Brown-Forman

Lobbying
Brown-Forman discloses a 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 as well as the outcome of this process, in relation to its sustainability strategy.

GHG emissions
The company has set time-bound targets to reduce its scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions, however, it reports progress only against its scope 1 and 2 emissions 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
The company demonstrates commitment related to plastic use reduction and transitioning towards sustainable packaging.

Water
The company demonstrates reducing water withdrawal in its own operations, and reports how much water is withdrawn for its own operations in water-stressed areas.

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

Act ethically
The company openly commits to protecting personal data and maintains a policy that strictly prohibits bribery and corruption. It also incorporates anti-bribery and anti-corruption provisions into its contracts with direct business partners. To ensure the safety of individuals reporting concerns or complaints regarding bribery and corruption, the company provides an email address, hotline number, and website, guaranteeing that no reprisals will occur.

Provide and promote decent work
The company publicly commits to respecting the health and safety of its workers through a policy statement. It also expects its business relationships to uphold the same standard, as stated in its publicly available policy statement. To promote transparency, the company discloses the proportion of its total direct operations workforce for each employee category, categorized by age group. Additionally, it provides information on the proportion of women in its total direct operations workforce for each employee category.

In terms of diversity targets, the company aims to achieve 50% representation of women in professional and leader-level roles and 40% in senior leadership positions by 2030. It also strives to have 16% of its spend allocated to women or minority-owned businesses in locations where diversity categories are tracked by the government.

On their website, the company reports having a total of 12 board members, 4 of whom are female. This represents a percentage of women on the board at 33.33%.

Respect human rights
The company has a publicly available policy statement that commits to respecting human rights and the ILO core labor rights. Additionally, the company’s policy statement also expects its suppliers to respect the ILO core labor 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.

Stakeholder engagement
The company has an opportunity to disclose an overview of the issues raised by each stakeholder group during its stakeholder engagement activities and to describe its process, including frequency and channels, for engaging with stakeholder groups beyond materiality assessment.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
The company discloses some sustainability objectives/targets including climate and social inclusion. However, it has 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 and social inclusion, there is an opportunity to report consistently against all its targets. Additionally, although it discloses a remuneration policy related to social inclusion, it could link this policy to improvement in nature-related objectives and disclose detailed information regarding its remuneration policy related to social inclusion. 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 report progress against its scope 3 target and reduce its scope 3 emissions. Crucially, the company’s 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
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 does not disclose relevant information related to pollution in its operations or supply chains.

Water
The company has an opportunity to further improve water withdrawal by setting a time-bound target, disclosing water withdrawals in water-stressed areas, and engaging with suppliers. The company does not disclose relevant information on water pollution or rights 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
The company has a process in place for identifying bribery and corruption; however, it could further disclose the details of this process. Furthermore, the company has an opportunity to develop a policy that outlines its approach to lobbying and political engagement.

Additionally, the company could disclose a publicly available policy statement stating that it does not make political contributions, and reveal its expenditures on lobbying activities to enhance transparency. Finally, the company should also consider disclosing that it requires third-party lobbyists to adhere to its lobbying and political engagement policy.

Provide and promote decent work
The company has an opportunity to improve transparency regarding how it monitors the health and safety performance of its suppliers. In addition to paying minimum wage to its employees, the company could consider setting a specific timeframe to commit to paying a living wage. It would be beneficial for the company to disclose its methodology for determining a living wage in the regions it operates.

Furthermore, while the company already expects its suppliers to meet certain wage standards, it should also require them to pay a living wage and provide details on how it facilitates this payment. Additionally, it is recommended for the company to publicly commit to gender equality and women’s empowerment. Furthermore, the company could consider disclosing the ratio of basic salary and remuneration between women and men in its direct operations workforce, categorized by employee positions and significant locations of operation.

Respect human rights
The company has the chance to explain how it identifies human rights risks and impacts in specific locations or activities related to its own operations. Although the company states that it conducts due diligence in general, it should specify that it also conducts due diligence on human rights in its supply chain. Additionally, the company could outline its process for assessing and identifying its most significant human rights issues. It would be beneficial for the company to disclose the findings of its human rights risk assessment and establish a global system to address, prevent, or alleviate these significant human rights issues.