Ebro Foods

Lobbying
Ebro Foods discloses a list of trade associations of which it is a member.

Stakeholder engagement
The company discloses frequency and channels it uses to engage with its stakeholder groups.

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 reduces its scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions.

Key areas and species
The company discloses the locations that are in or adjacent to areas important for biodiversity within its own operations.

Solid and air pollution
The company discloses the hazardous waste diverted to and from disposal, as well as total hazardous waste generated. It reports regularly on air quality parameters of emissions of harmful air pollutants. The company also demonstrates a commitment to plastic use reduction and transitioning towards sustainable packaging. Additionally, it has set a target regarding the reduction of overall plastic use and reports progress against it.

Water
The company reports how much water is withdrawn for its own operations in water-stressed areas.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 has a policy prohibiting bribery and corruption and specifies that it does not make political contributions.

Provide and promote decent work
The company has a publicly available policy statement committing to respecting the health and safety of workers in its operations and supply chain and stating that workers shall not be required to work more than 48 hours in a regular work week or 60 hours including overtime. Additionally, it discloses the proportion of its total direct operations workforce for each employee category by age group and covered by collective bargaining agreements.
In terms of gender equality, the company discloses the proportion of women in its total direct operations workforce for each employee category and a target that the number of female directors should represent at least 40% of the board members by and beyond the end of 2022. Furthermore, it has 35.7% women on the board.

Respect human rights
The company has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect human 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 during its stakeholder engagement activities.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
While the company discloses some sustainability objectives/targets including social inclusion, it has an opportunity to establish group-wide targets for the most material parts of its value chain and report consistently against all its targets. Additionally, although it states that it has board committees supervising ESG rules, it could disclose having persons, teams or committees who are responsible for the implementation of its sustainability strategy and assign decision-making and oversight responsibility for its sustainability strategy to the highest governance body. Furthermore, the company has an opportunity to link performance criteria in senior executives’ remuneration policies to targets which cover nature, including biodiversity, and social issues. Lastly, it 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 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 of its scope 1,2 and 3 targets need to align with a 1.5-degree trajectory.

Impact and dependencies assessment
The company has a Policy on Sustainability, Environment and Corporate Social Responsibility that commits to environmental protection, resource optimization, and biodiversity preservation. It also claims to have no impact in high-biodiversity value areas. However, there is no evidence that the company assesses its impacts on nature, including biodiversity, within its own operations. It does not disclose assessments of impacts on nature in its supply chain, nor does it disclose any assessments of its dependencies on nature within its own operations or 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 its suppliers’ locations within or adjacent to areas important for biodiversity. 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
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 has an opportunity to set more targets and disclose quantitative evidence 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 an opportunity to describe the process for identifying its bribery and corruption risks and impacts in specific locations or activities covering its own operations and include anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its contracts with business relationships. Additionally, although the company has a mechanism for employees to raise concerns, it could clearly disclose if whistleblowers have the option to identify themselves or remain anonymous without fear of reprisals.
Concerning lobbying and political engagement, the company has an opportunity to have a policy setting out its approach. The company could disclose its expenditures on lobbying activities and requirement for third-party lobbyists to comply with its lobbying and political engagement policy.

Provide and promote decent work
When it comes to health and safety, the company has an opportunity to disclose how it monitors the health and safety performance of its suppliers.
Concerning a living wage, while the company states that it pays minimum wage to its employees, it has an opportunity to commit to paying a living wage by setting a time-bound target and disclose how it determines a living wage for the regions where it operates. Similarly, although the company has set expectations on the wage paid by its suppliers, it could add a requirement for them to pay a living wage, and disclose how it supports the payment.
In terms of gender equality and women’s empowerment, while the company has a statement on gender equality, it has an opportunity to disclose a public commitment to women’s empowerment. Also, it could disclose 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 in its operations and supply chain but has an opportunity to reference all the ILO fundamental rights at work. Furthermore, it could describe the process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts in specific locations or activities, covering its own operations and its supply chain and what it considers to be its salient human rights issues. Lastly, the company could also disclose the results of its human rights risk assessment and a global system to act on, prevent or mitigate its salient human rights issues.