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
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
Behind the scorecard: limitations
1.
We do not assess actual practice by suppliers, many thousands of suppliers we could
not assess
2.
We do not assess implementation/enforcement of company policies, public
information not available on this
3.
Non-public policies and practices were not considered
Behind the scorecard: process
STEP 1: Identify issues
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
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
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
•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
Successes with Chocolate industry
1.
Mars, Mondelez and Nestle each committed to conducting impact assessments
on commodities where women play a key role;
2.
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;
3.
Mars, Mondelez and Nestle committed to develop and publish plans of action to
address gender inequities in their cocoa supply chains;
Other Successes
1.
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.
2.
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.
3.
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.
Changes in scores after a year
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