X5 Retail Group

Lobbying
X5 Retail Group discloses that it is a member of some industry associations. It has however an opportunity to further show leadership by providing a full list of the industry associations of which it is a member.

Stakeholder engagement
The company discloses an overview of the issues raised during its stakeholder engagement activities.

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.

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 partakes in activities related to plastic use reduction and transitioning towards sustainable packaging. The company is also reducing the production of hazardous waste.

Water
The company reports how much water is withdrawn for its own operations in water-stressed areas.

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

Act ethically
The company has a public commitment to protecting personal data and it discloses income tax payments for all its tax jurisdictions. Furthermore, the company has a policy prohibiting bribery and corruption, such clauses are also included in its contracts with direct business relationships. It identifies bribery and corruption risks by means of establishing a hotline for anonymous reporting, performing analytical activities with respect to accounting data and other information, performing control and audit of the business and financial operations, maintaining the activity of the security department responsible for protecting the company’s assets, and conducting reviews by the internal audit department and conducting external audits. The company includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its contracts with direct business relationships. Additionally, the company has a grievance mechanism for stakeholders to raise concerns and complaints regarding bribery and corruption and it specifies that it does not make political contributions.

Provide and promote decent work
The company has a publicly available policy statement in which it commits to respecting the health and safety of workers and expects its business relationships to share the same commitment. The company discloses the proportion of its total direct operations workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements as well as the proportion for each employee category by age group and gender.

Respect human rights
The company has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect human rights and ILO core labour rights. Furthermore, the company also indicates that it has a human rights grievance mechanism accessible to all workers and external stakeholders who may be adversely impacted by the company.

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.

Stakeholder engagement
The company discloses the channels for engaging with some of its stakeholders but could further describe the engagement channels for other stakeholders, such as society, local communities, regulators and government officials.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
The company discloses some sustainability objectives/targets including climate. However, there is an opportunity to establish group-wide targets for the most material parts of its value chain and report consistently against all its targets. Furthermore, while the company discloses a remuneration policy related to nature-related objectives, it could link this policy to improvement in 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 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
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 has an opportunity to reduce the amount of plastic waste generated and to provide data on the proportions of plastic waste directed from or to disposal. The company should also reduce the production of hazardous substances. 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 has an opportunity to further improve water withdrawal by setting a time-bound target, showing year-on-year reductions in water withdrawal, 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
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 outlines its approach to political engagement in its Policy on Countering Misconduct document but it has an opportunity to have a policy setting out its lobbying and broader political engagement approach and formalise it in a public policy document. Additionally, the company could disclose its expenditures on lobbying activities and requirements for third-party lobbyists to comply with its lobbying and political engagement policy.

Provide and promote decent work
The company has an opportunity to disclose how it monitors the health and safety performance of its suppliers, 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. Furthermore, it could disclose how it works to support the payment of a living wage by its suppliers. Additionally, the company could commit to gender equality and women’s empowerment and disclose related targets as well as representation of women on the highest governance body and the ratio of the basic salary and remuneration of women to men in its workforce.

Respect human rights
The company has an opportunity to disclose a policy statement that expects its suppliers to commit to respect the human rights that the ILO has declared to be fundamental rights at work. It also has an opportunity to describe a comprehensive process for identifying human rights risks and impacts across all its activities, including its suppliers, and to describe a process for assessing and identifying what it considers to be its salient human rights issues. A description of this process would include how relevant factors are considered, such as geographical, economic and social factors. Additionally, the company could disclose a global system to act on, prevent or mitigate its salient human rights issues.