Sociedad Quimica y Minera

Lobbying
Sociedad Quimica y Minera discloses a list of the associations of which it is a member. It has however an opportunity to further show leadership by disclosing a full list for all geographies where it operates.

Stakeholder engagement
The company discloses an overview of the issues raised during its regular and ongoing stakeholder engagement activities as well as the engagement channels, for each stakeholder group.

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.

GHG emissions
The company has a time-bound target to reduce its scope 1 and 2 emissions.

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. It also reports regularly on air quality parameters of emissions of harmful air pollutants.

Water
The company has a time-bound target to reduce water withdrawal in its own operations and reports progress against the target. Furthermore, the company reports how much water is withdrawn for its own operations in water-stressed areas, and demonstrates reducing water withdrawal in its own operations.

Indigenous Peoples’ and land rights
The company is committed to respect Indigenous Peoples’ rights. Also, the company discloses its processes to identify and recognise the rights of Indigenous Peoples when activities in its own operations may impact their rights, and describes how it obtains Indigenous Peoples’ free, prior and informed consent.

Act ethically
The company has a policy prohibiting bribery and corruption, and includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its contracts with direct business relationships. Additionally, it has a grievance mechanism for stakeholders to raise concerns and complaints regarding bribery and corruption.

Provide and promote decent work
The company has a publicly available policy statement in which it commits to prioritizing the health and safety of its workers, and expects the same from its business relationships. Additionally, the company provides quantitative information about the health and safety of its workers. It also discloses the percentage of its direct operations workforce that is covered by collective bargaining agreements. The company has signed the UN Women Empowerment Principles (WEPs), publicly pledging its commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment. Furthermore, the company has set a target to increase female representation in staff by 20% by 2022.

Respect human rights
The company has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect human rights. It describes the process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts in specific locations or activities covering its own operations, and discloses its global system to take action action to prevent, mitigate or remediate such risks and impacts. Additionally, the company publicly discloses the results of its human rights risk assessments.

The company also discloses the categories of stakeholders whose human rights have been or may be affected by its activities, and shares examples of how it has engaged with some of these stakeholders, highlighting its engagement with indigenous communities in the municipalities of Huara, Pozo Almonte, María Elena and San Pedro de Atacama, located near its operations in Chile.

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.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
The company discloses some sustainability objectives/targets including climate and water. 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 and water, it has an opportunity to report consistently against all its targets. 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
No evidence was found regarding the company’s efforts to avoid ecosystem conversion, including deforestation, or promote restoration. The company has an opportunity to develop a strategy and publicly report on specific, time-bound targets.

GHG emissions
The company should report against its scope 1 and 2 targets. It should also set time-bound targets to reduce its scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions as well as report progress against them. Crucially, the company needs to reduce its scope 1,2 and 3 emissions and its targets need to align with a 1.5-degree trajectory.

Impact and dependencies assessment
While the company conducts rigorous evaluations of its environmental impacts and has an environmental monitoring program in place, it still has the opportunity to assess its impacts on nature, including biodiversity, and disclose the methodology and results of these assessments. Additionally, the company can further assess its impacts on nature in its supply chain and evaluate its dependencies on nature within both its own operations 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 has revealed species near specific sites like Nueva Victoria and mentioned proximity to notable reserves near Salar de Atacama, it has room to disclose the full range of species across all its locations. There’s also potential for clearer communication regarding locations adjacent to biodiversity hotspots for all operations, especially outside northern Chile. The same transparency can extend to identifying supplier locations near biodiversity-rich zones and detailing species populations near these supplier sites. Furthermore, despite mentioning some species like Zorro Culpeo, providing conservation statuses based on both national and international standards would be a substantial step forward.

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 commit to avoid developing or marketing new chemicals or products with SVHC (substance of very high concern) properties, as well as work on reducing the production of hazardous substances. It has an opportunity to set and disclose time-bound targets to reduce air pollutants across the most material parts of its value chain. The company could also provide quantitative evidence regarding plastic use reduction and use of sustainable packaging, including the amount of plastic waste generated and proportions directed from or to disposal.

Water
The company has an opportunity to engage with suppliers to improve water withdrawal. The company does not disclose relevant information on water pollution. The company does not disclose a commitment to respect the right to water. The company does not disclose its processes for implementing preventive and corrective action plans for identified specific risks to the right to water and sanitation in its own operations.

Indigenous Peoples’ and land rights
The company does not disclose a commitment to respect ownership and use of land and natural resources and related legitimate tenure rights as set out in the relevant part(s) of the VGGT’s or the IFC Performance Standards or require its business relationships to have a process to identify legitimate tenure rights holders paying particular attention to vulnerable or marginalised tenure rights holders, and to negotiate with them to provide adequate compensation.

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 a process in place to identify and address incidents of bribery and corruption, but it has not yet provided specific details about this process. Additionally, the company has an opportunity to develop a policy that outlines its approach to lobbying and political engagement, and to disclose its expenditures on lobbying activities.

Provide and promote decent work
The company has an opportunity to disclose how it monitors the health and safety performance of its suppliers. The company has an opportunity to increase the proportion of women on the board.

Respect human rights
The company currently discloses statements affirming its commitment to uphold the fundamental rights at work as defined by the ILO. However, there is room for improvement by using stronger language to transform the statement into a more formal and binding commitment. Additionally, the company can enhance its expectations of suppliers by explicitly referencing all the ILO fundamental rights at work, including the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining, in all contexts and locations. Furthermore, the company currently discloses its salient human rights issues. Nevertheless, there is an opportunity to provide a clearer explanation of the process used to assess the significance of these risks.