Dalmia Bharat

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. The company reports consistently against all its set targets.

Stakeholder engagement
Dalmia Bharat discloses an overview of the issues raised during its stakeholder engagement activities. It discloses how often and through which channels it engages with various stakeholder groups. Further, it’s stakeholder engagement covers nature, including biodiversity, and social issues.

No leading practices were identified in the ecosystems and biodiversity area.

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

Sustainability strategy and accountability
While the company discloses some sustainability targets, no evidence that the company has group wide targets on key sustainability topics for the most material parts of its value chain based on the SBTN Sectoral Materiality Tool could be found in the public domain. 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.

Lobbying
While the company discloses a list of partnerships, no evidence that the company discloses a list of trade associations of which it is a member for all geographies could be found. The company does not disclose a clear and detailed framework for assessing alignment of its trade associations with nature-positive policies. The company does not report (potential) misalignment between the lobbying activities of its trade associations and nature-positive policies.

Impact and dependencies assessment
The company does not disclose any assessment of its impacts on nature, including biodiversity, within its own operations. The company does not disclose any assessment of its impacts on nature, including biodiversity, in its supply chain. The company does not disclose any assessment of its dependencies on nature within its own operations. The company does not disclose any assessment of dependencies on nature of its upstream business relationships.

Key areas and species
The company has reported that they have 14 plants in 10 states. They further report that they have conducted biodiversity impact assessments across mines and seven cement plants. The results have shown that none of their mines or plants are in close proximity to critical biodiversity areas. However, since this assessment does not cover all their plants, it cannot translate into evidence that the company discloses the locations that are in or adjacent to areas important to biodiversity within all its plants.  The company does not disclose the locations of its suppliers that are in or adjacent to areas important for biodiversity. The company has disclosed species populations existing at Umrongso plant. However, no evidence that it discloses species populations existing in or adjacent to all its locations could be found. The company does not disclose species populations existing in or adjacent to the locations of its suppliers. The company has disclosed that No Schedule-I species were found at Umrongso plant and within its 10km radius. However, no evidence that the company discloses the status of species found in and adjacent to all its own locations according to national and international conservation lists could be found.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
The company does not disclose a commitment to ensure zero conversion. The company does not disclose activities to achieve conversion-free supply chains. The company does not disclose time-bound targets to achieve conversion-free supply chains. The company does not disclose a commitment to minimise ecosystem conversion. The company does not disclose activities to minimise ecosystem conversion. The company does not disclose a commitment to restore ecosystems. While the company provides some details about its watershed projects, companies must provide data for each restoration project regarding the specific impacts that have resulted from their activities.

Resource exploitation and circularity
It is unclear whether the company discloses all its inputs, including its material footprint, according to an international standard in the public domain. The company does not report quantitatively on its group-wide circularity performance. The company discloses activities to improve soil health or agrobiodiversity in its production or sourcing practices. The company does not disclose a target to improve soil health in its production or sourcing practices.

Water
The company does not provide year on year reporting of water withdrawal across its own operations. Therefore, it cannot be determined whether there is any quantitative reduction in water withdrawal across the company’s own operations.  The company does not disclose a time-bound target to reduce water withdrawal across its own operations. The company reports how much water is withdrawn for its own operations in water-stressed areas. The company does not engage with suppliers to reduce water withdrawal. The company does not report a decrease in water pollution. The company does not adequately disclose its processes for managing and monitoring discharge water quality. The company does not regularly report on water pollution. The company does not disclose targets to reduce water pollution. 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.

Solid and air pollution
No evidence that the company is reducing the production of hazardous waste was found. No evidence that the company reduces plastic use and waste in its own operations was found. The company reports on the amount of plastic waste generated. However, no evidence that it reports on the amount of plastic waste directed from or to disposal could be found. The company reports regularly on air quality parameters of emissions of harmful air pollutants. The company does not report time-bound targets to reduce air pollutants across the most material parts of its value chain.

