Mondi

Sustainability strategy and accountability 
Mondi has group-wide targets on key sustainability topics for the most material parts of its value chain. These include targets related to climate, air pollutants, water use and quality, solid waste and responsible wood sourcing.

Stakeholder engagement 
Mondi discloses how often and through which channels it engages with various stakeholder groups as well as an overview of the issues raised during its stakeholder engagement activities. The company is also one of the few to disclose how its stakeholder engagement activities impact its sustainability strategy. Its stakeholder engagement covers nature, including biodiversity, and social issues.

Key areas and species 
Mondi has a management plan for locations within its own operations adjacent to areas important for biodiversity, and it discloses the percentage of land, fresh water and sea use in such locations. The company further discloses the locations that are in or adjacent to areas important for biodiversity within its own operations. Additionally, it reports on the status according to national and international conservation lists of species identified in its own locations.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
Mondi has a commitment to ensure zero conversion and has time-bound targets to achieve conversion-free supply chains. The company discloses details and outcomes of ecosystem restoration projects in areas affected by its own operations or by its suppliers. It further discloses ecosystem restoration efforts beyond areas affected by its own operations or suppliers, such as compensation or offset mechanisms.

Resource exploitation and circularity 
Mondi discloses its inputs, making a clear distinction between the renewable and non-renewable materials it uses. The company also discloses a management plan related to the direct exploitation of resources, to avoid overexploitation and the use of threatened species. Mondi has multiple responsible wood-sourcing commitments and does not use indigenous tropical tree species or genetically modified trees, nor CITES- and IUCN-protected tree species.

Water 
Mondi has a target to reduce the water consumption of its pulp and paper mills in water-stressed areas by 5% by 2025 compared to a 2020 baseline, and it reports progress against the target. The company also has targets to reduce water pollution and reports progress against them.

Solid and air pollution 
Mondi 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. The company also reports some activities to reduce plastic use and waste in its own operations. Furthermore, Mondi has a target for 100% of its products to be reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025 and reports progress against the target. Overall, the company shows transparency in its plastic use and reports on its use of recycled plastic as inputs. The company has time-bound targets to reduce air pollutants across the most material parts of its value chain and reports regularly against these targets.

Indigenous Peoples’ and land rights 
Mondi is committed to respecting Indigenous Peoples’ rights. It has a commitment to respect ownership and use of land and natural resources and related legitimate tenure rights.

Sustainability strategy and accountability 
While some elements of Mondi’s bonus remuneration meet the environmental criterion, no evidence was found in the public domain that the company links performance criteria in senior executives’ remuneration policies to targets covering social issues, beyond safety. Furthermore, even though some members of the board have relevant sustainability experience, no evidence was found that the company’s highest governance body has expertise with respect to its most material pressures on nature.

Lobbying 
Mondi discloses a list of trade associations of which it is a member wherever it operates. However, it does not disclose a clear and detailed framework for assessing alignment of its trade associations with nature-positive policies. As a result, the company does not report (potential) misalignment between the lobbying activities of its trade associations and nature-positive policies.

Impact and dependencies assessment 
While Mondi states it is currently undertaking biodiversity assessments and provides substantial biodiversity disclosure, no sufficient evidence of biodiversity assessments in its own operations could be found in the public domain. The company has 2025 targets for its water and biodiversity assessments. The company does not disclose any assessment of its impacts on nature, including biodiversity, in its supply chain, nor does it disclose any assessment of dependencies on nature of its upstream business relationships.

Key areas and species 
The company does not disclose the locations of its suppliers that are in or adjacent to areas important for biodiversity. While the company provides categories of species for its Russian operations and taxonomy groups for its South African operations, no evidence that the company discloses all species existing in or adjacent to its own locations could be found in the public domain. Mondi does not disclose species populations existing in or adjacent to the locations of its suppliers.

Resource exploitation and circularity 
Mondi has an opportunity to report quantitatively on its group-wide circularity performance (e.g. circular material productivity). It also has an opportunity to disclose a target to improve soil health in its production or sourcing practices.

Water 
Mondi does not engage with suppliers to reduce water withdrawal. In relation to water quality, Mondi has an opportunity to disclose its processes for managing and monitoring discharge water quality.

Solid and air pollution 
Mondi is not reducing plastic use and waste in its own operations, nor does it report on the amount of plastic waste generated and proportions directed from or to disposal.

GHG emissions 
While Mondi has a time-bound target to reduce its scope 1 and 2 emissions and reports progress against the target, it is not reducing these emissions. Furthermore, the company’s scope 1 and 2 emissions reduction target is not aligned with a 1.5-degree trajectory. Additionally, no evidence that the company is reporting on its scope 3 emissions could be found in the public domain. There is a strong opportunity for the company to tackle its scope 3 emissions.

Invasive species 
Mondi 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 
Mondi does not disclose 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 
While Mondi states it ensures that land use rights for forestry operations are clearly defined and established, no further evidence was found that the company discloses its processes to identify and recognise the rights of Indigenous Peoples. Additionally, the company does not require its business relationships to have a process to identify legitimate tenure rightsholders, paying particular attention to vulnerable or marginalised tenure rightsholders, and to negotiate with them to provide adequate compensation.

Mondi describes the process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts in specific locations or activities covering its own operations. The company also describes its process(es) for assessing its human rights risks. However, it has an opportunity to disclose what it considers to be its salient human rights issues. While the company discloses that it conducts routine human rights risk assessments and that it remediates in locations with the highest risk, no evidence was found that it has a global system to act on all its salient human rights issues. There is no evidence that the company provides an example of the conclusions reached and actions taken or to be taken on at least one of its salient human rights issues as a result of assessment processes. 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. Moreover, while the company provides general examples of engagement with stakeholders, it has an opportunity to clarify if these stakeholders are those 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 also 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 discloses  that it has achieved paying all workers a living wage. However, there is no evidence that the company describes how it determines a living wage for the regions where it operates. Neither is there evidence that the company describes how it works to support the payment of a living wage by its suppliers. The company discloses the proportion of its total direct operations workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements. However, 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.

Mondi 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. However, 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, although it does specify that it does not make political contributions.