METRO

Lobbying
Metro discloses a list of trade associations of which it is a member wherever it operates.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
The company has group-wide targets on key sustainability topics for the most material parts of its value chain.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
The company is committed to minimizing ecosystem conversion, and as such, it discloses certain activities aimed at achieving this goal.

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 compared to the previous year.

Impact and dependencies assessment
The company provides an aggregated monetary estimate of the economic, ecological and social impacts of its business activities along the entire value chain.

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 demonstrates commitment and discloses quantitative and qualitative data with regards to plastic use reduction and use of sustainable packaging, including in its downstream activities.

Water
The company demonstrates reducing water withdrawal in its own operations and reports how much water is withdrawn for its own operations in water-stressed areas. The company works with its business relationships to improve their practices regarding access to water and sanitation.

Safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment
The company demonstrates that its human rights risks and impacts identification process includes a focus on the health of local communities.

Act ethically
The company demonstrates its commitment to protect personal data by disclosing a public commitment. Additionally, it has a group-wide compliance management system (CMS) in place that conducts regular audits and compliance checks to address bribery and corruption. It also
includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its contracts with business relationships. To further encourage transparency, the company has a grievance mechanism, providing all stakeholders with access to an online website to raise concerns and complaints regarding bribery and corruption, without fear of reprisals.

Provide and promote decent work
The company publicly commits to worker health and safety, requiring business partners to prioritise well-being. It limits work to 48 regular or 60 total weekly hours, requiring consent and premium payment for overtime.

For gender equality and women’s empowerment, the company aims for 25% and 40% women in first and second management levels by September 2025. It also targets 30% women in levels 1-3 management and one female management board member by June 2022. Currently, 35% of the supervisory board is female. Furthermore, the company discloses workforce composition by age group and women’s presence in each employee category.

Respect human rights
The company has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect human rights and the ILO core labour rights. Additionally, the company has a publicly available policy statement that expects suppliers to respect these same ILO core labour rights.

To provide a channel for employees to voice any complaints or raise concerns related to human rights issues, the company has established a grievance mechanism. This system is accessible to all workers through an online website, allowing complainants the option to remain anonymous or choose to identify themselves.

Lobbying
While the company states all of its engagement activities related to climate change are in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement, 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 does not disclose how it engages with stakeholders, nor the issues it raises during such activities.

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, including how external stakeholders are involved in the process. Also, it discloses some sustainability objectives/targets including water, climate and ecosystem conversion. However, it could establish group-wide targets for the most material parts of its value chain. Furthermore, although the company discloses a remuneration policy related to sustainability, it has an opportunity to link this policy to improvement in nature-related objectives and social issues. Lastly, it could disclose whether its highest governance body has expertise with respect to the company’s most material sustainability topics beyond social inclusion.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
The company provides limited evidence of addressing conversion, but it does not necessarily indicate adherence to DCF-aligned practices. Although the company aims to achieve conversion-free supply chains, it lacks a specific time-bound or group-wide target. Moreover, there is no commitment from the company to ensure zero conversion or to restore ecosystems affected by its operations or suppliers. Additionally, the company does not provide disclosure on the details or outcomes of ecosystem restoration projects related to its own operations or those of its suppliers.

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

Impact and dependencies assessment
The company offers high-level monetary estimates of its environmental impact, covering both its own operations and the upstream activities of its value chain. However, the company has an opportunity to assess its dependencies on nature within its own operations and upstream business relationships, and disclose the methodology and results of these assessments.

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 does not report quantitatively on its group-wide circularity performance. The company has an opportunity to disclose a target to improve soil health in its production or sourcing practices and 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. It has an opportunity to improve on its disclosure on water pollution by disclosing water pollutant metrics and setting time-bound targets to reduce them. It also has the opportunity to make a public commitment to the right to water.

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
While the company prohibits bribery and corruption, it has an opportunity to formalise this commitment in a public policy document. Similarly, the company outlines its approach to lobbying and political engagement on its website but could strengthen this through a dedicated policy document.

Additionally, the company could explicitly state its non-involvement in political contributions in a policy statement. To enhance transparency, it could disclose its lobbying expenditures. Moreover, the company could establish a requirement for third-party lobbyists to comply with its lobbying and political engagement policy.

Provide and promote decent work
The company has an opportunity to improve the transparency of its supplier health and safety monitoring process. Additionally, while the company currently pays minimum wage to its employees, it could set a time-bound target for paying a living wage and disclose how it determines what constitutes a living wage in the regions where it operates.

Furthermore, although the company has already established expectations for supplier wages, it has an opportunity to strengthen these requirements by mandating a living wage and disclosing the measures it takes to support the payment.

Lastly, the company has an opportunity to enhance its disclosure practices by providing information on the ratio of women’s basic salary and remuneration to men in its direct operations workforce.

Respect human rights
The company acknowledges human rights as a top priority through materiality analysis but can elaborate on the process of identifying these risks in specific locations, covering its own operations and supply chain. Moreover, it could disclose its human rights risk assessment results.

The company also has an opportunity to further detail its approach to identifying salient human rights issues and disclose a comprehensive global system to address, prevent, or mitigate these concerns.