Restaurant Brands International

Lobbying
Restaurant Brands International discloses a list of trade associations of which it is a member.

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 and reports consistently against all its targets.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
The company has a commitment to ensure zero conversion, and discloses some activities to minimise ecosystem conversion. Finally, the company discloses details and outcomes of ecosystem restoration projects in areas affected by its own operations or by its suppliers.

GHG emissions
The company has targets to reduce its scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions and these 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, such as converting marginal cropland back to ecologically diverse plains and reintroducing native grasses and forbs into the ecosystem.

Solid and air pollution
The company partakes in 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 grievance mechanism for stakeholders to raise concerns and complaints regarding bribery and corruption and includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its contracts with direct business relationships.

Provide and promote decent work
The company has a publicly available policy statement in which it commits to respecting the health and safety of workers and expects its business relationships to commit to do so. Furthermore, it discloses how it monitors the health and safety performance of its business relationships. Moreover, the company discloses the proportion of women in its total direct operations workforce for each employee category and that out of 10 board of directors, 3 are female. In addition, it aims to increase the representation of women directors by at least 30% by the 2024.

Respect human rights
The company has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect human rights. Additionally, the company indicates it has a human rights grievance mechanism accessible to all workers and to all external stakeholders who may be adversely impacted by the company.

Lobbying
The company 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 an overview of the issues raised by each stakeholder group during its stakeholder engagement activities and to describe its process, including frequency and channels, for engaging with stakeholder groups beyond materiality assessment.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
While the company discloses some sustainability objectives/targets including climate and ecosystem conversion, it has an opportunity to establish group-wide targets for the most material parts of its value chain. Furthermore, it could link performance criteria in senior executives’ remuneration policies to targets and objectives which cover nature, including biodiversity, and social issues. Lastly, the company could improve its transparency by disclosing whether its highest governance body has expertise with respect to the company’s most material sustainability topics.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
While the company has a target to achieve conversion-free supply chains, it does not cover all high-risk commodities. The company discloses some evidence of addressing conversion, however, this does not guarantee DCF-aligned practices.

Finally, the company is not committed to restoring ecosystems.

GHG emissions
Crucially, the company needs to reduce its scope 1,2 and 3 emissions and report progress against its targets.

Impact and dependencies assessment
While the company recognizes the importance of forests for biodiversity and has implemented a reseeding project to combat climate change, it has an opportunity to assess its impacts on nature, including biodiversity, within its own operations and disclose the methodology and results. The company also has the opportunity to evaluate its impacts on nature and dependencies on nature within its supply chain and 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
While the company highlights its contribution to habitats for diverse birds and grassland species, it still has an opportunity to disclose the specific species adjacent to its operations. Additionally, the company can enhance transparency by revealing locations in proximity to biodiversity hotspots, both for its operations and suppliers, and by detailing species’ conservation status as per national and global benchmarks.

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 work on reducing the production of hazardous 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
The company prohibits bribery and corruption but could strengthen its commitment by formalising this in a public policy document. The company could also describe the process for identifying its bribery and corruption risks and impacts in specific locations or activities covering its own operations. Regarding political contributions, the company states that such contributions are made only after approval from its general counsel or government relations department. However, the company could disclose whether these contributions are made as exceptions and the criteria for making them.
While the company does disclose some information about its lobbying expenditures, it has an opportunity to improve by disclosing expenditures in all locations where lobbying activities take place or specifying if it is limited to specific countries or regions. To ensure compliance with its lobbying and political engagement policy, the company could also disclose that it requires third-party lobbyists to adhere to its guidelines.

Provide and promote decent work
While the company states that it offers wage rates that are competitive within the labour markets where it operates and that meets or exceeds all applicable legal requirements, it has an opportunity to commit to paying a living wage by setting a time-bound target. Furthermore, it could also disclose how it determines a living wage for the regions where it operates and how it works to support the payment of a living wage by its suppliers.
Moreover, while the company has a statement on gender equality and women’s empowerment, it has an opportunity to translate the latter in a public policy document. Additionally, it could disclose 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. Similarly, while expecting its suppliers to commit to respect ILO fundamental rights, it could use stronger language to turn the statement s into a formal commitment.
Furthermore, it could describe the process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts in specific locations or activities, covering its own operations and supply chain. Additionally, the company could describe its process for assessing and identifying what it considers to be its salient human rights issues and the results of its human rights risk assessment. Moreover, the company could disclose a global system to act on, prevent or mitigate its salient human rights issues.