China Merchants Ports

Stakeholder engagement
The company discloses the list of issues raised by key stakeholders, the company response on the issues, and the channels through which it engages with each stakeholder group.

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 discloses some activities to minimise ecosystem conversion. The company has a policy commitment to protect and restore environmental areas affected by port activities. The company discloses details and outcomes of ecosystem restoration projects in areas affected by its own operations or by its suppliers

Solid and air pollution
The company reports a quantitative decrease in total hazardous waste. The company reports regularly on air quality parameters of emissions of harmful air pollutants.

Water
The company demonstrates it is reducing water withdrawal in its own operations.
The company reports a decrease in water pollution and discloses its processes for managing and monitoring discharge water quality.

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

Act ethically
The company enforces a publicly available policy statement that prohibits bribery and corruption, mandating all employees to comply with anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws relevant to their operations and to reject improper economic benefits. Violations may lead to both disciplinary actions and economic compensation responsibilities. Furthermore, it embeds anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in contracts with its business partners, requiring adherence to ethical standards and applicable laws. The company stipulates that non-compliance could result in corrective actions or disqualification from business relations, reinforcing these requirements through contractual obligations.

Provide and promote decent work
The company commits to respecting worker health and safety, with a policy statement available publicly. It adheres to the Constitution and Labor Law of the People’s Republic of China, among other regulations, striving to prevent occupational accidents and promote physical and mental health. This commitment extends to its business relationships, expecting suppliers to provide a safe and healthy workplace, manage hazardous materials effectively, and train employees on accident prevention.

Respect human rights
China Merchants Port has a publicly accessible human rights policy endorsed by its highest governance body, underscoring a commitment to respect human rights in line with legal and international norms. The policy is designed to safeguard the rights of employees and stakeholders, prevent rights violations, and ensure dignified treatment. It aligns with multiple laws and international agreements, including the Labour Laws of China, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and ILO conventions, to prohibit child and forced labour.

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.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
The company has an opportunity to disclose group wide targets on key sustainability topics for the most material parts of its value chain. and report against its targets. While it links compensation to ESG indicators, it does not clearly disclose this process. No evidence found that the company provides evidence that its highest governance body has expertise with respect to the company’s most material pressures on nature.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
The company lacks a commitment to ensuring zero conversion and does not disclose activities or time-bound targets aimed at achieving conversion-free supply chains. It also does not disclose a commitment to minimise ecosystem conversion.

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

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 has an opportunity to disclose quantitative evidence regarding plastic use reduction and use of sustainable packaging.
The company does not report on the amount of plastic waste generated and proportions directed from or to disposal.
The company does not report time-bound targets to reduce air pollutants across the most material parts of its value chain.

Water
The company does not provide a time-bound target to reduce water withdrawal or report the amount of water withdrawn for its operations in water-stressed areas, nor engages with suppliers to reduce water withdrawal. The company does not report a decrease in water pollution nor targets to reduce water pollution. The company has an opportunity to publicly commit to the right to water and to provide 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 conducts integrity investigations and allows anonymous reporting but does not confirm stakeholder accessibility to these channels. It lacks a clear lobbying and political engagement policy. The company has an opportunity to disclose its political contributions approach and ensure accessible reporting mechanisms for all stakeholders.

Provide and promote decent work
The company provides extensive reporting on work-related deaths and injuries but does not cover high-consequence injuries or total hours worked, and it lacks clarity on how it monitors health and safety in its business relationships. While it meets statutory requirements for employee compensation, it does not confirm if these meet living wage standards nor describe its approach to determining living wages regionally. The company’s expectation for suppliers to meet minimum wage laws also lacks confirmation that these are sufficient for a decent living standard. On gender equality, despite promoting diverse board composition, it falls short in committing publicly to gender equality and women’s empowerment, with less than 20% female board representation. The company has the opportunity to establish clear monitoring processes for health and safety, detail its strategy for ensuring living wages, and enhance commitments and disclosures related to gender equality and empowerment.

Respect human rights
The company provides a public commitment to human rights standards, including not subjecting individuals to forced labour and discrimination, and expects similar commitments from its suppliers. However, its adherence to these rights ‘according to law’ raises questions about its commitment in varying legal frameworks. Additionally, the company lacks a clear description of how it identifies human rights risks within its operations and across business relationships. It has an opportunity to clarify its commitments beyond legal compliance and to establish a detailed process for identifying and addressing human rights risks, ensuring consistent application across all contexts and locations.