Nomad Foods

Stakeholder engagement
Nomad Foods demonstrates transparency by disclosing the communication channels employed for engagement with each of its stakeholder groups. Furthermore, the company’s stakeholder engagement activities cover issues those related to nature, nutrition, and social areas. This approach underscores Nomad Foods’ commitment to addressing a diverse range of sustainability considerations while maintaining open and effective stakeholder relationships.

Sustainable development strategy
Nomad Food 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 reports consistently against all its targets.

Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
The company has set a target to reduce scope 1 and 2 emissions by 25% from a 2019 baseline year by 2025. These emissions targets are in line with a 1.5-degree trajectory. Additionally, the company aims to reduce scope 3 emissions by 25% from a 2019 baseline by 2025. These scope 3 emissions targets are also aligned with a 1.5-degree trajectory.

Animal welfare
The company discloses evidence of animal welfare third-party certifications or third-party audits. It also discloses a target that addresses animal welfare issues in its supply chain and reports progress against it.

Plastic use and packaging waste
The company is actively involved in reducing plastic usage and transitioning towards sustainable packaging. It also provides detailed quantitative data about its efforts to reduce plastic use and promote sustainable packaging alternatives.

Water withdrawal
The company demonstrates a commitment to reducing water withdrawal in its own operations whilst also engaging with suppliers to do the same.

Availability of nutritious foods
The company provides information about the proportion of its overall net sales that come from branded products classified as Healthier Meal Choices (HMC). The company relies on an internal nutrient profiling system, which evaluates beneficial ingredients such as fruit, vegetables, fiber, and protein, as well as nutrients that have implications for public health, such as sugar, salt, and saturated fat.

Clear and transparent labelling
The company discloses it has adopted the Multiple Traffic Light, Nutri-score, Keyhole symbol, and Heart Mark symbol.

Food safety
The company discloses that 93% of food suppliers are certified to a GFSI-recognised food safety scheme.

No leading practices were identified in the social inclusion area.

Act ethically
The company has a public commitment to protecting personal data and discloses a global tax strategy. Moreover, it has an executive-level individual who has responsibility for its global tax strategy. The company also has a policy on prohibiting bribery and corruption and includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its business relationships’ contracts, along with a grievance mechanism for stakeholder complaints.

Provide and promote decent work
The company discloses a policy statement committing it to respect its operations and supply chain workers’ health and safety and provides evidence of monitoring suppliers’ compliance. Furthermore, it reports the proportion of its total direct operations workforce for each employee category by gender and by age group.

Respect human rights
The company has a policy statement committing it to respect human rights, along with a grievance mechanism accessible to all workers and all external stakeholders who may be adversely impacted by the company. Moreover, it describes the process for identifying human rights risks and impacts in its supply chain and publicly discloses the results of its human rights risk assessments.

Governance and accountability for sustainable development
The company has an opportunity to link performance criteria in senior executives’ remuneration policies to targets and objectives which cover 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
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 an overview of the issues raised by each stakeholder group during its engagement activities.

Sustainable development strategy
While the company discloses some sustainability objectives/targets including climate, ecosystem conversion and nutrition, it has an opportunity to establish group-wide targets for the most material parts of its value chain.

Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
The company has the opportunity to reduce its scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions, as well as report progress against these targets. Additionally, the company has the chance to reduce its scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions and report progress against these targets too.

Animal welfare
The company has an opportunity to set animal welfare targets applicable to all species, geographies and products.

Antibiotic use and growth promoting substances
The company has an opportunity to disclose a policy on reducing the (prophylactic) use of antibiotics and growth promoting substances. It could also disclose targets to phase out the prophylactic use of antibiotics across all species, geographies and products and report progress against them.

Water withdrawal
The company has the opportunity to establish a time-bound target for reducing water withdrawal in its own operations and to track and report progress towards this target. Additionally, the company has the chance to disclose the amount of water it withdraws in water-stressed areas for its own operations.

Availability of nutritious foods
The company has an opportunity to provide more information about how its nutrient profiling system aligns with government-endorsed or externally validated nutritional guidelines. Additionally, the company can set a sales-based target to increase the percentage of nutritious products or menus in accordance with these guidelines.

Clear and transparent labelling
The company has an opportunity to disclose the percentage of products for which its front-of-pack labelling schemes have been rolled out.

Food safety
The company has an opportunity to demonstrate that 100% of its own operations are certified to a GFSI food safety scheme/certification programme or other widely recognised (industry-specific) certification.

Child labour
The company prohibits suppliers from employing child workers and conducts third-party ethical audits to ensure compliance with the supplier code. However, it has an opportunity to audit all its suppliers according to Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit or to include a policy requirement on the use of an age verification system. Furthermore, it would be beneficial for the company to clarify how it is actively developing the capacity of its suppliers to prevent child labour impacts and to disclose examples of remediation programs implemented when cases of child labour are found in its operations.

Farmer and fisher livelihoods
The company has set up initiatives to improve the sustainability of the farms but it has an opportunity to demonstrate how it improves farmers’ income resilience through its procurement practices and supply chain relationships. Also, it has an opportunity to demonstrate how it identifies living income benchmarks and assesses living income gaps for some regions or commodities.

Living wage
The company has an opportunity to set a target for paying a living wage across its direct suppliers and describe how it determines a living wage for the regions where it sources. Also, it could disclose the percentage of workers across its own operations or suppliers that are paid a living wage.

Act ethically
The company has an opportunity to establish a process to identify risks and impacts related to bribery and corruption in specific locations or activities covering its own operations. Furthermore, the company could demonstrate ethical conduct by publishing a policy statement that outlines its approach to lobbying and political engagement, emphasises its non-participation in political contributions (not limited to political donation), 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 strengthen its commitment to its workers’ wellbeing by setting a time-bound target for ensuring all workers receive a living wage and detailing the living wage determination methodology in the regions where it operates. Furthermore, while it has set expectations on the wage paid by its suppliers, it has an opportunity to clarify if such wage is enough to maintain a decent standard of living for the workers and their family and to disclose its strategies to support the payment.

Additionally, the company could translate its commitment statements on gender equality and women’s empowerment into a public policy document and establish a related time-bound target. It could also disclose that it has at least 30% women on the Board of Directors and reports the ratio of the basic salary and remuneration of women to men in its total direct operations for each category.

Respect human rights
The company has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect specific workers’ rights but has an opportunity to reference all the ILO fundamental rights at work and to extend this expectation to its business relationships. Furthermore, while it has conducted a materiality assessment, it has an opportunity to disclose how it identifies human rights risks and impacts in its operations. Additionally, the company could establish a global system to address its salient human rights issues by implementing preventive, mitigative, or remedial measures.