Metalurgica Gerdau

Sustainability strategy and accountability
Metalurgica Gerdau provides evidence of linking performance criteria in senior executives’ remuneration policies to targets and objectives which cover nature and social issues. The company links long-term bonuses to ESG targets: percentage of women in leadership positions and CO2 emissions.

Resource exploitation and circularity
The company discloses its inputs, including its material footprint.

Solid and air pollution
The company 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.

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

Sustainability strategy and accountability
While the company discloses a materiality assessment, it does not disclose group-wide targets on key sustainability topics for the most material parts of its value chain according to the SBTN materiality table.  The company also does not disclose whether its highest governance body has expertise regarding nature-related topics.

Stakeholder engagement
While the company discloses how often and through which channels it engages with various stakeholder groups, it only discloses some issues its stakeholders engaged on. It has an opportunity to disclose an overview of the issues raised during its stakeholder engagement activities.

Lobbying
While Metalurgica Gerdau  discloses a list of trade associations of which it is a member wherever it operates, the company does not disclose a clear and detailed framework for assessing alignment of its trade associations with nature-positive policies. It has an opportunity to disclose such framework and report (potential) misalignment between the lobbying activities of its trade associations and nature-positive policies.

Impact and dependencies assessment
While Metalurgica Gerdau has 91,000 hectares of forest set aside for the conservation of biodiversity, no evidence that the company assesses its impacts on nature, including biodiversity, within its own operations could be found in the public domain. The company also has an opportunity to disclose an assessment of its impacts on nature in its supply chain. Furthremore,it does not disclose any assessment of its dependencies on nature within its own operations or of its upstream business relationships.

Key areas and species
Metalurgica Gerdau has an opportunity to disclose the locations that are in or adjacent to areas important for biodiversity within its own operations And its supply chain. While the company states Gerdau’s forest massif is home to thousands of animal species, no evidence that the company discloses species existing in or adjacent to its own locations or to the locations of its suppliers could be found in the public domain. The company also does not disclose the status according to national and international conservation lists of species identified in its own locations.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
Metalurgica Gerdau does not have a commitment to ensure zero conversion nor a commitment to minimise ecosystem conversion. It also has an opportunity to disclose activities to minimise ecosystem conversion. Furthermore, the company is not committed to restoring ecosystems and does not disclose details and outcomes of ecosystem restoration projects in areas affected by its own operations or by its suppliers.

Resource exploitation and circularity
The company does not report quantitatively on its group-wide circularity performance. While the company discloses activities to improve soil health, it has an opportunity to set  a target to improve soil health.

Water
Metalurgica Gedau has a target for water intensity of 5.9 m³/ton of steel produced to be reached in 2021 and reports progress against it. However, the company has a strong opportunity to set a target for absolute withdrawal reduction. While the company reports how much water is withdrawn for its own operations in water-stressed areas, it does not engage with suppliers to reduce water withdrawal. The company reports a decrease in water pollution but does not disclose its processes for managing and monitoring discharge water quality. Furthermore, Metalugirca Gerdau has a strong opportunity to regularly report on water pollution as well as to disclose targets to reduce water pollution. The company also does not disclose a commitment to respect the right to water nor its processes for implementing preventive and corrective action plans for identified specific risks to the right to water and sanitation in its own operations.

Solid and air pollution
While Metalurgica Gerdau is reducing the production of hazardous waste, it does not disclose a target to reduce hazardous waste.  The company also reports regularly on air quality parameters of emissions of harmful air pollutants but does not report time-bound targets to reduce air pollutants across the most material parts of its value chain.

GHG emissions
While the company has an intensity target to go from 0.93 t CO2e to 0.83 t CO2e, it is unclear if it implies specific scope 1 and 2 emission reductions. Furthermore, no sufficient information could be found beyond the claim of becoming carbon neutral by 2050. Metalurgica Gerdau has a strong opportunity to set a scope 1 and 2 emissions target aligned with a 1.5-degree trajectory and report against it. The companyalso has an opportunity todisclose a time-bound target to reduce its scope 3 emissions aligned with a 1.5-degree trajectory and report against it.

Invasive species
The company has not identified any activities that could lead to the introduction of invasive alien species in its own operations.

Safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment 
The company does not show if it is committed to respecting local communities’ right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment or to zero tolerance for acts of violence, threats, intimidation or judicial harassment committed against land and environmental rights defenders.

Indigenous Peoples’ and land rights
The company has a strong opportunity to disclose a commitment to respecting Indigenous Peoples’ rights or Land rights of local communities.

The company has an opportunity to describe a comprehensive process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts across all its activities, especially through its business relationships. The company has an opportunity to describe a process for assessing the human rights risks it has identified and to disclose what it considers to be its salient human rights issues. A description of this process would include how relevant factors are considered, such as geographical, economic and social factors. No evidence was found that the company has a global system to act on its salient human rights issues. While the company discloses the categories of stakeholders it engages with generally on sustainability issues, it is not clear if these stakeholders are those whose human rights have been or may be affected by its activities. There is no evidence that the company provides examples of its engagement with stakeholders whose human rights have been or may be affected by its activities.

The company has a publicly available policy statement which shows it is committed to respecting the health and safety of workers. The company has a publicly available policy statement which shows it expects its suppliers to commit to respecting the health and safety of their workers. 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. The company has an opportunity to describe how it determines a living wage for the regions where it operates. The company discloses the proportion of its total direct operations workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements. There is no evidence that the company describes how it works to support the practices of its suppliers in relation to freedom of association and collective bargaining.

The company discloses a global tax strategy. There is no evidence that the company describes the process for identifying its bribery and corruption risks and impacts in specific locations or activities covering its own operations. The company includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its contracts with direct business relationships. There is no evidence that the company has a publicly available policy statement or policy setting out its lobbying and political engagement approach.