Communication on Progress

Participant
Published
  • 28-Sep-2022
Time period
  • July 2021  –  June 2022
Format
  • Stand alone document – Basic COP Template
Differentiation Level
  • This COP qualifies for the Global Compact Active level
Self-assessment
  • Includes a CEO statement of continued support for the UN Global Compact and its ten principles
  • Description of actions or relevant policies related to Human Rights
  • Description of actions or relevant policies related to Labour
  • Description of actions or relevant policies related to Environment
  • Description of actions or relevant policies related to Anti-Corruption
  • Includes a measurement of outcomes
 
  • Statement of continued support by the Chief Executive Officer
  • Statement of the company's chief executive (CEO or equivalent) expressing continued support for the Global Compact and renewing the company's ongoing commitment to the initiative and its principles.

  • September 29, 2022

    To our stakeholders:

    I am pleased to confirm that IFCO reaffirms its support of the Ten Principles of the United Nations Global Compact in the areas of Human Rights, Labour, Environment and Anti Corruption.
    In this our first annual Communication on Progress, we describe our actions to integrate the Global Compact and its principles into our business strategy, culture and daily operations. We also commit to share this information with our stakeholders using our primary channels of communication.

    Yours sincerely,

    Michael Pooley
    Chief Executive Officer

Human Rights
  • Assessment, policy and goals
  • Description of the relevance of human rights for the company (i.e. human rights risk-assessment). Description of policies, public commitments and company goals on Human Rights.

  • We support and uphold the principles contained in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.
    We will not tolerate child labour or forced labour in our own operations or those of our suppliers. IFCO´s Human Rights Policy is guided by the Code of Conduct, which, in turn, is guided by international human rights principles encompassed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Labor Organization’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, and the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. As a demonstration of our commitment to these principles, IFCO is a signatory to the United National Global Compact (“UNGC”) and continues to support the UNGC’s Ten Principles in the areas of human rights, labor, environment, and anti-corruption. IFCO is focused on leading the industry through best in class governance and leading compliance. Our goal is to implement a best in class policies, frameworks and employee trainings.

  • Implementation
  • Description of concrete actions to implement Human Rights policies, address Human Rights risks and respond to Human Rights violations.

  • IFCO is committed to achieving zero harm, including no detrimental impact on human rights.
    To enable our employees to comply with these principles, we set out our commitments and expectations in our Code of Conduct and Human Rights Policy. We also produce an annual Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement. IFCO’s Code of Conduct is available on our website and intranet. Employees through the human resource management system have received and acknowledged reading IFCO’s Code of Conduct and its policies set out in the Code of Conduct. Suppliers and partners can also access our Code of Conduct and Human Rights policy on our website.

  • Measurement of outcomes
  • Description of how the company monitors and evaluates performance.

  • We take our commitment to Human Rights seriously and our policies set out in the Code of Conduct. We encourage employees and supplier partners to report any potential violations through IFCO’s Integrity Line, available on our website. No reports have been filed.
    Our aim is to further develop the management components of human rights in our business.

    • All safety data is recorded through the integrated Compliance, Analysis & Reporting Environment (iCARE) online system – this allows Health, Safety &
    Environment (HSE) managers to analyze performance and progress related to health and safety.
    • IFCO FY 2022 – Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement
    • Our Zero Harm Charter
    • IFCO Integrity Line
    • Code of Conduct: Human Rights

    The above policies and IFCO Integrity Line can be found on our website at: https://www.ifco.com/governance

Labour
  • Assessment, policy and goals
  • Description of the relevance of labour rights for the company (i.e. labour rights-related risks and opportunities). Description of written policies, public commitments and company goals on labour rights.

