SSP Group

Stakeholder engagement
The company discloses an overview of the issues raised during its stakeholder engagement activities and the channels it uses to engage with its stakeholder groups. Furthermore, it discloses the impacts of these engagement activities on its sustainability strategy.

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.

GHG emissions
The company has set time-bound targets to reduce its scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions.

Solid and air pollution
The company demonstrates commitment by engaging in activities aimed at reducing plastic use and transitioning towards sustainable packaging, including the commitment to eliminate unnecessary single-use plastic and move 100% of its own brand packaging to be recyclable, reusable, or compostable by 2025. Furthermore, the company discloses quantitative data concerning its progress in this area.

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

Act ethically
The company has disclosed its global tax strategy, with overall responsibility for it resting with the board. Moreover, the company has a policy in place that strictly prohibits bribery and corruption. To reinforce its commitment, the company includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its contracts with direct business relationships. In addition, the company has publicly committed to protecting personal data.

Provide and promote decent work
The company commits to respecting worker health and safety in a formal policy. It also has a publicly available statement of policy that expects its business relationships to commit to respecting the health and safety of their workers. It asserts that workers shouldn’t exceed 48 hours weekly or 60 hours with overtime, all of which must be voluntary and paid extra. The same expectation applies to its business relationships, ensuring equitable work hours.

Furthermore, it transparently discloses the proportion of women in each workforce category. Aiming for diversity, it targets a 33% female representation in senior leadership by 2025. Notably, the company showcases its commitment to gender equality with 50% women on its board of directors.

Respect human rights
The company has a publicly available policy statement that commits to respecting human rights and the ILO core labour rights. Additionally, they have a policy statement for suppliers, which expects suppliers to respect the ILO core labour rights.

In order to address modern slavery risks, the company has outlined the actions it has taken and plans to take. They also disclose key performance indicators (KPIs) and targets that allow them to measure the effectiveness of their efforts and monitor progress in managing these risks. Moreover, the company provides information about a confidential helpline called the SSP Group Helpline. This helpline allows individuals, including workers, to report concerns anonymously, if necessary, relating not only to human rights but also to other issues.

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.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
The company discloses some sustainability objectives/targets including ecosystem conversion, climate and social inclusion. However, it has an opportunity to establish group-wide targets for the most material parts of its value chain. Additionally, while the company discloses a remuneration policy related to sustainability, it could link this policy to improvement in nature-related objectives and social issues. Lastly, it could improve its performance 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 progress against its scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions reduction targets. Crucially, it 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 has an opportunity to report on the amount of plastic waste generated and proportions directed from or to disposal. Additionally, it could start reporting on the emissions of harmful air pollutants and outline specific, time-bound targets for reducing air pollutants throughout its value chain.

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 the option to outline its process for identifying bribery and corruption risks and impacts, including specific locations or activities within its own operations. While it offers a confidential SSP Group Helpline for workers to report bribery and corruption concerns and complaints, it remains uncertain if this mechanism is accessible to all stakeholders.

Additionally, the company has an opportunity to establish a policy that outlines its approach towards lobbying and political engagement. Although there is a publicly available policy statement indicating that political donations are only permitted with approval from the Government Relations team, it could further disclose whether such donations are exceptional cases and provide the criteria for their approval.

Moreover, the company has the potential to disclose its lobbying expenditure details and assert that it requires third-party lobbyists to adhere to its lobbying and political engagement policy.

Provide and promote decent work
The company can disclose either a time-bound target for paying all workers a living wage or that it has already achieved paying all workers a living wage. Furthermore, the company has the chance to disclose its method for determining a living wage in the regions where it operates. While the company expects its suppliers to pay a living wage, it also has the opportunity to describe how it actively works to support the payment of such wages. Additionally, it could disclose how it monitors the health and safety performance of its suppliers.

Despite having a statement on gender equality and women’s empowerment, the company should consider translating this into a public policy document. Moreover, the company can disclose the ratio of the basic salary and remuneration of women to men in its total direct operations workforce, categorized by employee category and significant locations of operation.

Respect human rights
In addition to describing its approach for identifying modern slavery risks within its business and supply chains, the company can further enhance its efforts by identifying all human rights risks and impacts within its own operations. Disclosing the outcomes of its human rights risk assessment would also be beneficial.

While the company acknowledges that it conducts general due diligence, it should explicitly state that this includes human rights due diligence, which involves a systematic process for identifying human rights risks and impacts in its supply chain. Furthermore, the company has an opportunity to outline its procedure for assessing and determining what it considers to be its most significant human rights concerns.