Thai Union Group

Sustainability strategy
Thai Union 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. Furthermore, it has established group-wide targets on key sustainability topics for the most material parts of its value chain.

Stakeholder engagement
Thai Union discloses how it engages with stakeholders, the issues raised during such activities, and the specific outcomes of its stakeholder engagement. Moreover, its stakeholder engagement activities cover ecosystems, traceability and social issues.

Lobbying and advocacy
Thai Union states a list of trade associations of which it is a member. Furthermore, it discloses an annual review of all the advocacy activities it has undertaken.

No leading practices were identified in the ecosystems area.

Traceability systems and commitments for seafood products and aquaculture feed ingredients
Thai Union has publicly endorsed the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST) standard. By doing so, the company has committed to implement the GDST standards. Thai Union reports that it has developed a traceability system that aligns with the GDST standards. However, the company could strengthen its commitment by making it time-bound and disclosing its workplan for adopting the GDST standards throughout its operations and supply chains.

Disclosure of the source of seafood products and marine feed ingredients
Thai Union stands out as one of the few companies actively engaged in disclosing updated information about the origins of its seafood products via the Ocean Disclosure Project. Through its participation in this platform, provides a comprehensive and current overview of both its farmed and wild seafood products. This disclosure encompasses critical details such as species identification, the method of harvest or farming, geographic sourcing, and the sustainability status of the seafood in question.

Forced Labour
Thai Union demonstrates it works with its suppliers to eradicate issues linked to forced labour by means of various activities among which an ongoing engagement with suppliers to ensure the implementation of their improvement plans in relation to the Fisher Work & Welfare Programme.

Farmer and fisher livelihoods
The company’s subsidiary Okeanos Food works closely with shrimp farmers and provides them with support to fulfil requirements to supply for the company. It supported a farm near its plant in obtaining a certification from the ASC. The certification enables the farm to be included in the company’s supply chain and produce shrimp raw materials that can be used for manufacturing ASC-certified products for the global market.

Working and living conditions on board fishing vessels
Thai Union has a clear commitment to ensure decent working and living conditions on board fishing vessels and having a process to monitor for compliance as well as disclosing monitoring results. The company further provides evidence demonstrating how improvements are being implemented by engaging with suppliers to improve their performance and compliance with the Vessel Code of Conduct.

Respect human rights
Thai Union firmly upholds human rights and labor standards. It conducts ongoing assessments for risks and impacts, specifically examining high-risk operational sites across 12 countries in 2023. These assessments employ a variety of audit methods, including third-party and internal audits. This rigorous monitoring ensures compliance with ethical standards. In its supply chain, the company identifies human rights risks and salient issues such as forced labor, excessive recruitment fees leading to bonded labor, and unsafe working conditions. Notably, the company actively engages stakeholders affected by its operations and maintains accessible grievance mechanisms for both workers and external stakeholders.

Provide and promote decent work
Thai Union places a strong emphasis on the well-being of its workers. It has publicly available policies that commit both the company and its business relationships to uphold the health and safety of their employees. Moreover, the company actively monitors the health and safety performance of its business relationships. In line with its commitment to employee well-being, the company has undertaken an assessment to ensure that its employees receive living wages. It aims to complete this assessment for 100% of its employees by the end of 2022, building upon its goal to achieve this for at least 75% by the end of 2021. To further underscore its dedication, the company has compared the actual wages earned by its employees in 2020 with third-party-calculated living wage benchmarks. In addition to this, the company provides transparency regarding the composition of its workforce. It discloses the proportion of employees in various age groups and maintains a detailed breakdown of the proportion of women across different employee categories. The company’s commitment to diversity and inclusion extends to various dimensions beyond gender, ensuring a comprehensive approach to workforce diversity.

Act ethically
Thai Union has made a public commitment to protect personal data, and it also discloses its global tax strategy. Additionally, the company has implemented a policy that strictly prohibits bribery and corruption. To further enforce this policy, the company includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its contracts with direct business relationships. In order to encourage reporting of grievances, the company provides a website, telephone number, and email address where individuals can confidently make reports without fear of reprisal. Upon visiting the website, it is evident that the company has an open channel for anyone to submit reports, with the option for the complainant to remain anonymous or identify themselves. Furthermore, the company explicitly states that it does not make any political contributions.

Sustainability strategy
The company has an opportunity to report consistently against all its targets.

Accountability for sustainability strategy
Thai Union has an opportunity to link performance criteria in senior executives’ remuneration policies to targets and objectives which cover traceability, environmental and social issues. Furthermore, it could disclose whether its highest governance body has expertise with respect to the company’s most material sustainability topics.

Lobbying and advocacy
While Thai Union discloses how it engages with some trade associations, it has an opportunity to disclose a clear and detailed framework for assessing alignment of its trade associations with its sustainability targets. Moreover, it could report (potential) misalignments between the lobbying activities of its trade associations and its sustainability targets.

Sustainable fisheries and aquaculture
Thai Union discloses its progress of tuna sourced from MSC fishery or a FIP in 2022 in comparison with 2021. However, the company has decreased the share of its seafood portfolio that MSC certified from 31% in 2021 to 28% in 2022. There is an opportunity to establish a target for sustainable fisheries and aquaculture for 100% of its portfolio, and report progress against this target.

Ecosystem impacts of fisheries
In 2022, Thai Union reports sourcing 28% of its seafood products from Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification and 40% from fisheries engaged in a fishery improvement project (FIPs). However, there is an opportunity for the company to report on how it is addressing the ecosystem impacts of fisheries across its entire wild caught product portfolio.

Risk-based approach to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing
In 2021, Thai Union introduced its Tuna Commitment up to 2025, which includes effectively addressing issues such as illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Additionally, the company is a member of the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF), which requires its members to have a system in place for checking source vessels against IUU vessel lists. However, while the membership to these bodies and the Tuna initiative demonstrates the company’s commitment to combatting IUU activities, there is an opportunity for demonstrate how it assesses IUU risks across its entire portfolio and addresses any identified risks.

Forced Labour
Thai Union assures that it does not retain workers’ personal documents or impede their freedom to move. It also emphasizes its dedication to implementing the employer pays principle for the recruitment of migrant workers but could disclose a related commitment for all its workers. Additionally, the company has established measures to prevent suppliers and any third-party recruitment intermediaries from retaining workers’ personal documents or restricting their freedom of movement. It also prohibits its finishing vessels from placing financial burdens on jobseekers and workers by collecting recruitment fees or related costs but could disclose a similar commitment for all of its suppliers.

Farmer and fisher livelihoods
Thai Union has an opportunity to identify living income benchmarks and assess living income gaps for some regions or commodities.

Respect human rights
Thai Union expects its suppliers to respect specific workers’ rights. However, it also has the opportunity to reference all the International Labour Organization (ILO) fundamental rights at work. To address its salient human rights issues, the company could disclose a global system that acts on, prevents, or mitigates these issues.

Provide and promote decent work
Thai Union has opportunities to strengthen its commitment to fair wages by setting time-bound targets for a living wage, both for its employees and suppliers. Additionally, it can enhance its dedication to gender equality and women’s empowerment with clear, time-bound objectives. Promoting board diversity with at least 30% women and disclosing salary and remuneration ratios between genders would further demonstrate its commitment to equity.

Act ethically
Thai Union can enhance its transparency and governance by describing its process for identifying bribery and corruption risks in specific areas of its operations. Additionally, adopting a policy for lobbying and political engagement and disclosing related expenditures, along with the requirement for third-party lobbyists to adhere to company policies, would further demonstrate its commitment to ethical practices.