  • IFCO is committed to achieving zero harm, including no detrimental impact on human rights. We support and uphold the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and are a signatory to the United Nations Global Compact.
    To enable our employees to comply with these principles, we set out our commitments and expectations in our Code of Conduct and Human Rights Policy. We also produce an annual UK Modern Slavery Act Statement.
    Our ambition is to be a force for good for our people, our partners and our communities.
    People are at the forefront of our sustainability strategy. From our employees to our partners, and the communities that enrich us.
    We want to be recognized as a safe, diverse, inclusive and best place to work, with leading talent development. That means empowering our people to bring their best selves to work, to thrive in their lives and show up for their communities. And through our culture of collaboration, we aim to influence our supply chains to have a positive impact and operate under the same levels of excellence as we do.

    • IFCO FY 2022 – Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement
    • Our Zero Harm Charter
    • Code of Conduct: Human Rights
    • IFCO Integrity Line
    The above policies and IFCO Integrity Line can be found on our website at: https://www.ifco.com/governance

  • Implementation
  • Description of concrete actions taken by the company to implement labour policies, address labour risks and respond to labour violations.

  • In FY22, we developed a more detailed supplier policy, substantially building on the principles of our existing policy to reflect IFCO’s and our customers’ expectations of our suppliers in ethical, legal, and environmental matters. This policy applies to all suppliers. We also work closely with our most strategic suppliers – for example, of our transport providers and RPC manufacturers– to ensure they live our values and comply with our policy.
    Our comprehensive set of policies and systems ensure that we act ethically and responsibly in our dealings with our customers, stakeholders, suppliers, and the communities where we work.
    We take the health, safety and wellbeing of our people seriously, whether through our Zero Harm Charter, or our robust health and safety systems, training and regular risk evaluations. This starts with a fundamental respect of the rights, health and wellbeing of all people and nature. It’s why we only work with suppliers who live our values – and commit to our Code of Conduct and Zero Harm Charter as part of their terms and conditions.
    Through our twice yearly Employee Engagement Survey “Your Voice. Our Future,” we welcome and listen to our employees’ feedback. In FY22, we included a new set of questions on DEI at IFCO in our Employee Engagement Survey and were pleased that our employees rated these highly. Notably, the results on Authenticity, Belonging Inclusion and Equal Opportunity were above the industry benchmark. We are championing inclusion and taking our employees on our journey through DEI workshops such as improving awareness of unconscious bias.
    We are committed to nurturing our people through education and training, including through LinkedIn Learning, and are in the process of creating a career development program.
    It takes all of us to create a better, more sustainable future. So in FY22, we hosted our first ESG week to introduce our ESG strategy to our employees. Over 10 sessions, internal and external experts gave insight on sustainability trends, diversity and inclusivity, and mental health and wellbeing.
    Initiatives such as the i-Lounge platform, through which we host informative sessions, or our first ESG Week, are examples of how we are committed to promoting IFCO internal knowledge-sharing on a global scale.

    All IFCO employees, including the employees of selected IFCO suppliers, especially of its wash centers, can confidentially raise any concerns about misconduct, wrongdoing or violations to our policies or any applicable law through the IFCO Integrity Line without fear of retaliation. The IFCO Integrity Line is available in 10 languages.

  • Measurement of outcomes
  • Description of how the company monitors and evaluates performance.

  • • As part of this commitment, in FY22 we developed a Global Integrated Management System that incorporates all documents and policies for Zero Harm, Quality and
    Sustainability.

    • Our office in Pullach, Germany and service center in Wakefield, UK are certified ISO45001 and IFCO had an IFR at 1.9 well below the benchmark.

    • Our 2025 target is to ensure our key subcontractors implement a certified ISO 45001 Health and Safety program at all their key sites. In FY22 18 partner sites are ISO45001
    certified.

    • In FY22, we have made engagements with our key partners to share our strategy and our priorities, and to learn from their own initiatives.

    • In May 2022, we had an 83% participation rate and an overall employee satisfaction score of 76 – two points above the industry benchmark, and the same score as in FY21.
    Our scores also increased across nine individual categories including Purpose, Empowerment, Belonging and Teamwork.

Environment
  • Assessment, policy and goals
  • Description of the relevance of environmental protection for the company (i.e. environmental risks and opportunities). Description of policies, public commitments and company goals on environmental protection.