GHG emissions
The company is reducing its scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions. The company has a time-bound target to reduce its scope 1 and 2 emissions. The company reports progress against its scope 1 and 2 emissions target. No evidence that the company’s scope 1 and 2 emissions target is aligned with a 1.5-degree trajectory was found. The company does not provide a year-on-year reporting for its scope 3 emissions. Therefore, it cannot be determined if company has any quantitative reductions in its scope 3 emissions. The company does not disclose a time-bound target to reduce its scope 3 emissions.  The company does not report progress against its scope 3 emissions target. No evidence that the company’s scope 3 emissions target is aligned with a 1.5-degree trajectory was found.

Invasive species
No evidence was found that the company identifies the activities that could lead to the introduction of invasive species in its own operations. No evidence was found that the company identifies the activities that could lead to the introduction of invasive species in its value chain.

Safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment
The company does not disclose a commitment to respecting local communities’ right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment. No evidence that the company tracks its actual or potential negative impacts on the health of local communities was found. The company is not committed to zero tolerance for acts of violence, threats, intimidation or judicial harassment committed against land and environmental rights defenders.

Indigenous Peoples’ and land rights
The company does not disclose a commitment to respect Indigenous Peoples’ rights. The company does not disclose its processes for identifying and recognising the rights of Indigenous Peoples when activities in its own operations may impact their rights, nor does it describe how it obtains Indigenous Peoples’ free, prior and informed consent. The company does not disclose a commitment to respect ownership and use of land and natural resources and related legitimate tenure rights, as set out in the relevant part(s) of the VGGTs or the IFC Performance Standards. No evidence was found that the company requires its business relationships to have a process to identify legitimate tenure rightsholders, paying particular attention to vulnerable or marginalised tenure rightsholders, and to negotiate with them to provide adequate compensation.

The company states that it has internal control mechanisms to ensure human rights due diligence. Also, it discloses that it conducts a materiality assessment to identify the main risks to the business, ad has identified human rights as a material topic, however, there is no evidence that the company describes the process to identify its human rights risks and impacts in specific locations or activities covering its own operations. No evidence that the company describes its process for assessing its human rights risks and discloses what it considers to be its salient human rights issues was found.  No evidence was found that the company has a global system in place to act on, prevent or mitigate its salient human rights issues.  No evidence that the company provides an example of the conclusions reached and actions taken or to be taken on at least one of its salient human rights issues as a result of assessment processes was found.  While the company discloses the categories of stakeholders it engages with generally on sustainability issues, it is not clear if these stakeholders are those whose human rights have been or may be affected by its activities. No evidence that the company provides examples of its engagement with stakeholders whose human rights have been or may be affected by its activities was found.

The company states that it maintains safe working environments across all its facilities, and it continuously improve its health and safety practices, however, a statement in Integrated Annual Report is not considered to be a part of formal policy commitment. No evidence that the company has a publicly available statement of policy that expects its suppliers to commit to respecting the health and safety of their workers was found. No evidence that the company discloses a time-bound target for paying all workers a living wage or that it has achieved paying all workers a living wage was found. No evidence that the company describes how it determines a living wage for the regions where it operates was found. No evidence that the company describes how it works to support the payment of a living wage by its suppliers was found. The company reports that 76% of its total permanent workers and 0% of its permanent employees are part of association or union. However, it does not disclose the proportion of its total direct operations workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements. No evidence that the company describes how it works to support the practices of its suppliers in relation to freedom of association and collective bargaining was found.

No evidence that the company has a publicly available global tax strategy was found. No evidence that the company describes the process for identifying its bribery and corruption risks and impacts in specific locations or activities covering its own operations was found. No evidence that the company includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its contracts with business relationships was found. No evidence that the company has a publicly available policy statement or policy setting out its lobbying and political engagement approach was found. No evidence that the company has a publicly available policy statement that specifies that it does not make political contributions was found.