally, it could link performance criteria in senior executives’ remuneration policies to targets and objectives which cover nature, including biodiversity, and social issues. Lastly, although the company states that the board of directors has expertise in sustainability, it 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
The company does not have a commitment or time-bound targets to achieve conversion-free supply chains, and does not disclose activities working towards zero conversion. Furthermore, it is not committed to restoring ecosystems.

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

Impact and dependencies assessment
While the company conducts biodiversity monitoring in forested areas and oil palm plantations and has initiatives like the Sustainable Peatland Management and Sustainability Assessment Tool, there’s an opportunity to further disclose the methodology and comprehensive results of these assessments within its operations. Additionally, the company can enhance its transparency by assessing and disclosing its impacts and dependencies on nature, both within its own operations and in its upstream business relationships, to strengthen its sustainability commitments.

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
While the company regularly monitors biodiversity and maintains a considerable variety of flora and fauna across multiple work areas, there is room to disclose a complete list of all species present in or adjacent to its operations, along with their statuses on national and international conservation lists. The company does identify areas important for biodiversity but could extend this to disclose its operations adjacent to these areas. For its supply chain, the company shares supplier mill locations but could also specify which are in or near biodiversity-critical areas. Finally, the status of species near supplier locations remains undisclosed.

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 a target to improve soil health in its production or sourcing practices and to report progress against it.

Solid and air pollution
The company does not disclose relevant information related to pollution in its operations or supply chains.

Water
While the company has a target to reduce water withdrawals, it has an opportunity to disclose a baseline year. It also has an opportunity to report how much water is withdrawn for its own operations in water-stressed areas, and to engage with suppliers to reduce water withdrawal. While the company states that it conducts an analysis of surface water quality, it could provide qualitative evidence of reducing water quality pressures. The company does not disclose its processes for managing and monitoring discharge water quality, and does not regularly report on water pollution metrics. Lastly, it has an opportunity to disclose a commitment to respect the right to water.

Indigenous Peoples’ and land rights
The company does not disclose its processes to identify and recognize the rights of Indigenous Peoples when activities in its own operations may impact their rights or 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
While the company prohibits bribery and corruption, it could formalise this statement in a public policy document and include anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in contracts with business relationships. It also has the opportunity to describe the process for identifying bribery and corruption risks in specific locations or activities within its own operations. Although a mechanism exists for stakeholders to raise concerns about bribery and corruption, it could further clarify whether these can be raised without fear of reprisal.

In addition, the company could demonstrate ethical practices by establishing a policy for lobbying and political engagement, formalising its commitment to not to make political contributions in a publicly available document, disclosing its lobbying expenditures, and adding requirement for third-party lobbyists to comply with its lobbying policy.

Provide and promote decent work
The company has an opportunity to disclose a policy statement expecting its suppliers to commit to respecting the health and safety of their workers, as well as how it monitors the health and safety performance of these suppliers. While the company pays minimum wage to its employees, it has an opportunity to commit to a living wage by setting a time-bound target and disclosing how it determines this living wage regionally, along with how it supports its suppliers in paying the living wage.

Despite a public commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment, the company has an opportunity to set time-bound targets in these areas. The company discloses that its board of directors is entirely male and offers a 1:1 ratio of basic salary and remuneration for male and female employees, but it lacks details on the ratio of salary and remuneration between genders for each employee category, by significant locations of operation.

Respect human rights
The company has a policy statement that commits to specific workers’ rights but could extend this to cover all ILO fundamental rights at work, both for its own operations and its suppliers. It has an opportunity to describe the process for identifying human rights risks and impacts in specific locations or activities, encompassing both its own operations and supply chain. Additionally, the company could outline its process for assessing salient human rights issues, disclose the results of its human rights risk assessment, and unveil a global system to address, prevent, or mitigate these salient issues.