Yokohama Reito (Yokorei)

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

No leading practices were identified in the ecosystems area.

No leading practices were identified in the traceability area.

No leading practices were identified in the social responsibility area.

Yokorei has a publicly available policy statement prohibiting bribery and corruption.

Sustainability strategy
Yokorei 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. Further, it also discloses the list of key material topics identified as a result of this process. However, the company still has an opportunity to improve in this area by defining time-bound targets on key sustainability topics for the most material parts of its value chain, and reporting on their progress.

Accountability for sustainability strategy
Yokorei has several opportunities to increase accountability for its sustainability strategy. For example it can link performance criteria in senior executives’ remuneration policies to its sustainability targets and objectives. Additionally, the company has an opportunity to disclose whether its highest governance body has expertise with respect to the company’s most material sustainability topics.

Stakeholder engagement
Yokorei has an opportunity to disclose an overview of the issues raised by each stakeholder group during its stakeholder engagement activities and to describe its process for engaging with stakeholder groups, beyond its materiality assessment.

Lobbying and advocacy
Yokorei has an opportunity to disclose a clear and detailed framework for assessing alignment of its trade associations with its sustainability targets. Similarly, the company can increase its transparency efforts by reporting (potential) misalignments between the lobbying activities of its trade associations and its sustainability targets.

Sustainable fisheries and aquaculture
In 2022, Yokorei reported having 22% of its seafood portfolio Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) certified and 19.8% of Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified. However, the company has an opportunity to improve by setting a target for sustainable fisheries and aquaculture for 100% of its portfolio.

Ecosystem impacts of fisheries
In 2022, almost 20% of Yokorei’s products were Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified. The company has an opportunity improve by demonstrating how it addresses the impacts of the fisheries it sources from that are not certified.

Ecosystem impacts of aquaculture
Yokorei does not disclose information about its aquaculture practices. The company can improve by disclosing how it addresses important issues such as antibiotic use, feed use and animal welfare. Yokorei could improve its performance by disclosing this information, as well as information about outbreaks, medicine use, and disease management plans.

Traceability systems and commitments for seafood products and aquaculture feed ingredients
Yokorei does not disclose a public commitment to traceable seafood. Even though, Yokorei sources certified seafood products, which implies Chain of Custody certification for those products the company has an opportunity to disclose more information on the traceability system(s) in place across all its operations and supply chains, including information about ithe key data elements that are collected, and the mechanisms used to verify the information along the supply chain.

Risk-based approach to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing
Yokorei sources from Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified fisheries which helps mitigate risks of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) in those fisheries. However, the company has an opportunity to demonstrate how it assesses IUU risks across its operations and supply chain and disclose how it addresses any identified risks.

Disclosure of the source of seafood products and marine feed ingredients
Yokorei does not publicly disclose the source of its seafood products. The company has an opportunity to disclose information such as species, geographic location, and management status.

Forced Labour
Yokorei has an opportunity to disclose forced labour requirements for its operations and supply chain such as a prohibition to pay recruitment fees, to retain workers’ personal documents or to restrict workers’ freedom of movement. Further, it could provide evidence of how it builds the capacity of its suppliers to prevent forced labour impacts.

Farmer and fisher livelihoods
Yokorei has an opportunity to identify living income benchmarks and assess living income gaps for some commodities and regions. Also, it could adopt procurement practices and develop supply chain relationships that improve farmer and fishers’ income resilience.

Working and living conditions on board fishing vessels
Yokorei could improve its performance by monitoring working and living conditions on its fishing vessels, disclosing the results of its monitoring, and demonstrating how it mitigates risks and implements improvements where needed.

Respect human rights
Yokorei has an opportunity to strengthen its expectation on its business relationships to commit to respecting freedom of association and collective bargaining in all locations of operation. With regards to human rights due diligence, the company could disclose its processes to identify, assess and take action to address its salient human rights risks and impacts, and demonstrate how it engages with affected and potentially affected stakeholders. It could also develop grievance mechanisms for workers and external individuals to report concerns related to human rights.

Provide and promote decent work
To strengthen its disclosure around living wage, Yokorei could describe how it determines a living wage in the locations its operates in. It could also take the opportunity to make a public commitment to protecting the health and safety of workers and place the same expectation on its suppliers, and disclose health and safety information in line with GRI 403-9. Also, it could publicly state that workers shall not be required to work more than 48 hours in a regular work week or 60 hours including overtime, and require the same of its suppliers. It could also disclose the proportion of its total direct operations workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements.

Act ethically
While it has a commitment to prohibiting bribery and corruption, it could also take the opportunity to place this expectation on its suppliers in a public policy. Furthermore, it could describe its approach to political engagement and lobbying, and disclose its lobbying expenditure and that it makes no political contributions. With regards to taxation, it could disclose its tax strategy publicly, as well as its income tax paid by jurisdiction in all locations of operation.