Kerry Group

Lobbying
Kerry Group discloses a list of trade associations of which it is a member in locations where it operates, showcasing some transparency around its advocacy activities.

Stakeholder engagement
The company describes how it engages with stakeholders, the issues raised during such activities, and the outcomes of its stakeholder engagement. Moreover, its stakeholder engagement activities cover nature, nutrition, and social areas.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
Kerry Group 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. Furthermore, it has group-wide targets on key sustainability topics for the most material parts of its value chain and reports consistently against all its targets.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
Kerry Group has a commitment to ensure zero conversion, with time-bound targets to achieve conversion-free supply chains. It discloses some activities to achieve conversion-free supply chains, as well as the proportion of high-risk commodities which are conversion-free.

GHG emissions
The company has set time-bound targets to reduce its scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions and reports progress against them. Along with successfully reducing its scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, its targets are also aligned with a 1.5-degree trajectory.

Resource exploitation and circularity performance
Kerry Group discloses activities to promote sustainable farming practices that include energy efficiency, nutrient management, animal welfare and soil health.

Solid and air pollution
The company reports regularly on air quality parameters of emissions of harmful air pollutants. It partakes in activities and discloses quantitative data related to plastic use reduction and transitioning towards sustainable packaging. The company also reports on waste generated, directed to and from disposal.

Water
Kerry Group demonstrates reducing water withdrawal in its own operations and in water-stressed areas. It also reports a decrease in water pollution. The company requires access to water and sanitation, including refraining from negatively affecting access to safe water, to be included in contractual arrangements with its business relationships.

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

Act ethically
Kerry Group has a public commitment to safeguarding personal data and shares its global tax strategy which is overseen by the Group CFO. Furthermore, it has a policy prohibiting bribery and corruption, and it discloses its process for identifying related risks.

The company also incorporates anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses into its contracts with direct business relationships and maintains a grievance mechanism for stakeholders to report concerns in this regard. Lastly, its lobbying and political engagement approach is outlined in a policy statement, underscoring its stance of not making political contributions.

Provide and promote decent work
Kerry Group has a publicly available policy statement in which it commits to respecting the health and safety of workers in its operation and supply chain. It also discloses how it monitors the health and safety performance of its business relationships.

Furthermore, it discloses the proportion of its total direct operations workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements. The company discloses its workforce by age group and gender, and aims for equal gender representation in senior management positions by 2030. Currently, in its board of directors, 33.33% of members are female.

Respect human rights
Kerry Group upholds a commitment to human rights, including ILO core labour rights, covering its suppliers. It describes its process to identify human rights risks and impacts within its operations and supply chain as well as its process to assess these risks and discloses its salient human rights issues.

The company transparently reports the outcomes of its human rights risk assessments and has taken concrete steps to address the living wage concern, exemplified by its Tsara Kalitao project in Madagascar. Furthermore, human rights grievance mechanisms are accessible to workers and external stakeholders.

Lobbying
While Kerry Group states it has internal processes to ensure its external engagement and representation remain consistent with the company’s positioning, it has an opportunity to disclose a clear and detailed framework for assessing the alignment of its trade associations with its sustainability targets and to report potential misalignments.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
The company has an opportunity to link its remuneration policy to improvement in social issues, in addition to nutrition and climate. While it states that the board of directors has expertise in social inclusion and nutrition, it could also disclose whether its highest governance body has expertise with respect to the company’s most material sustainability topics.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
The company does not have a commitment to restoring ecosystems, and it does not disclose details and outcomes of ecosystem restoration projects in areas affected by its own operations or by its suppliers.

Impact and dependencies assessment
While Kerry Group has a no-deforestation policy and acknowledges the importance of biodiversity and ecosystem services, it has an opportunity to assess and disclose its impacts on nature, including biodiversity, within its own operations and its upstream business relationships. The company also recognizes its dependency on ecosystem services and the high risks associated with its supply chain, particularly in terms of tropical deforestation. This presents an additional opportunity for the company to assess and disclose its dependencies on nature within its operations and 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
While Kerry Group notes its manufacturing sites are mainly in industrial areas with perceived low biodiversity value, it has an opportunity to provide a clear methodology or tool supporting this claim. Enhanced transparency could also be achieved by detailing species in and around its locations, identifying supplier sites in biodiversity-rich areas, revealing species near these supplier sites, and presenting a comprehensive conservation status of species aligned with national and international conservation lists.

Resource exploitation and circularity performance
While the company reports on some circular indicators, it has an opportunity to report quantitatively on its group-wide circularity performance. Additionally, it could disclose a target to improve soil health in its production or sourcing practices and report progress against it.

Solid and air pollution
The company should commit to avoiding 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 and waste. It has an opportunity to report on the amount of plastic waste generated and the proportions directed from or to disposal. The company could also disclose time-bound targets to reduce air pollutants across the most material parts of its value chain.

Water
Kerry Group has an opportunity to further improve water withdrawal by setting a time-bound target and engaging with suppliers. It also has an opportunity to improve its disclosure on water pollution by disclosing relevant metrics and setting time-bound targets to reduce water pollutants. Finally, the company could make a public commitment to the right to water.

Indigenous Peoples’ and land rights
The company does not show if it is committed to respecting Indigenous Peoples’ rights or the land rights of local communities.

Safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment
Kerry Group 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 disclose its expenditures on lobbying activities and require third-party lobbyists to comply with its lobbying and political engagement policy.

Provide and promote decent work
Kerry Group currently adheres to minimum wage standards for its employees but could set a time-bound target for paying a living wage. Additionally, it could disclose the methodology it uses to determine living wages in the regions where it operates. Also, it could introduce a requirement for suppliers to pay a living wage and outline the support it offers to facilitate this.

Furthermore, the company could disclose the gender-based salary and remuneration ratios within its workforce across various categories and significant locations of operation.