Henkel

Stakeholder engagement
The company discloses how often and through which channels it engages with various stakeholder groups. The company discloses how its stakeholder engagement activities impact its sustainability strategy. The company’s stakeholder engagement covers nature, including biodiversity, and social issues. The company discloses an overview of the issues raised during its stakeholder engagement activities.

Water
The company has a time-bound target to reduce water withdrawal in its own operations and reports progress against the target.

Solid and air pollution
The company discloses the proportion of hazardous waste treated to reduce pollution compared to total waste, the hazardous waste diverted from disposal and the waste directed to disposal. The company reports some activities to reduce plastic use and waste in its own operations. The company has targets regarding reduction of virgin polymer production or overall plastic use and waste, or an increase in the proportion of reusable or refillable packaging, and reports progress against the targets.

GHG emissions
The company is reducing is scope 1, 2, and 3 emission. The company has also established time-bound targets for its emissions, aligned to aligned with a 1.5-degree trajectory, and reports against them.

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

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. 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. The company reports consistently against all its targets. 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
The company does not report on its lobbying and advocacy practices on nature-related issues, nor whether these activities align with its sustainability strategy.

Impact and dependencies assessment
The company has not holistically assessed its impacts or how it depends on nature, including biodiversity. It has an opportunity to start such an assessment across its value chains, focused on quantification of its impacts or dependencies. The company does not disclose any assessment of its dependencies on nature within its own operations or its upstream business relationships.

Key areas and species
The company does not disclose key species or areas important for biodiversity affected by its operations or suppliers. It has an opportunity to increase its transparency. The company does not disclose species populations existing in or adjacent to its own locations or of its suppliers. The company does not disclose the status according to national and international conservation lists of species identified in its own locations.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
The company has a commitment to ensure zero conversion. The company discloses some activities to achieve conversion-free supply chains, but does not have time-bound targets to achieve conversion-free supply chains. The company is committed to restoring ecosystems. The company does not disclose details and outcomes of ecosystem restoration projects in areas affected by its own operations or by its suppliers.

Resource exploitation and circularity
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. The company does not disclose efforts to improve soil health.

Water
The company demonstrates it is reducing water withdrawal in its own operations. The company reports how much water is withdrawn for its own operations in water-stressed areas. Although the company reports having analyzed water use along the value chain and having dialogued with different stakeholders, a more precise commitment is expected through clear policies or programs detailing the process. The company does not report a decrease in water pollution. The company does not disclose its processes for managing and monitoring discharge water quality. The company regularly reports 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
The company does not report reducing the production of hazardous substances. The company does not commit to avoid developing or marketing new chemicals or products with SVHC (substance of very high concern) properties. The company is not reducing the production of hazardous waste. The company is not reducing plastic use and waste in its own operations. The company does not report on the amount of plastic waste generated and proportions directed from or to disposal. 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.

Invasive species
The company has not identified any activities that could lead to the introduction of invasive alien species in its own operations.

Safe, healthy, clean environment
The company does not show if it is committed to respecting local communities’ right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment or 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 show if it is committed to respecting Indigenous Peoples’ rights or Land rights of local communities.

The company has an opportunity to describe a comprehensive process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts across all its activities thorugh its business relationships. The company has an opportunity to describe a process for assessing the human rights risks it has identified and to disclose what it considers to be its salient human rights issues. A description of this process would include how relevant factors are considered, such as geographical, economic and social factors. No evidence was found that the company has a global system to act on its salient human rights issues. 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.  There is no evidence the company provides an example of the specific 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 in at least one of its activities or operations in the last three years.

The company has a publicly available policy statement which shows it is committed to respecting the health and safety of workers.  The company has a publicly available policy statement which shows it expects its suppliers to commit to respecting the health and safety of their workers. The company has an opportunity to disclose a time-bound target for paying all workers a living wage or that it has achieved paying all workers a living wage. The company has an opportunity to describe how it determines a living wage for the regions where it operates.  The company discloses the proportion of its total direct operations workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements.There is 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.

While the company has a publicly available tax strategy on its webpage, there is no evidence this strategy is found in a formal document, approved by the highest governance body. There is 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. The company includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its contracts with direct business relationships.  The company does not disclose its approach to lobbying and political engagement in a public policy document.