Marfrig

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.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
The company has time-bound targets to achieve conversion-free supply chains.

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 its scope 1 and 2 targets. Additionally, the company reduces its scope 1 and 2 emissions and all its scope 1, 2 and 3 targets are aligned with a 1.5-degree trajectory.

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

Solid and air pollution
The company is reducing the production of hazardous waste and 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.

Water
The company discloses its processes for managing and monitoring discharge water quality. The company reports how much water is withdrawn for its own operations in water-stressed areas. The company reports a decrease in water pollution. The company regularly reports on water pollution.

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

Act ethically
The company discloses a public commitment to protect personal data. Furthermore, it has a policy prohibiting bribery and corruption, and includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its contracts with direct business relationships. Moreover, the company has a grievance mechanism for stakeholders to raise concerns and complaints regarding bribery and corruption.

Provide and promote decent work
The company discloses the proportion of its total direct operations workforce for each employee category by gender and by country.

Respect human rights
The company 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 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.

Stakeholder engagement
The company has an opportunity to disclose how it engages with stakeholders, the issues raised during such activities, and the outcomes of its stakeholder engagement.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
The company discloses some sustainability objectives/targets including climate, water, and ecosystem conversion. 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, it has an opportunity to report consistently against all its targets. Furthermore, although the company discloses a remuneration policy related to nature-related objectives, it could link this policy to improvement in social issues. Lastly, the company states that the board of directors has expertise in biodiversity and climate. However, it could further disclose whether its highest governance body has expertise with respect to the company’s most material sustainability topics including nutrition, water, soil health, social inclusion and ecosystem conversion.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
The company does not disclose a commitment or activities to minimise ecosystem conversion. While the company discloses that it is committed to working toward a chain free of conversion/deforestation in all countries where it operates, some countries are excepted.

Furthermore, the company is not committed 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.

GHG emissions
The company should reduce its scope 3 emissions and report progress against its scope 3 targets.

Impact and dependencies assessment
While the company uses geospatial monitoring to track its supplying farms and ecosystem preservation, it has an opportunity to assess and disclose its impacts on nature, including biodiversity, within its own operations and upstream business relationships. The company also has an opportunity to evaluate and disclose its dependencies on nature within its operations and upstream business relationships, to provide a more comprehensive view of its environmental footprint.

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, showing year-on-year reductions in water withdrawal, and engaging with suppliers. The company has an opportunity to set a time-bound target on water pollutants. The company does not disclose relevant information on rights 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 internal audit plan to address corruption. However, there is an opportunity to describe the process it employs to identify its risks and impacts related to bribery and corruption.

Additionally, the company could consider establishing a policy that outlines its approach to lobbying and political engagement. While the company has a publicly available policy statement that states its adherence to Brazilian law, which prohibits political contributions or donations, it could further clarify that it abstains from making such contributions in all countries where it operates. Moreover, the company has the potential to enhance its transparency by disclosing its expenses associated with its lobbying activities.

Provide and promote decent work
The company values a healthy workplace and mandates its business relationships to provide resources to ensure employee safety. However, it could reveal a policy statement dedicated to upholding the health and safety of workers, extending similar expectations to its suppliers. This could be coupled with the disclosure of its supplier health and safety monitoring process.

Moreover, though the company emphasizes fair remuneration benchmarked against market standards, it could commit to paying a living wage by setting a time-bound target. It can also outline the process of how it determines a living wage for the regions where it operates, and reveal how it works to support the payment of a living wage by its suppliers.

Furthermore, the company has an opportunity to disclose a public commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment, and set related time-bound targets. It could enhance transparency by disclosing the ratio of the basic salary and remuneration of women to men.

Respect human rights
The company has a publicly available policy statement aimed at fostering mechanisms to promote human rights and committing to specific workers’ rights. However, there is an opportunity to strengthen this commitment by referencing all the ILO fundamental rights at work and utilising stronger language to formalize this commitment. This commitment could also be extended to encompass its business relationships.

Furthermore, although the company has conducted a materiality study to identify priority areas for its business performance, it has an opportunity to describe a process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts across its operations and supply chain. The company could also elaborate on its procedure for assessing and identifying what it considers to be its salient human rights issues. Moreover, the company has the potential to disclose a global system to act on, prevent or mitigate its salient human rights issues.