Loblaw

Stakeholder engagement
The company discloses an overview of the issues raised during its stakeholder engagement activities and the channels it uses to engage with its stakeholder groups. Furthermore, its stakeholder engagement covers nature, nutrition, and social issues.

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.

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.

Solid and air pollution
The company demonstrates commitment and partakes in some activities related to plastic use reduction and transitioning towards sustainable packaging.

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

Act ethically
The company has a policy commitment prohibiting bribery and corruption and includes similar clauses in its contracts with direct business relationships. Further, the company discloses a grievance mechanism for stakeholders to voice complaints and concerns related to bribery and corruption.

Provide and promote decent work
Loblaw has a policy statement that outlines its commitment to prioritizing the health and safety of its workers. This policy also extends to its business partners, emphasizing the company’s expectation for them to prioritize health and safety as well. In addition, Loblaw discloses how it actively monitors and evaluates the performance of its business relationships in terms of health and safety. The company also discloses the proportion of its total direct operations workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements.

On workforce diversity, Loblaw discloses the proportion of its total direct operations workforce for each employee category by gender, race or ethnicity, and disability. To advance gender equality and women’s empowerment, Loblaw discloses its target to maintain at least 40% female on the board of directors and increase women’s representation in management positions and senior positions to 40% and 43%, respectively, by 2024. Currently, the board of directors is consists of 41.7% women.

Respect human rights
The company has a publicly available policy statement that commits to respecting human rights. It also describes the process for identifying and assessing human rights risks and impacts throughout its operations and supply chains. This process is carried out through a partnership with ELEVATE. Additionally, the company has implemented a human rights grievance mechanism that is accessible to both workers and external stakeholders.

Lobbying
The company 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.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
The company discloses some sustainability objectives/targets including climate and social inclusion. However, there is an opportunity to establish group-wide targets for the most material parts of its value chain. Also, while the company reports consistently against some targets including climate and social inclusion, it has an opportunity to report consistently against all its targets. Furthermore, although the company discloses a remuneration policy related to sustainability, it could link this policy to improvement in nature-related objectives and social issues. Lastly, the company states that the board of directors has expertise in environmental and social topics. However, it could further disclose whether its highest governance body has expertise with respect to the company’s most material sustainability topics.

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’s scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions targets need to align with a 1.5-degree trajectory.

Impact and dependencies assessment
While the company indicates forthcoming disclosures regarding a commodity risk assessment related to biodiversity in its 2023 ESG Report, there’s an opportunity for it to evaluate and disclose its impacts on nature, especially biodiversity, within its operations and supply chain. The company could also benefit from assessing and disclosing its dependencies on nature both within its own operations and in 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
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. While the company describes its activities to reduce plastic use and transition towards sustainable packaging, it has an opportunity to disclose the associated quantitative data, 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
Loblaw has an opportunity to describe its process for identifying its bribery and corruption risks and impacts across its own operations. Additionally, the company could disclose its approach to lobbying and political engagement in a public policy document. It also has an opportunity to specify that it does not make political contributions and to divulge its lobbying expenditures.

Provide and promote decent work
Loblaw 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, as well as how it determines a living wage for the regions where it operates. Furthermore, it could disclose how it works to support the payment of a living wage by its suppliers. While disclosing targets related to gender equality and women’s empowerment, the company has an opportunity to disclose a commitment on the topic. Further, in addition to disclosing the the pay gap between its corporate colleagues (5.73%), Loblaw has an opportunity discloses 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 all the ILO fundamental rights at work in its operations and supply chain. Moreover, the company could disclose a global system to act on, prevent or mitigate its salient human rights issues.