Bath & Body Works

Lobbying
The company discloses the list of trade associations of which it is a member.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
The company discloses its process for identifying and prioritising its most relevant sustainability impacts in relation to its sustainability strategy.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
The company has a commitment to avoid knowingly source paper products from sources that actively convert natural forests to plantations and buying wood or paper products that originate from forests that were converted after 1994.

GHG emissions
The company discloses its target to reduce its scope 1 and 2 emissions by 50% by 2030, against a 2022 baseline.

Solid and air pollution
The company demonstrates some activities related to plastic use reduction and transitioning towards sustainable packaging.

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

Act ethically
The company maintains a publicly accessible policy that prohibits bribery and corruption, requiring adherence to relevant anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws globally. It has implemented a code of conduct that extends these expectations to its suppliers, with non-compliance leading to possible termination. The company supports an ethics hotline, available on its website, which facilitates anonymous reporting of unethical conduct or policy violations. This service is provided by an independent third party, includes translation services, and assures protection from retaliation for those raising concerns.

Provide and promote decent work
The company commits to worker health and safety, as shown by its statement that mandates business relationships respect these standards, requiring employers to maintain clean, safe environments, prevent workplace accidents, and provide necessary personal protective equipment at no cost to workers. It conducts regular audits to enforce compliance with these standards, working with suppliers to ensure continuous improvement in health and safety practices. Additionally, the company promotes gender equality by maintaining a strong representation of women on its board, with 46.15% female board members.

Respect human rights
The company enforces a Supplier Code of Conduct aligned with core ILO Conventions and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, covering all fundamental human rights. It mandates that all workers in its supply chain meet local legal minimum ages or ILO standards, and specifically protects young workers from hazardous conditions. The company explicitly prohibits forced, bonded, and child labour, as well as labour from human trafficking. It respects workers’ rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining, ensuring no interference with these rights. Discrimination in employment is strictly prohibited across various grounds including sex, race, and religion.

Lobbying
The company has an opportunity to disclose a clear and detailed framework for assessing alignment of its trade associations with its sustainability targets, as well as potential misalignments between the lobbying activities of its trade associations and its sustainability targets.

Stakeholder engagement
While the company discloses an overview of its stakeholder engagement plan, it has an opportunity to disclose more comprehensive details including an overview of the issues raised or its process for engaging with stakeholder groups, including frequency and channels.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
While the company has set some targets, it does not disclose group-wide, time-bound targets on all key sustainability topics for the most material parts of its value chain, nor does it report against all of its targets. No evidence was found that the company links performance criteria in senior executives’ remuneration policies to targets and objectives which cover nature, including biodiversity, and social issues. The company does not disclose whether its highest governance body has expertise regarding nature-related topics.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
The company does not disclose activities or set time-bound targets to achieve conversion-free supply chains. Additionally, it is not committed to restoring ecosystems and fails to disclose details and outcomes of ecosystem restoration projects in areas affected by its own operations or those of its suppliers.

GHG emissions
The company has an opportunity to reduce its scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas emissions and report progress against its scope 1 and 2 targets. The company’s scope 1 and 2 emissions targets have an opportunity to be aligned with a 1.5-degree trajectory. The company has an opportunity to disclose a time-bound target to reduce its scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions, aligned with a 1.5-degree trajectory, and report progress against them.

Impact and dependencies assessment
The company has not holistically assessed its impacts or how it depends on nature, including biodiversity. It has an opportunity to start such an assessment across its value chains, focused on quantification of its impacts or dependencies.

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 does not disclose key species or areas important for biodiversity affected by its operations or suppliers. It has an opportunity to increase its transparency.

Resource exploitation and circularity performance
No evidence was found regarding the company’s efforts to work towards a circular economy or which organisms it exploits. The company has an opportunity to develop a strategy and publicly report on specific, time-bound targets.

Solid and air pollution
The company is not reducing the production of hazardous substances and does not commit to avoiding the development or marketing of new chemicals or products with SVHC (substance of very high concern) properties. Additionally, it is not reducing the production of hazardous waste. The company has an opportunity to disclose quantitative evidence regarding plastic use reduction and the use of sustainable packaging. However, it does not report on the amount of plastic waste generated or the proportions directed to or diverted from disposal. It also does not report metrics on air pollutants, nor set time-bound targets to reduce them.

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 show if it is committed to respecting Indigenous Peoples’ rights or land rights of local communities.

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
This company has a global anti-corruption program but does not detail the process for identifying specific risks. It engages with policy matters impacting its business but lacks a comprehensive political engagement policy. The company has an opportunity to outline its lobbying expenditures clearly and ensure third-party lobbyists align with its policies.

Provide and promote decent work
The company outlines compliance with safety laws and provides detailed injury data but does not specify injury types comprehensively. It commits to observing wage laws without confirming the adequacy of these wages for a decent living, nor does it specify a goal for all workers to receive a living wage. There is no detailed strategy to ensure living wages among suppliers. While the company invests in programs supporting women and partnerships with women-owned businesses, it still has an opportunity to make commitments to broader gender equality goals and provide targeted quantitative measures for women’s empowerment.

Respect human rights
The company discloses a policy against discrimination and conducts audits to manage risks related to slavery and human trafficking. However, it lacks a comprehensive policy statement addressing child labour, forced labour, and freedom of association as fundamental human rights. Additionally, it does not describe the processes for identifying human rights risks across its operations or in business relationships. The company has an opportunity to publish a comprehensive human rights policy and to describe its approach to identifying and mitigating salient human rights issues, including establishing a global system for action on these issues.