Sodexo

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

Stakeholder engagement
Sodexo discloses disclose the outcomes of its stakeholder engagement. Moreover, its stakeholder engagement activities cover nature, nutrition, and social areas.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
Sodexo 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. Also, it has group-wide targets on key sustainability topics for the most material parts of its value chain and reports consistently against all its targets.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
Sodexo is committed to achieving zero-conversion supply chains and has set specific, time-bound targets.

GHG emissions
Sodexo discloses that its target is to reduce its carbon emissions by 34% by 2025 as compared to 2017, which includes Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions and these targets are aligned with a 1.5-degree trajectory.

Resource exploitation and circularity performance
Sodexo discloses activities to improve soil health or agrobiodiversity in its production or sourcing practices.

Solid and air pollution
Sodexo demonstrates commitment and engages in activities related to plastic use reduction and transitioning towards sustainable packaging.

Water
Sodexo demonstrates reducing water withdrawal in its own operations.

Indigenous Peoples’ and land rights
Sodexo has a requirement for its business relationships to identify and acknowledge Indigenous Peoples who may be affected by their projects. It also emphasizes the importance of obtaining the free, prior, and informed consent of these Indigenous Peoples in determining whether and how to proceed with the projects.

Additionally, the company mandates that its business relationships establish a process for identifying legitimate tenure rights holders. Special attention should be given to those who may be vulnerable or marginalized in society. It is also expected that negotiations will take place with these tenure rights holders to ensure they receive appropriate compensation for their involvement in the projects.

Act ethically
Sodexo publicly commits to protecting personal data and outlines a global tax strategy. It has a formal policy against bribery and corruption, and employs global risk mapping and audits to identify related risks. The company incorporates anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in contracts with direct business relationships and maintains a grievance mechanism for stakeholders to report corruption and bribery concerns. Additionally, the company mandates that third-party lobbyists adhere to its lobbying and political engagement policy.

Provide and promote decent work
Sodexo has public policy statements committing to the health and safety of both its own workers and those within its business relationships. It also outlines its method for monitoring the health and safety performance of these business partnerships. The company states that 40.9% of its direct operations workforce in 2022 is covered by collective bargaining agreements. It provides a detailed breakdown of its workforce by age group, employee category, and race or ethnicity. On the gender front, the company openly commits to gender equality and women’s empowerment. It sets specific targets, aiming to maintain a ratio of 40% women in managerial positions and 38% women in the company by August 31, 2023. Additionally, the company has met its goal of having at least 40% women among its senior executives by 2025, and reports that 50% of its board members are women.

Respect human rights
Sodexo has a publicly accessible policy committing to human rights and another specifically endorsing the ILO’s core labor rights. It also has a public statement requiring its suppliers to adhere to these ILO core labor rights. The company outlines its procedures for identifying human rights risks and impacts in specific areas of its own operations. It offers a grievance mechanism for all workers to report human rights issues, and extends this mechanism to external stakeholders who may be negatively affected by the company’s activities.

Lobbying
Sodexo 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
Sodexo has an opportunity to disclose an overview of the issues raised during its regular and ongoing stakeholder engagement activities as well as engagement channels and frequency, for each stakeholder group.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
While Sodexo discloses a remuneration policy related to sustainability, it could link this policy to improvement in nature-related objectives and social issues. Also, it has an opportunity to disclose whether its highest governance body has expertise with respect to the company’s most material sustainability topics.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
Sodexo refrains from revealing its strategies for attaining conversion-free supply chains. It lacks commitment towards ecosystem restoration. Furthermore, the company keeps information about the details and outcomes of ecosystem restoration projects, related to both its operations and its suppliers, undisclosed.

GHG emissions
Sodexo discloses a reduction of 24% in its scope 1 and scope 2 emissions between 2017 and 2022, however its emissions increased from 2021 to 2022. Crucially, the company should reduce its scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions.

Impact and dependencies assessment
Sodexo has an opportunity to disclose assessments of its impacts on nature, including biodiversity, within its own operations and in its supply chain. It also has the opportunity to disclose its dependencies on nature within its own operations and upstream business relationships.

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

Key areas and species
Sodexo 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
Sodexo currently provides some information about its recycled and renewable inputs, but it has the potential to enhance transparency by disclosing these inputs in accordance with an international standard. Moreover, the company does not provide quantitative reporting on its circularity performance across the entire organization. There is an opportunity for the company to establish a target for improving soil health in its production or sourcing practices, and subsequently report on the progress made towards achieving this goal.

Solid and air pollution
Sodexo has an opportunity to disclose 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. It could also 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. Additionally, the company should work on reducing the production of hazardous waste.

Water
Sodexo has an opportunity to further improve water withdrawal by setting a time-bound target, disclosing water withdrawals in water-stressed areas, and engaging with suppliers. The company does not disclose relevant information on water pollution or rights to water in its operations or supply chains.

Indigenous Peoples’ and land rights
Sodexo mentions Indigenous Peoples’ rights but does not show a commitment to respecting these rights. There are no references provided to the relevant part(s) of ILO Convention No. 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples or the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Additionally, the company fails to disclose its processes for identifying and recognizing the rights of Indigenous Peoples when its operations may impact these rights. The company also does not describe how it obtains Indigenous Peoples’ free, prior, and informed consent.

Safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment
Sodexo 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
Sodexo discusses its stance on lobbying and political engagement in its Public Affairs Guidelines, but could formalize this in a dedicated public policy document. While stating in the same guidelines that it refrains from making political contributions, the company could strengthen this commitment by incorporating it into a formal public policy. The company does share some details about its lobbying expenditures but could expand this disclosure to include all regions where it engages in lobbying, or specify if the activity is limited to particular countries or regions.

Provide and promote decent work
Sodexo pays its employees the minimum wage but could strengthen its commitment by setting a time-bound target for paying a living wage. It has an opportunity to disclose its methodology for determining a living wage in different operating regions. Although the company has wage expectations for its suppliers, it could require them to pay a living wage and outline how it supports this effort. The company aims to reduce the UK gender pay gap to 10% by 2025 and discloses the current gap, but it has yet to provide data on the salary and remuneration ratio between men and women across different employee categories and significant locations of operation.

Respect human rights
Sodexo has a process for identifying human rights risks, but it’s unclear if this includes all suppliers. The company could better describe its methodology for assessing and identifying what it deems to be its most salient human rights concerns. It could also disclose the outcomes of its human rights risk assessments. Additionally, the company has the opportunity to unveil a global system designed to act on, prevent, or mitigate these salient human rights issues.