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Race to the Top We have ongoing discussions with all 10 companies on the broader issues

Race to the Top We have ongoing discussions with all 10 companies on the broader issues Investors a key factor in achieving change 33 major investors, representing $1tn in assets called on companies to improve Our tone is to be a critical friend and trigger a race to the top

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Race to the Top We have ongoing discussions with all 10 companies on the broader issues

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  1. Race to the Top • We have ongoing discussions with all 10 companies on the broader issues • Investors a key factor in achieving change • 33 major investors, representing $1tn in assets called on companies to improve • Our tone is to be a critical friend and trigger a race to the top • Encouraged by the progress but long way to go to address tough issues like land rights and gender inequality

  2. Behind the scorecard • Only public policies and commitments on agricultural sourcing from developing countries • Conditions on farms for workers, smallholders and women plus impact on communities • But the Big 10 don’t run farms and few buy directly from farms • Focus on being open and doing due diligence – essentially a measure of who’s being proactive in identifying and addressing issues in their supply chain • Across the issues we assess: • Awareness • Knowledge • Commitments • Supply chain management

  3. Behind the scorecard: limitations • We do not assess actual practice by suppliers, many thousands of suppliers we could not assess • We do not assess implementation/enforcement of company policies, public information not available on this • Non-public policies and practices were not considered

  4. Behind the scorecard: process STEP 1: Identify issues • Women farm workers and small-scale producers in supply chain • Workers on farms in the supply chain • Farmers (small-scale) growing the commodities • Land, both rights and access to land and sustainable use of it • Water, both rights and access to water resources and sustainable use of it • Climate, both reducing GHG emissions and helping farmers adapt to climate change • Transparency at a corporate level STEP 2: Consulted the companies on what we wish to assess and our approach STEP 3: Consulted industry experts, NGOs and academics

  5. Behind the scorecard: process STEP 4: Dutch NGO SOMO researched publicly available documents STEP 5: Shared findings with companies and received feedback STEP 6: Generated indicators STEP 7: Shared indicators and assessments with companies STEP 8: Calculated scores • for each of the 7 issues • overall (%) score STEP 9: Launch, February 2013 – launch event at Bloomberg HQ, New York STEP 10: Supporter and investor engagement STEP 11: 6 monthly updates of scores and annual review of indicators

  6. Launched in Feb with focus on lack of policies to address gender inequality in supply chains • Focus on 3 chocolate companies: Nestle, Mars and Mondelez • Each committed to investing into understanding barriers faced by women farmers and develop plans to address these • Each committed to the UN Women’s Empowerment Principles

  7. Successes with Chocolate industry • Mars, Mondelez and Nestle each committed to conducting impact assessments on commodities where women play a key role; • 6 out of 10 companies are now signatories of the UN Women’s Empowerment Principles (previously only 2 companies were signatories), including Mars, Mondelez and Nestle; • Mars, Mondelez and Nestle committed to develop and publish plans of action to address gender inequities in their cocoa supply chains;

  8. Other Successes • Unilever issued an Advancing Women’s Rights and Economic Inclusion statement, which recognises that women have less access to land, water rights and finance; and commits to providing training and implementing grievance mechanisms for women in their supply chain. • Coca-Cola released its Sustainable Agricultural Guiding Principles, which guide suppliers to improve their water management, prevent pollution and safeguard water quality, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural practices. • Nestle released updated Supplier Guidelines where it has strengthened its support of community land rights through endorsing the important principle of Free and Prior Informed Consent for local communities.

  9. Changes in scores after a year

  10. Conclusions • Global food and beverage companies have enormous buying power • This buying power can benefit or harm women smallholder farmers in particular • Government regulation is critical; but so is consumer and public pressure • An engaged public CAN change company policies to empower, rather than displace smallholder farmers • BtB has made an important start but there is obviously much more to be done Southern Africa • As global food and beverage companies expand their footprint in the region, both threats and opportunities present themselves • SA based retail chains and brands also rapidly expanding in region • A lot of raw commodities they use are sourced in the region (eg sugar) • This change is both an opportunity and a threat to women farmers • A silent public = more potential harm to women farmers • An engaged public can harness this expanding footprint to reap more benefit for women farmers

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