Lactalis

Sustainable development strategy
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.

Ecosystem conversion
The company discloses some activities to achieve conversion-free supply chains.

Plastic use and packaging waste
The company engages in activities aimed at reducing plastic use and transitioning to sustainable packaging. It also provides quantitative data on its efforts to reduce plastic usage and adopt sustainable packaging materials.

No leading practices were identified in the nutrition area.

Farmer and fisher livelihoods
The company has established direct long-term collection relationships with the partnering farmers. It also discloses that it provides tailored technical support to meet the specific needs of each farmer’s operations. Additionally, to support the dairy production in remote rural areas facing logistical challenges, it has developed a network of multiple Milk Collection Centers that act as intermediaries between the producers and the company’s processing sites.

No leading practices were identified in the core social indicators area.

Governance and accountability for sustainable development
The company states that it has working groups and committees for CSR topics. However, it has an opportunity to disclose having persons, teams or committees within the company who are responsible for the implementation of its sustainability strategy. It could link performance criteria in senior executives’ remuneration policies to targets and objectives that cover nature, including biodiversity, and social issues. Moreover, it could disclose whether its highest governance body has expertise with respect to the company’s most material sustainability topics.

Lobbying and advocacy
The company has an opportunity to disclose a list of trade associations of which it is a member. Furthermore, it could provide a clear and detailed framework for assessing the alignment of these trade associations with its sustainability targets and report any (potential) misalignments between the lobbying activities of its trade associations and its sustainability targets.

Stakeholder engagement
The company has an opportunity to disclose how it engages with stakeholders, the issues raised during such activities, and the outcomes of its stakeholder engagement.

Sustainable development strategy
The company discloses some sustainability objectives/targets including climate and ecosystem conversion but could further establish group-wide targets for the most material parts of its value chain. While the company reports against some targets including climate, plastic, deforestation and animal welfare, it has an opportunity to report consistently against all its targets.

Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
The company has an opportunity to decrease its scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, it could set time-bound reduction targets for scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions in alignment with a 1.5-degree trajectory and report progress against these targets.

Ecosystem conversion
While the company has a target to achieve conversion-free supply chains, it could cover all high-risk commodities.

Food loss and waste
The company has the opportunity to communicate its food loss and waste (FLW) reduction targets and provide updates on its progress towards achieving this goal. Additionally, the company could align its FLW reduction goal with SDG12.3, which aims for a 50% reduction by 2030.

Protein diversification
The company has an opportunity to set a sales-based target to increase alternative proteins across its portfolio, as well as report progress against this target.

Water withdrawal
The company has an opportunity to enhance its disclosures relating to water use and withdrawal.

Accessibility and affordability of nutritious foods
The company has an opportunity to disclose its commitment and commercial activities to improve the accessibility and affordability of nutritious foods.

Availability of nutritious foods
The company has an opportunity to demonstrate how it is improving the nutritional quality of its products and to set targets to increase the share of more nutritious products in its portfolio.

Clear and transparent labelling
The company has an opportunity to disclose how it provides nutritional information on its products and how it supports consumers with making healthy food choices through its labelling schemes.

Food safety
The company has an opportunity to disclose its commitment to food safety and demonstrate that its operations and supply chain adhere to food safety standards.

Responsible marketing
The company has an opportunity to disclose its commitment to responsible marketing and its marketing activities to promote healthy food options.

Workforce nutrition
The company has an opportunity to disclose evidence of workforce nutrition programmes.

Child labour
The company has an opportunity to disclose a commitment to prohibit child labour in its supply chain and to require an age-verification system in its value chain. Further, it could provide evidence of how it builds the capacity of its suppliers to prevent child labour impacts.

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

Forced labour
The company 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.

Health and safety of vulnerable groups
The company has an opportunity to recognise and assess the health and safety risks to vulnerable groups, such as migrant and temporary labourers, women and young farmers. Furthermore, it could provide evidence of support activities that improve the health and safety of vulnerable groups.

Land rights
The company has an opportunity to disclose a commitment to respect ownership and use of land and natural resources and related legitimate tenure rights. Furthermore, it could describe a process at its operations and supply chain level to identify legitimate tenure rightsholders when acquiring, leasing or making other arrangements to use land and to negotiate with them to provide adequate compensation.

Living wage
The company states that it has built a roadmap to source palm oil and derivatives from RSPO certified suppliers, ensuring decent living wages for plantation workers. However, it has an opportunity to set a target for paying a living wage across its direct suppliers. Also, it could describe how it determines a living wage for the regions where it sources and disclose the percentage of workers across its own operations or direct suppliers that are paid a living wage.

Act ethically
The company has an opportunity to disclose a policy on prohibiting bribery and corruption and to include anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its business relationships’ contracts. Additionally, it could establish a process to identify bribery and corruption risks and impacts, along with a grievance mechanism for stakeholder complaints.

Furthermore, the company could demonstrate ethical conduct by publishing a policy statement that outlines its approach to lobbying and political engagement and emphasises its non-participation in political contributions, or alternatively, states the criteria of exceptions. It could also transparently disclose all lobbying expenditures.

Provide and promote decent work
The company has an opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to its operations and supply chain workers’ health and safety by disclosing a policy statement and providing evidence of monitoring supplier compliance. Additionally, it could set a time-bound target for ensuring all workers receive a living wage, describe the living wage determination methodology, and disclose strategies to support suppliers in paying a living wage.

Furthermore, the company could commit to gender equality and women’s empowerment and disclose related targets. It could also disclose the representation of women on the highest governance body and the ratio of the basic salary and remuneration of women to men.

Respect human rights
The company has an opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to human rights by disclosing a policy statement that respects fundamental human rights, and the International Labour Organization (ILO) fundamental rights at work, in its operations and supply chain.

Additionally, the company could describe the process for identifying human rights risks and impacts in specific activities or locations, covering its operations and supply chain, as well as the process for assessing and identifying its salient human rights issues. Moreover, the company could establish a global system to address these salient human rights issues by implementing preventive, mitigative, or remedial measures.