WUNRN
“No longer ignoring land and women's rights
and improvements on climate: A year ago, it was clear that the industry was failing on two key issues:
how it addresses women's inequality and land rights. Scores were woeful, none
of the Big 10 had an approach that addressed the plight of women working on
farms around the world and none were making suppliers respect the rights of
communities over land.”
By Erinch Sahan Private Sector Policy Adviser
- 26 Feb 2014
In February 2013 we launched an ambitious campaign using
the power of consumers and investors to hold the world's biggest food and
drinks companies to account for what happens in their supply chains. One year
on, private sector adviser Erinch
Sahan reveals how the policies of the Big 10 have changed.
It's a year since we launched our scorecard.
Having clawed through company reports, analysing every commitment and policy of
the world's 10 largest food and drinks companies ('the Big 10'), we scored
companies on a range of issues impacting the lives of people living in poverty
around the world. A year later, having rigorously updated the scorecard, we
reflect on how companies are tracking on the seven issues we cover: workers,
farmers, women, land, climate, water and transparency.
Most
are improving
The companies are on the right track. All
but General Mills have improved their overall scores since February 2013. The
top three (Nestle, Unilever and Coca-Cola) separated themselves further from
the pack and saw the biggest jump in scores with overall increases of 10%, 14%
and 13%. The companies in the middle of the pack (Danone, Mars, Mondelez and
PepsiCo) saw mild improvements. There were some improvements also at the bottom
of the scorecard. Associated British Foods and Kellogg's - previously ranked
10th and 8th respectively - saw increases in scores of 7 and 6% respectively.
As a result, General Mills is now at the bottom of the rankings.
High performers emerging
A year ago, no company could be classified
as having good policies on any issue (scoring 8 or above out of 10). There are
now two that achieve this feat. Unilever, with its score of 8 for farmers, has
shown true leadership in pursuing supply chains that are inclusive and fair for
smallholders (read more on Unilever's supply chains in our research report).
Nestle (scoring 8 on climate) continues to lead all companies on climate, where
we assess both efforts to reduce emissions and to help farmers adapt to a
changing climate. In both cases, the results mirror broader assessments of
these companies. The Carbon
Disclosure Project's Leadership Index puts Nestle first
among its peers, and Unilever is widely recognised for its work on dealing more
fairly and inclusively with smallholder farmers.
No longer ignoring land and women's rights
and improvements on climate
A year ago, it was clear that the industry
was failing on two key issues: how it addresses women's inequality and land
rights. Scores were woeful, none of the Big 10 had an approach that addressed
the plight of women working on farms around the world and none were making
suppliers respect the rights of communities over land.
Nearly 400,000 supporters spoke upIn response, we spent the last year reminding companies about these
blind-spots, asking supporters (nearly 400,000 supporters spoke up), investors
(representing billions of dollars asked the companies to act) and civil society
to join us in urging the Big 10 to start addressing gender and land issues.
The results are encouraging. Led by Coca
Cola, six of the Big 10 now endorse the principle of free, prior and informed
consent on land acquisition. This is key in ensuring communities have a say
over what happens to the land they depend upon. Seven of the Big 10 have signed
on to UN women's empowerment principles, which demonstrates a commitment to
ensuring the industry starts addressing the barriers faced by women on farms
and markets around the world. Similarly on climate, companies have started putting
in place targets to reduce emissions and start disclosing more about their carbon
footprint.
Too many issues remain unaddressed
While we
saw impressive improvements on women's rights, land and climate change, we
didn't see the same level of movement in the workers, farmers and water themes.
On these themes, (apart from Coca Cola on water), no company showed significant
improvements.
