Darden Restaurants

Lobbying
Darden Restaurants discloses a list of trade associations of which it is a member.

GHG emissions
The company reduces its scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions.

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

Act ethically
The company has a policy against bribery and corruption and incorporates anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its contracts with business partners. It also provides a grievance mechanism for stakeholders to report concerns about bribery and corruption. Furthermore, the company has a policy outlining its approach to lobbying and political engagement and discloses its lobbying expenditures.

Provide and promote decent work
The company has a public policy requiring its business partners to uphold worker health and safety standards. It discloses that none of its employees are part of a collective bargaining agreement. The company provides data on the gender and racial or ethnic composition of its workforce by employee category, and reports that 30% of its board members are women.

Respect human rights
The company states that it has a human rights grievance mechanism available to all workers, as well as to external stakeholders who may be adversely affected by the company.

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 no sustainability strategy with nature-related targets aside from climate and does not report on sustainability accountability within its governance structure.

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 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 3 emissions and all its 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 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
The company has an opportunity to elaborate on how it identifies bribery and corruption risks in its own operations. While it has a publicly disclosed statement concerning the ethical use of political contributions, it has not made it clear that it abstains from making such contributions altogether. Additionally, the company could disclose requirements for third-party lobbyists to adhere to its lobbying and political engagement policy.

Provide and promote decent work
My apologies for the oversight. The company could disclose a detailed policy on worker health and safety, and clarify how it monitors the health and safety practices of its suppliers. While it pays minimum wage, the company could set a time-bound target for paying a living wage and specify the methodology for determining this wage in different regions. The company could require its suppliers to pay a living wage and disclose how it ensures this is implemented. Although committed to diversity, the company could publicly commit to gender equality and women’s empowerment, set time-bound targets for achieving gender equality, and disclose the gender pay gap in various categories and locations within its operations.

Respect human rights
The company could strengthen its commitment to human rights by publicly disclosing a policy that aligns with both general human rights principles and the ILO’s fundamental rights at work. This policy could also be extended to its suppliers, requiring them to adhere to all ILO core labour rights. In addition to these policies, the company has the opportunity to outline processes for identifying human rights risks and impacts, especially salient human rights issues, both in its own operations and across its supply chain. It could also go a step further by disclosing the results of its human rights risk assessments and implementing a global system to manage and mitigate identified risks.