Charoen Pokphand Group

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

No leading practices were identified for the company in the environment measurement area.

Commitment to traceable seafood
C.P. Group has made a commitment to the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability standard. As such, the company supports the implementation of robust traceability systems in the seafood industry.

No leading practices were identified for the company in the social responsibility measurement area.

Sustainable development strategy
C.P. Group reports on its long-term sustainability strategy, covering seafood-related topics such as traceability and social responsibility issues, and it reports outcomes and progress on its 2020 goals. C.P. Group also reports on sustainable sourcing for its Thai operations, providing an opportunity to report company-wide progress on sustainable sourcing for all its operations and supply chain. The company has a 2030 vision, complete with goals, which gives it an opportunity to set group-wide seafood-related targets that cover its entire operations and supply chain.

Stakeholder engagement
Through its AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Standard, C.P. Group provides a framework which the company uses to disclose stakeholder engagement activities, including how it selects the stakeholders, an overview of the topics discussed and their outcomes. The company reports on its stakeholder engagement framework on an annual basis. While C.P. Group discloses a solid stakeholder engagement approach, it has an opportunity to further improve by explicitly reporting which seafood-related issues are raised through its engagement.

Governance and accountability for sustainable development
Responsibility for the company’s sustainable development strategy lies with the Sustainability, Good Governance and Corporate Communication Operating Committee. The company has an opportunity to strengthen accountability by assigning this responsibility to its highest governance body and disclosing further information on its decision-making processes and oversight responsibilities, as well as linking sustainability objectives and targets to roles and remuneration.

Engagement in policy advocacy
As a member of Seafood Business for Ownership Stewardship (SeaBOS), C.P. Group takes part in collective advocacy activities through statements and calls to action towards governments. Examples of advocacy activities are calls on governments to support boat crews and ocean workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Statement on Traceability and Port State Measures, to combat IUU fishing. In addition to these statements, the company explains how it has engaged with the Indian government to support the development of Fishery Improvement Projects (FIPs). However, C.P. Group provides no further evidence about the results and impacts of its policy advocacy activities, so the company can improve by this information.

Commitment to sustainable fisheries and aquaculture
C.P. Group has made a commitment to source from certified fisheries as well as to avoid sourcing at-risk species, as defined by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. The company has an opportunity to strengthen its commitment by setting targets and reporting progress against them as well as disclosing quantitative data that demonstrates progress in its sustainable fishing and aquaculture activities.

Ecosystem impacts of fisheries
C.P. Group is not involved in fishing activities but reports several activities to address the ecosystem impacts of the fisheries it sources from. Its subsidiary C.P. Foods states that all its fishmeal used for its operations in Thailand is MarinTrust certified. Also, the company is involved in several FIPs, including efforts the improve the sustainability of its marine fishmeal ingredients in India, the Philippines and Malaysia. Furthermore, as member of SeaBOS, C.P. Group is committed to tackling abandoned, lost and discarded fishing gear, also known as ghost gear, by joining the Global Ghost Gear Initiative. However, the proportion of the volumes of seafood products that are certified relative to the C.P. Group’s entire seafood portfolio is unknown. Where risks have been identified, the company could improve its performance by clearly reporting what proportion of the fisheries it sources from are in FIPs and which ones are not, and then describing its approach for improving all problematic sources.

Ecosystem impacts of aquaculture
C.P. Group reports that 60% of its aquaculture products are Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certified. The company also has an animal welfare policy but can improve by explaining how it addresses antibiotics throughout its entire supply chain. Furthermore, although C.P. Group provides information about its approach to manage diseases, it can improve its reporting by disclosing detailed information about outbreaks, medicine use, survival rates and disease management plans across all its aquaculture operations.

Traceability system for seafood products and aquaculture feed ingredients

C.P. Group reports how it complies with legislation in Thailand to ensure the traceability of the fishmeal it sources. In addition, the company reports having MarinTrust Chain of Custody certification, an example of the robust traceability system it relies on. However, the proportion of feed sourced through MarinTrust across the company’s entire operations is unknown, making it difficult to understand how much of its operations are covered by Chain of Custody certification.

Risk-based approach to IUU fishing
C.P. Group’s strategy to reduce IUU fishing risks is to prioritise sourcing seafood products that are MarinTrust certified. However, the company fails to disclose whether it has a mechanism in place to conduct assessments of IUU fishing risks as well as due diligence processes to identify and mitigate these risks across its operations and supply chain.

Disclosure of the origin of its seafood and marine feed ingredients
C.P. Group does not publicly disclose information about the source of its seafood products. By being transparent about this, the company could demonstrate responsibility and accountability for its operations and supply chain. It can improve its performance even further by disclosing an overview of its fishing and aquaculture operations and the seafood products it sources, including information about species, production method, location and management status.

Forced labour
C.P. Group commits to prohibiting forced labour in its own operations and supply chain and discloses a requirement that prohibits its suppliers from retaining workers’ personal documents and restricting workers’ freedom of movement. In addition, the company commits to respect workers’ rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining and requires the same from its suppliers. While disclosing that suppliers shall not discriminate against workers’ representatives, the company has an opportunity to expand this statement to also include other groups such as workers and union members.

Living wage
C.P. Group does not disclose that it pays its workers a living wage or requires its suppliers to do the same. Neither has it set targets to do so in the future.

Farmer and fisher productivity and resilience
C.P. Group has a commitment to support the resilience, productivity and access to markets for farmers in its supply chain through activities such as creating income from fishing products. The company reports on the revenue earned by farmers from the sale of blue crabs. While its performance on this topic stands out, C.P. Group can further improve by providing disclosure on the impact of its support activities to farmers in its supply chain.

Working and living conditions on board fishing vessels
C.P. Group does not own fishing vessels but is committed to improving working and living conditions on board fishing vessels through its membership in the Seafood Task Force. The company can follow up on its commitment by demonstrating that working and living conditions on the vessels it sources from are assessed. It could also improve its performance by releasing the results of those assessments and disclosing how it improves where issues are identified.

Engagement with and support for local communities
C.P. Group engages with local communities and shares numerous activities of how its supports communities and vulnerable groups. It is one of the few companies that has an approach to track progress of the results and impacts of its activities. However, C.P. Group has an opportunity to further improve its performance by demonstrating how it prioritises its community engagement to ensure its activities support communities that need it most.

Charoen Pokphand Group (C.P. Group) has a clear commitment to respect human rights and the ILO core labour rights, including the rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining. It takes action to address its human rights salient risks in its own operations and its business relationships. However, the company can strengthen its disclosure on its processes for identifying and assessing its human rights risks in its own operations and supply chain. C.P. Group further identifies and engages with the stakeholders whose human rights are potentially or actually impacted by its operations and has a grievance mechanism that is accessible to employees and external stakeholders.

C.P. Group publicly commits to respecting the health and safety of its workers and provides some disclosure on the diversity of its workforce. While suppliers are required to respect the right to collective bargaining, C.P. Group does not describe how it works to support this in its supply chain. Neither does the company disclose on collective bargaining agreement coverage in its operations. While addressing women’s participation and leadership in its sustainability report, C.P. Group does not disclose a commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment nor set related targets. No sufficient commitments regarding paying a living wage and prohibiting excessive working hours were found.

C.P. Group publicly commits to prohibiting bribery and corruption and ensuring personal data protection. However, no sufficient policies or commitments on other key ethical business topics – tax, lobbying and political engagement – were found in the public domain.