K+S

Lobbying
K+S discloses a list of trade associations of which it is a member

Stakeholder engagement
The company discloses an overview of the issues raised during its regular and ongoing stakeholder engagement activities as well as engagement channels and frequency, for each stakeholder group.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
The company reports consistently against all its targets. Furthermore, it provides evidence of linking performance criteria in senior executives’ remuneration policies to targets and objectives which cover nature, including biodiversity, and social issues.

GHG emissions
The company has set time-bound targets to reduce its scope 1 and 2 emissions.

Resource exploitation and circularity performance
The company discloses activities to improve soil health or agrobiodiversity in its production or sourcing practices.

Water
The company reports how much water is withdrawn for its own operations in water-stressed areas. The company demonstrates reducing water withdrawal in its own operations.

Indigenous Peoples’ and land rights
The company is committed to respect Indigenous Peoples’ rights.

Act ethically
The company has a policy prohibiting bribery and corruption and includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its contracts with direct business relationships. The company also has a grievance mechanism for stakeholders to raise concerns and complaints regarding bribery and corruption.

Provide and promote decent work
The company has a publicly available policy statement in which it commits to respecting the health and safety of workers and expects its business relationships to commit to respecting the health and safety of their workers. The company also discloses how it monitors the health and safety performance of its business relationships and the proportion of its total direct operations workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements. Additionally, the company discloses the proportion of women in its total direct operations workforce for each employee category and that its Supervisory Board set a target of 25% with regard to the equal participation of women and men in management positions.

Respect human rights
The company has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect human rights and discloses the results of its human rights risk assessments. It also indicates it has a human rights grievance mechanism accessible to all workers and external stakeholders  who may be adversely impacted by the company.

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.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
While the company states that it has a materiality assessment, it has an opportunity to disclose its process for identifying and prioritising its most relevant sustainability topics and impacts. This should include how external stakeholders are involved in the process. Also, the company discloses some sustainability objectives/targets including climate. However, there is an opportunity to establish group-wide targets for the most material parts of its value chain. Furthermore, while the company states that the board of directors has expertise in climate and social inclusion, it could disclose whether its highest governance body has expertise with respect to the company’s most material sustainability topics including nutrition, water, soil health, ecosystem conversion and biodiversity.

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 3 greenhouse gas emissions as well as report progress against all its scope 1, 2 and 3 targets. 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 has an opportunity to disclose assessments of its impacts on nature, including biodiversity, within its own operations and in its supply chain. It also has the opportunity to disclose its dependencies on nature within its own operations and 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
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 a target to improve soil health in its production or sourcing practices and to report progress against it.

Solid and air pollution
The company does not disclose relevant information 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, 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 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
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 a process for identifying bribery and corruption but could disclose details of this process. The company has an opportunity to have a policy setting out its lobbying and political engagement approach and disclose a publicly available policy statement that specifies that it does not make political contributions. It could also disclose its expenditures on lobbying activities and that it requires third-party lobbyists to comply with its lobbying and political engagement policy.

Provide and promote decent work
While the company states that it works to ensure full compliance with applicable wages, 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. It could also add a requirement for them to pay a living wage, and disclose how it supports the payment. Furthermore, the company has an opportunity to disclose a public commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment and 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 discloses statements committing it to respect the ILO’s fundamental rights at work. However, it has an opportunity to use stronger language to turn the statement into a formal commitment. It also expects its suppliers to respect specific workers’ rights but has an opportunity to reference all the ILO fundamental rights at work. Additionally, the company has an opportunity to describe the process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts in specific locations or activities, covering its own operations and supply chain. The company could also describe its process for assessing and identifying what it considers to be its salient human rights issues and disclose a global system to act on, prevent or mitigate its salient human rights issues.