Southern States Cooperative

No leading practices were identified in the governance and strategy area.

No leading practices were identified in the ecosystems and biodiversity area.

No leading practices were identified in the social inclusion and community impact area.

No leading practices were identified in the core social indicators area.

Lobbying
The company has an opportunity disclose a list of trade associations of which it is a member. Additionally, 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
The company discloses no sustainability strategy with nature-related targets and does not report on sustainability accountability within its governance structure.

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 set time-bound targets to reduce its scope 1, 2 and 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
The company 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
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 has an opportunity to disclose its inputs according to an international standard, and to report quantitatively on its group-wide circularity performance. The company also has an opportunity to disclose activities to improve soil health or agrobiodiversity in its production or sourcing practices, to disclose a target to improve soil health in its production or sourcing practices and to 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 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 has an opportunity to disclose a policy on bribery and corruption and include anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its contracts with business relationships. It could also disclose its processes for identifying and addressing bribery and corruption as well as a grievance mechanism which allows stakeholders to raise related complaints.  Furthermore, the company could disclose its approach to lobbying and political engagement in a public policy document and specify that it does not make political contributions and to divulge its lobbying expenditures. 

Provide and promote decent work
The company has an opportunity to disclose a policy commitment to respecting the health and safety of workers for its operations and supply chain and it could provide evidence of how it monitors its suppliers’ performance on health and safety standards.
Furthermore, the company could disclose a time-bound target for paying all workers a living wage or that it has achieved paying all workers a living wage and describe how it determines a living wage for the regions where it operates. The company could also disclose how it works to support the payment of a living wage by its suppliers.
Furthermore, the company could commit to gender equality and women’s empowerment and disclose related targets. It could also disclose the representation of women on the highest governance body and the ratio of the basic salary and remuneration of women to men.

Respect human rights
The company has an opportunity to disclose a policy statement committing it to respect human rights and the human rights that the ILO has declared to be fundamental rights at work in its operations and supply chain.
Additionally, the company could describe a comprehensive process for identifying human rights risks and impacts across all its activities, including its suppliers. It could give a description of a process for assessing and identifying what it considers to be its salient human rights issues, how relevant factors are considered, such as geographical, economic and social factors.  The company could also disclose a global system to act on its salient human rights issues by preventing, mitigating or remediating the latter.