Land O’Lakes

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 and reports consistently against all its targets.

GHG emissions
The company has set time-bound targets to reduce its scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions as well as report progress against them. Additionally, the company reduces its scope 1,2 and 3 emissions against previous year.

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

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

Act ethically
The company ensures that all contracts with direct business relationships include anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses. Additionally, the company has established a grievance mechanism for stakeholders to report any concerns or complaints related to bribery and corruption.

Provide and promote decent work
The company has a publicly available statement of policy that expects its business relationships to commit to respecting the health and safety of their workers. It also discloses the proportion of women in its total direct operations workforce for each employee category and the proportion of its total direct operations workforce for each employee category by race or ethnicity.

Respect human rights
The company has a publicly available policy statement that commits to respecting human rights. It also indicates the presence of a human rights grievance mechanism that is accessible to all workers. Additionally, the company recognizes the importance of accessibility to external stakeholders who may be negatively affected, and thus, it ensures that the human rights grievance mechanism is also available to them.

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 does not disclose how it engages with stakeholders, nor the issues it raises during such activities.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
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. Additionally, it could link performance criteria in senior executives’ remuneration policies to targets and objectives which cover nature, including biodiversity, and social issues. Furthermore, while the company states that the board of directors has expertise in nutrition, it has an opportunity to disclose whether its highest governance body has expertise with respect to the company’s most material sustainability topics including climate, water, soil health, social inclusion, 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
Crucially, all its scope 1, 2 and 3 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
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 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 and waste. 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
The company does not disclose relevant information related to water, in its operations or supply chains.

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.

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 an opportunity to release a publicly available policy statement that clearly prohibits bribery and corruption. It could outline a process for identifying and addressing these risks in specific locations or activities within its own operations. Additionally, the company could establish a policy that outlines its approach to lobbying and political engagement, making it available to the public. This policy should specify that the company does not make any political contributions. To enhance transparency, the company could also disclose its lobbying expenditures. It would be beneficial for the company to require third-party lobbyists to adhere to its lobbying and political engagement policy.

Provide and promote decent work
The company could disclose a policy statement committing it to respect the health and safety of workers and disclose how it monitors the health and safety performance of its suppliers. 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, and how it determines a living wage for the regions where it operates. 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. Furthermore, it could disclose a public commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment and a time-bound target on gender equality and women’s empowerment. It could also disclose 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 has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect specific workers’ rights but has an opportunity to reference a commitment to all the ILO fundamental rights at work in all locations. It also discloses statements expecting its suppliers to respect the ILO’s fundamental rights at work, but would use stronger language to turn the statement into a formal commitment. Additionally, it could describe the process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts in specific locations or activities, covering its own operations and supply chain and its process for assessing and identifying what it considers to be its salient human rights issues. The company could disclose the results of its human rights risk assessment and a global system to act on, prevent or mitigate its salient human rights issues.