Edeka Zentrale

No leading practices were identified for the company in the governance and strategy area.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
The company discloses some activities to minimise ecosystem conversion.

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

Act ethically
The company is dedicated to safeguarding personal data and preventing bribery and corruption. It demonstrates this commitment by incorporating anti-bribery and anti-corruption measures into its contracts with business partners.
In order to further strengthen its dedication, the company has implemented a whistleblower platform, which serves as a complaint procedure for reporting any concerns or complaints related to bribery and corruption. This platform ensures that individuals can raise their concerns without fear of reprisals.

Provide and promote decent work
The company has a publicly available policy statement that commits to respecting the health and safety of its workers. In addition, it expects its business relationships, including suppliers, to also commit to ensuring the health and safety of their workers.

Respect human rights
The company has a publicly available policy statement that demonstrates its commitment to respecting human rights. Additionally, the company describes the specific process it follows to identify human rights risks and impacts associated with its operations in different locations or activities. Notably, the company ensures accessibility to a human rights grievance mechanism for all workers. Moreover, the company also makes the same mechanism accessible to external stakeholders who may be adversely affected by its actions.

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.

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 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 1,2 and 3 emissions and its targets need to align with a 1.5-degree trajectory.

Impact and dependencies assessment
The company commits to adhering to legal requirements and internationally recognized standards for environmental and climate protection, striving for continuous improvement in these areas. While it has taken appropriate measures based on these standards, the company has an opportunity to assess and disclose its impacts on nature, including biodiversity, within its own operations. Similarly, it has an opportunity to assess and disclose its dependencies on nature, both within its operations and in its 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 mentions Indigenous Peoples’ rights but does not show a commitment to respecting these rights. There are no references provided to the relevant part(s) of ILO Convention No. 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples or the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Additionally, the company fails to disclose its processes for identifying and recognizing the rights of Indigenous Peoples when its operations may impact these rights. The company also does not describe how it obtains Indigenous Peoples’ free, prior, and informed consent.

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 could describe its process for identifying bribery and corruption risks and impacts in specific locations or activities, focusing on its own operations. Additionally, the company has an opportunity to establish a policy outlining its approach to lobbying and political engagement. As part of this, the company could also disclose a publicly available policy statement affirming that it does not make political contributions. Furthermore, the company could choose to disclose its expenditures on lobbying activities and make it known that it requires third-party lobbyists to adhere to its lobbying and political engagement policy.

Provide and promote decent work
The company has the opportunity to disclose its approach to monitoring the health and safety performance of its suppliers. While the company states that it pays minimum wage to its employees, it has the chance to further demonstrate commitment by disclosing a time-bound target for transitioning to a living wage. The company could also reveal how it determines a living wage for the regions where it operates. While the company currently sets wage expectations for its suppliers, it could enhance its requirements by disclosing a mandate for them to provide a living wage and sharing how it supports such payments.
While the company addresses gender equality and women’s empowerment, translating these principles into a public policy document would emphasize its dedication. Additionally, the company could disclose time-bound objectives for gender equality and women’s empowerment. It also has the chance to disclose that it maintains a minimum of 30% representation of women on the Executive Board. Finally, the company has the opportunity to disclose the gender-based salary and remuneration ratio within its total direct operations workforce for each employee category.

Respect human rights
The company currently discloses commitments to uphold the ILO’s fundamental rights at work, with the opportunity to employ stronger language specifically regarding the commitment to collective bargaining.
Additionally, there’s potential for the company to outline its methodology for identifying human rights risks and impacts in specific locations or activities, encompassing its supply chain. The company could further elaborate on its process for assessing and identifying its significant human rights concerns. Disclosing the outcomes of its human rights risk assessment could enhance transparency. Moreover, the company has room to disclose a comprehensive global framework intended to address, prevent, or mitigate the significant human rights issues it identifies.