VF Corporation

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

Water
VF Corporation engages with suppliers to reduce water withdrawals, for example by offering training and other programs in an annual basis. It has a commitment to respect the right to water including returning clean water into the communities and villages where our production takes place. The company discloses its processes for implementing preventive and corrective action plans for identified specific risks to the right to water and sanitation in its own operations. It also works with its business relationships to improve their practices regarding access to water and sanitation. Finally, VF Corporation has an opportunity to identify local community needs and to engage with local partners to expand awareness and the adoption of water, sanitation, and hygiene programs.

Solid and air pollution
VF Corporation is reducing the production of hazardous substances, and it has a target to eliminate and restrict 100% of hazardous chemicals from their supply chain by 2025.

GHG emissions
VF Corporation’s scope 1 and 2 emissions target is aligned with a 1.5-degree trajectory. It also has a scope 3 emissions target which is aligned with a 1.5-degree trajectory.

Safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment
VF Corporation is committed to zero tolerance for acts of violence, threats, intimidation or judicial harassment committed against land, environmental rights and human rights defenders.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
VF Corporation discloses no sustainability strategy with nature-related targets and does not report on sustainability accountability within its governance structure.

Stakeholder engagement
VF Corporation does not disclose how it engages with stakeholders, nor the issues it raises during such activities.

Lobbying
VF Corporation does not report on its lobbying and advocacy practices on nature-related issues, nor whether these activities align with its sustainability strategy.

Impact and dependencies assessment
VF Corporation has not holistically assessed its impacts or how it depends on nature, including biodiversity. It has an opportunity to start such an assessment across its value chains, focused on quantification of its impacts or dependencies.

Key areas and species
VF Corporation does not disclose key species or areas important for biodiversity affected by its operations or suppliers. It has an opportunity to increase its transparency.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
VF Corporation does not disclose a commitment to ensure zero conversion, and it does not disclose its activities to achieve conversion-free supply chains. The company does not disclose time-bound targets to achieve conversion-free supply chains and does not disclose a commitment to minimise ecosystem conversion. However, VF Corporation discloses some activities to minimise ecosystem conversion, even if it does not disclose a commitment to restore ecosystems. As such, it does not disclose details and outcomes of ecosystem restoration projects in areas affected by its own operations or by its suppliers.

Resource exploitation and circularity
No evidence was found regarding VF Corporation’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. Although it is making efforts to promote regenerative agriculture, it does not disclose activities to improve soil health. The company does not disclose a target to improve soil health in its production or sourcing practices.

Water
No evidence that VF Corporation reduces water withdrawal across the company’s own operations was found. The company does not disclose a time-bound target to reduce water withdrawal across its own operations. The company does not report how much water is withdrawn for its own operations in water-stressed areas. The company reports a decrease in water pollution. The company does not disclose its processes for managing and monitoring discharge water quality. The company does not regularly report on water pollution. The company does not disclose targets to reduce water pollution.

Solid and air pollution
VF Corporation does not disclose a commitment to avoid developing or marketing new chemicals or products with SVHC (substance of very high concern) properties. No evidence that it is reducing the production of hazardous waste or plastic use and waste in its own operations. The company does not report on the amount of plastic waste generated and proportions directed from or to disposal. The company does not report on air quality parameters of emissions of harmful air pollutants. The company does not report time-bound targets to reduce air pollutants across the most material parts of its value chain.

GHG emissions
No evidence that VF Corporation reduces its scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions was found, but it does have a time-bound target to reduce its scope 1 and 2 emissions. The company does not report progress against its scope 1 and 2 emissions target. No evidence that the company reduces its scope 3 emissions was found. The company has a time-bound target to reduce its scope 3 emissions. The company does not report progress against its scope 3 emissions target.

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

Safe, healthy, clean environment
VF Corporation does not disclose a commitment to respecting local communities’ right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment. There is also no evidence that the company tracks its actual or potential negative impacts on the health of local communities.

Indigenous peoples’ and land rights
VF Corporation does not disclose a commitment to respect Indigenous Peoples’ rights at all levels. It does not disclose its processes for identifying and recognising the rights of Indigenous Peoples when activities in its own operations may impact their rights, nor does it describe how it obtains Indigenous Peoples’ free, prior and informed consent. VF Corporation 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 VGGTs or the IFC Performance Standards. No evidence was found that it requires its business relationships to have a process to identify legitimate tenure rightsholders, paying particular attention to vulnerable or marginalised tenure rightsholders, and to negotiate with them to provide adequate compensation.

VF Corporation describes the process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts in specific locations or activities covering its own operations. It also describes the process for identifying human rights risks and impacts in its business relationships and describes its process for assessing its human rights risks and discloses what it considers to be its salient human rights issues. The company describes its global system to take action to prevent, mitigate or remediate salient human rights issues, and this includes a description of how its global system applies to its supply chain. The company discloses categories of stakeholders whose human rights have been or may be affected by its activities. The company engages with stakeholders whose human rights have been or may be affected by its activities.

VF Corporation has a publicly available policy statement which shows it is committed to respecting the health and safety of workers. The company has a publicly available policy statement which shows it expects its suppliers to commit to respecting the health and safety of their workers. However, no evidence that the company discloses a time-bound target for paying all workers a living wage or that it has achieved paying all workers a living wage was found. No evidence that the company describes how it determines a living wage for the regions where it operates was found. The company describes how it works to support the payment of a living wage by its suppliers. While the company discloses the proportion of its total direct operation’s workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements, it states that monitoring only covers a percentage of the group. The company describes how it works to support the practices of its suppliers in relation to freedom of association and collective bargaining.

VF Corporation discloses a tax strategy, but it is not applicable to all its operations. No evidence that the company describes the process for identifying its bribery and corruption risks and impacts in specific locations or activities covering its own operations was found. The company includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its contracts with direct business relationships. In a public policy statement, the company discloses its approach to lobbying and political engagement. The company specifies that it does not make political contributions.