BRF

Lobbying
BRF discloses a list of industry associations of which it is a member.

Stakeholder engagement
BRF discloses the channels it uses to engage with its internal stakeholders, business partners, producers, investors, and society. To enhance better transparency, it could further specify the channels it uses to engage with customers, consumers, civil society organizations, and governments.

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 and reports consistently against all its targets. Furthermore, it provides evidence of linking performance criteria in senior executives’ remuneration policies to targets and objectives which cover nature, including biodiversity, and social issues.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
The company discloses some activities to achieve conversion-free supply chains.

GHG emissions
The company has time-bound targets to reduce its scope 1 and 2 emissions and reports progress against these scope 1 and 2 targets. Further, it discloses that its net zero commitment includes a target to reduce 12.3% of its Scope 3 emissions from 2020 levels by 2030.

Solid and air pollution
The company discloses the proportion of hazardous waste treated to reduce pollution compared to total waste, the hazardous waste diverted from disposal and the waste directed to disposal. It also reports regularly on air quality parameters of emissions of harmful air pollutants.

Water
BRF reports how much water is withdrawn for its own operations in water-stressed areas, and has a time-bound target to reduce water withdrawal in its own operations and reports progress against the target. Furthermore, the company has invested R$2 million in laboratory equipment for management and control of processes to reduce water quality pressures, and achieved 100% efficiency in water treatment in 2022. Finally, the company demonstrates reducing water withdrawal in its own operations.

Indigenous Peoples’ and land rights
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.

Act ethically
The company discloses a public commitment to protect personal data and a global tax strategy. Additionally, the company has a policy prohibiting bribery and corruption and includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its contracts with direct business relationships. It also has a grievance mechanism for stakeholders to raise concerns and complaints regarding 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 and expects its business relationships to have the same commitment. The company discloses quantitative information on the health and safety of its workers and how it monitors the health and safety performance of its business relationships.

The company discloses the proportion of its total direct operations workforce for each employee category by age group, race or ethnicity, and by gender. It also discloses the proportion of its total direct operations workforce for each employee category by senior management, middle management, supervisors and coordinators, administrative staff, operational, and sales by disability. Moreover, the company discloses a target to achieve 30% of women in top leadership by 2025 and currently has 30% women on the board of directors.

Respect human rights
The company has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect human rights. It also indicates that it has a human rights grievance mechanism accessible to all workers and all external stakeholders who may be adversely impacted by the company.

Lobbying
The company does not report on its lobbying and advocacy practices on nature-related issues, nor whether these activities align with its sustainability strategy.

Stakeholder engagement
BRF has an opportunity to disclose an overview of the issues raised by each stakeholder group during its stakeholder engagement activities.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
The company discloses some sustainability objectives/targets including social inclusion, water, and climate. However, there is an opportunity to establish group-wide targets for the most material parts of its value chain. Additionally, while the company states that the board of directors has expertise in social inclusion, it could disclose 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 to ensure zero conversion and it does not have time-bound targets to achieve conversion-free supply chains. Furthermore, the company is not committed to restoring ecosystems and it does not disclose details and outcomes of ecosystem restoration projects in areas affected by its own operations or by its suppliers.

GHG emissions
Crucially, the company’s targets need to align with a 1.5-degree trajectory. The company has an opportunity to report progress against its scope 3 targets and reduce its scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions.

Impact and dependencies assessment
The company employs its Environmental Sustainability Index for monitoring waste and effluents and also performs environmental due diligence on new partners. While it does track socio-environmental and deforestation impacts related to feed production, there’s an opportunity to assess and disclose impacts on and dependencies with nature, including biodiversity, 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
While the company has made strides in sustainable practices, such as detailing the species composition in its farm areas and Conservation Units, and acknowledging IUCN guidelines, it still has an opportunity to fully disclose the variety of species existing in or adjacent to its operational sites. Additionally, despite mapping supplier traceability in high-biodiversity biomes like the Amazon and Cerrado, the company has yet to provide specifics about its suppliers’ locations in relation to areas important for biodiversity. Finally, the company can enhance its transparency by disclosing the status of all species found in and adjacent to its own locations and those of its suppliers, according to national and international conservation 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 does not disclose relevant information related to pollution in its operations or supply chains.

Water
The company has an opportunity to engage with suppliers to reduce water withdrawal. The company has an opportunity to report on water pollution metrics, and set targets to reduce them. The company does not disclose a commitment to respect the right to water. The company 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
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
The company could describe the process for identifying its bribery and corruption risks and impacts in specific locations or activities covering its own operations. Additionally, it could disclose its approach to lobbying and political engagement in a public policy document. The company also has an opportunity to specify that it does not make political contributions and to divulge its lobbying expenditures.

Provide and promote decent work
The company has an opportunity to disclose a time-bound target for paying all workers a living wage or that it has achieved paying all workers a living wage, and describe how it determines a living wage for the regions where it operates. Furthermore, it could disclose how it works to support the payment of a living wage by its suppliers. The company has an opportunity to disclose public commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment as well as the ratio of the basic salary and remuneration of women to men in its total direct operations workforce for each employee category, by significant locations of operation.

Respect human rights
The company has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect specific workers’ rights but has an opportunity to reference all the ILO fundamental rights at work in its operations and supply chain. Additionally, the company also has the opportunity to describe a comprehensive process for identifying human rights risks and impacts across all its activities and supply chain, as well as assessing and identifying what it considers to be its salient human rights issues. The latter could include a description of how relevant factors, such as geographical, economic and social, are taken into account. Furthermore, it could also reveal a global system to address its salient human rights issues by preventing, mitigating or remediating them.