Golden Agri-Resources

Stakeholder engagement
Golden Agri-Resources discloses frequency and channels it uses to engage with its stakeholder groups. Furthermore, its stakeholder engagement covers nature, nutrition, and social issues.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
Golden Agri-Resources 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.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
Golden Agri-Resources has a commitment to ensure zero conversion, and discloses some activities to achieve conversion-free supply chains. Furthermore, the company is committed to restoring ecosystems.

GHG emissions
Golden Agri-Resources reduces its scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions.

Resource exploitation and circularity performance
Golden Agri-Resources discloses activities to improve soil health or agrobiodiversity in its production or sourcing practices.

Solid and air pollution
Golden Agri-Resources is reducing the production of hazardous waste.

Water
Golden Agri-Resources demonstrates reducing water withdrawal in its own operations. It also discloses that its plantations are not developed in any water-scarce or stressed areas and it does not withdraw water from water-stressed areas across its own operations. The company discloses water pollution metrics, discloses its processes for managing water quality, and shows evidence of reducing water pollution. Finally, Golden Agri-Resources discloses 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
Golden Agri-Resources is committed to respect Indigenous Peoples’ rights. Also, the company discloses its processes to identify and recognise the rights of Indigenous Peoples when activities in its own operations may impact their rights, and describes how it obtains Indigenous Peoples’ free, prior and informed consent.

Act ethically
Golden Agri-Resources has a publicly available global tax strategy, which is approved by the highest governance body. Furthermore, the company has a publicly available policy statement prohibiting bribery and corruption and includes relevant clauses in its contracts with direct business relationships. Additionally, it has a grievance mechanism for stakeholders to raise concerns and complaints regarding bribery and corruption.

Provide and promote decent work
Golden Agri-Resources has a publicly available policy statement in which it commits to respecting the health and safety of workers and expects its business relationships to do so. Furthermore, the company publicly states that all overtime work must be consensual and be paid at a premium rate. Moreover, it describes how it works to support the practices of its business relationships in relation to freedom of association and collective bargaining. Additionally, it discloses the proportion of its total direct operations workforce for each employee category by age and gender.

Respect human rights
Golden Agri-Resources has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect human rights and the ILO core labour rights and expects suppliers to do so. Furthermore, the company indicates it has a human rights grievance mechanism accessible to all workers and all external stakeholders who may be adversely impacted by the company.

Lobbying
Golden Agri-Resources has an opportunity disclose a list of trade associations of which it is a member. Additionally, it 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
Golden Agri-Resources has an opportunity to disclose an overview of the issues raised by each stakeholder group during its engagement activities, beyond its materiality assessment.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
Golden Agri-Resources discloses some sustainability objectives/targets including ecosystem conversion. However, there is an opportunity to establish group-wide targets for the most material parts of its value chain. Also, while the company reports qualitative progress against all its targets, it has an opportunity to disclose quantitative information regarding its current status. Furthermore, it could link performance criteria in senior executives’ remuneration policies to targets and objectives which cover nature, including biodiversity, and social issues. Lastly, the company has an opportunity to disclose whether its highest governance body has expertise with respect to the company’s most material sustainability topics.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
While Golden Agri-Resources has a target to achieve conversion-free supply chains, it does not cover all high-risk commodities. Furthermore, the company does not disclose details and outcomes of ecosystem restoration projects in areas affected by its own operations or by its suppliers.

GHG emissions
Golden Agri-Resources 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
While Golden Agri-Resources has protective measures to monitor biodiversity in its plantations and assists its suppliers with High Conservation Value (HCV) and High Carbon Stock (HCS) assessments, it still has an opportunity to comprehensively assess and disclose its impacts on nature, including biodiversity, within its operations and upstream business relationships. Likewise, the company has an opportunity to assess and disclose its dependencies on nature within its own operations and its relationships upstream.

Invasive species
Golden Agri-Resources has not identified any activities that could lead to the introduction of invasive alien species in its own operations.

Key areas and species
While Golden Agri-Resources showcases its commitment to biodiversity through HCV assessments and details endangered and vulnerable species within its operations, like the Arctictis binturong and Helarctos malayanus, as well as conservation efforts in Indonesia, there are areas where transparency can be further enhanced. Specifically, details regarding species and their proximity to operations in other key markets such as China and India are not yet disclosed. The company’s efforts in West Kalimantan to protect and rehabilitate degraded peatland highlight its dedication. However, disclosing locations in or near biodiversity-rich areas, especially concerning its suppliers and its broader international operations, remains an area for improvement.

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
Golden Agri-Resources should commit to avoid developing or marketing new chemicals or products with SVHC (substance of very high concern) properties, as well as work on reducing the production of hazardous substances. It has an opportunity to report on air quality parameters of emissions of harmful air pollutants and disclose time-bound targets to reduce air pollutants across the most material parts of its value chain. The company could also provide quantitative evidence regarding plastic use reduction and use of sustainable packaging, including the amount of plastic waste generated and proportions directed from or to disposal.

Water
Golden Agri-Resources has an opportunity to disclose a time-bound target to reduce water withdrawal across its own operations and reports progress against the target. The company also has an opportunity to engage with suppliers to reduce water withdrawal, and it does not disclose targets to reduce water pollution. Finally, Golden Agri-Resources does not disclose a commitment to respect the right to water.

Indigenous Peoples’ and land rights
Golden Agri-Resources does not disclose its processes to identify and recognize the rights of Indigenous Peoples when activities in its own operations may impact their rights or describes how it obtains Indigenous Peoples’ free, prior and informed consent.

Safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment
Golden Agri-Resources 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
Golden Agri-Resources could describe the process for identifying its bribery and corruption risks and impacts in specific locations or activities covering its own operations. Furthermore, it has a publicly available policy statement setting out its approach on personal political engagement. However, it could also disclose a publicly available policy statement setting out its lobbying engagement approach. Similarly, the company states that it does not make political contributions in a statement report but does not formalise this commitment in a public policy document. Moreover, the company could disclose its expenditures on lobbying activities and could require third-party lobbyists to comply with its lobbying and political engagement policy.

Provide and promote decent work
Golden Agri-Resources has an opportunity to disclose how it monitors the health and safety performance of its suppliers. Furthermore, 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. It could also disclose how it determines a living wage for the regions where it operates. Similarly, while the company has set expectations on the wage paid by its suppliers, it has an opportunity to add a requirement for them to pay a living wage, and disclose how it supports the payment.
Moreover, although Golden Agri-Resources is committed to diversity, it has an opportunity to explicitly commit to gender equality and women’s empowerment. It could disclose time-bound targets on gender equality and women’s empowerment that it has at least 30% women on the board. Additionally, the company has an opportunity to disclose the ratio of the basic salary and remuneration of women to men.

Respect human rights
While Golden Agri-Resources conducts a materiality assessment to identify the main risks to the business and identifying human rights broadly as a risk, it could describe the risk identification process. It also has an opportunity to describe the process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts in specific locations or activities, covering its supply chain. Furthermore, the company could describe its process for assessing and identifying what it considers to be its salient human rights issues and the results of its human rights risk assessment. Additionally, the company could disclose a global system to act on, prevent or mitigate its salient human rights issues.