We saw impressive improvements on women's rights, land and
climate changeOn water and workers
issues, companies had already picked off the 'low hanging fruit' and taken some
steps to strenghten their committments. For instance, a year ago, most
companies had already recognised the International Labor Organization's labour rights conventions and were disclosing key water information through
the Climate Disclosure Project's water program. But a year later, still only PepsiCo recognises the UN human right to water and no company has set a specific target to reduce
its water use along its whole supply chain. On farmers, only four companies
(Danone, General Mills Nestle and Unilever), mildly improved their performance
over the course of the year. Most continue to ignore the importance of ensuring
dealings with farmers are fair and inclusive (e.g. through transparent
contracts and ensuring farmers are paid fairly).
What are they hiding?
The industry has started to disclose a
little more about their agricultural sourcing, but many still shy away from
revealing who they buy from. Allowing consumers, the public and communities to
work out which producers connect to which global brands is key for
accountability, though the Big 10 are by-and-large preventing this.
The updated scorecard now also assesses taxesThe updated scorecard now also assesses a critical new component of
transparency - taxes - focusing on whether companies disclose information
linked to the use of tax havens. New indicators on transparency now
ensure that we better capture this important theme. People and corporations
using tax havens are depriving the world of more than $150 billion in
lost revenue, enough money to end extreme poverty twice over. Through our new
tax indicators Oxfam aims to identify which companies are most open and
accountable in their tax dealings. With the exception of Unilever and
Coca-Cola, all the companies fail miserably in tax disclosure. This helped drag
the transparency scores of four companies down by 1 point, with only Unilever
slightly improving its overall transparency score over the course of the year.
What next?
We'll continue to score the companies on
these issues, highlighting where they improve and drawing attention to where
they don't. We'll also keep talking to supporters, investors, civil society and
governments to get others to deliver the message on fair and sustainable
agriculture to the Big 10. If companies are to show leadership on these issues
(and see their scores improve), they have to start making some of the tougher
decisions, such as:
1.
Pay a sustainable price
Addressing sustainability comes at a cost, In many circumstances it may seem to
costs more in the short term to grow ingredients in a way that respects rights,
pays farmers and workers fair prices and wages, and protects the planet. But
the farmers who grow the ingredients capture a tiny
amount of the value of the prices paid by consumers, with cocoa
farmers receiving as low as 3.5%of the price of a chocolate bar, coffee growers
receiving as little as 7%of the price of coffee in supermarkets and tea farmers
getting as little as 1% of the price of tea. With so little of the final price
going to the farmers, ensuring farmers get a fairer and more sustainable price
for their produce won't necessarily require consumers to pay. It can be covered
by a marginal shift in how value and profits are shared between farmers and the
rest of the food system. For company commitments to be more meaningful, there
needs to be an assurance of their intention to pay the price for fair and
sustainable production.
2.
Proactively find and address problems
The UN
Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights ('the
Ruggie Principles'), which are quickly becoming the consensus on how
responsible companies approach human rights, ask companies to be proactive in
finding human rights risk. It is no longer acceptable to wait passively for
problems to pop up. Too many companies are still struggling to show they know
where the problems are in their operations and remain uncomfortable opening up
their supply chains to scrutiny.
3.
Focus on rights and give the poorest real
voice
The issues of land and women's rights are rising up the agenda. Rights is
the 'new black' in sustainability and recognising and respecting rights should
be core business for any company. However, 'voice' is quickly joining the
rights agenda as the 'next black'. Giving marginalised people a say over their
lives (like on land rights where 5 of the 'Big 10' are giving communities the
right to free, prior and informed consent) is critical. Whether it's workers
having a say in their working conditions through collective bargaining, farmers
able to control their destiny through producer organisations or women able to
raise concerns via women's organisations, there are many ways the 'Big 10' can
use their immense power to give people with little power a real voice.
4.
Avoid catastrophe on climate change
Climate change is already having a terrible impact on the lives of agricultural
communities around the world. Extreme weather is also impacting the supply
chains and operations of the Big 10. The Big 10 need to both reign in their own
emissions and those of their suppliers) whilst also helping farmers adapt to a
changing climate. More broadly, the planet needs their powerful voice to get
behind broader action to tackle climate change. Oxfam will be increasingly
speaking up on this issue.