  • Climate change is a global crisis that requires urgent action across every sector. Our business model is based on the principles of the circular economy, we provide our customers with packaging-as-a-service and therefore we are contributing to reducing the environmental impacts of packaging in the supply chain. We’re further playing our part through bold goals and developing a decarbonization plan to reduce our carbon footprint.
    To deliver on our strategy Thriving in the Circular Economy, we have set the following goals for 2025.
    Our focus area is climate change and our goal is to achieve carbon neutral operations, Net Zero Carbon by 2040 and 100% renewable electricity.
    By understanding which activities our emissions come from – and knowing how far we’ve come, where we are now, and how far we still have to go – we can better focus our carbon emissions reduction efforts. That’s why we measure our emissions annually, following the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol.
    Our solution, reusable packaging containers (RPCs) replaces single-use packaging and therefore contributes to the deployment of environmentally friendly packaging in the supply chain. Furthermore, we have a commitment to continue to innovate in bringing reusable packaging solutions to market that replace other single-use alternatives, promote the reuse model with consumers and double the environmental benefits
    Our ambition for the future is to increase the percentage of non-virgin plastic in our products, using recycled content and innovating with new materials while maintaining strict food-grade requirements
    Transport is another significant area of emissions, and for several years we’ve implemented initiatives to improve this, like combining rail with road transport (intermodal) in the EU and North America.
    Water is also a focus area for IFCO and our goal is to implement water stewardship and efficiency programs at all sites.
    We want to reduce waste and our 2025 goal is zero waste to landfill at IFCO and Partner sites, where alternatives are available.

  • Implementation
  • Description of concrete actions to implement environmental policies, address environmental risks and respond to environmental incidents.

  • • Renewable energy is key to our decarbonization efforts – and our switch to 100% green electricity has already started. Since FY22, we switched to 100% renewable energy at our head office in Germany with electricity coming solely from certified renewable sources and heat is generated through geothermal energy.
    • We are also developing a decarbonization plan together with our partners. This will include working with our manufacturers to increase the use of renewable electricity, reduce the amount of virgin plastic and increase recycled content in our crates; and creating transport efficiencies.
    • We believe food safety is everyone’s business and are eager to share food safety knowledge with others in the industry. IFCO utilized risk-based approach and learnings from research performed to create an RPC safe use application chart with recommendations for RPC use by commodity in the supply chain to reduce cross-contamination risk.
    • We partner with Ecolab to manage our hygiene systems, from maintaining clean and safe environments to verifying our chemicals and attending each site monthly for auditing
    • We have developed an IFCO Global Water Stewardship Plan in accordance with the Alliance for Water Stewardship standard, which provides a common framework to apply best practices across our business.

  • Measurement of outcomes
  • Description of how the company monitors and evaluates environmental performance.

  • • The 2015 Paris Agreement and 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change state that the world must keep global warming to 1.5°C if we are to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. This can only be achieved if global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are halved by 2030 and the world reaches net zero by 2050. To successfully cut emissions at scale, businesses must commit to science-based emissions reduction targets.
    Achieving the goals we set in FY21 requires a long-term plan with a clear set of actions, including detailed emissions targets. That’s why we committed to create more granular targets, led by the science, by signing up to SBTi in FY22. We will submit our targets for validation by the end of 2022.
    This is an important step forward, demonstrating our dedication to carbon management and reduction, transparency and holding ourselves accountable. What’s more, the work we’re doing to set SBTs has also allowed us to better calculate our carbon inventory – during FY22, we reassessed our carbon inventory with more granularity and precision
    • Our progress on our 2025 goals. In FY22 we introduced our Integrated Management System including an environmental framework.
    • Worked to reduce the energy used at our wash centers, including testing technology to heat water for more efficiently.
    • Committed to Science Based Targets to achieve Net Zero Carbon by 2040
    • 34% of electricity at IFCO managed sites was from renewable sources.
    • We will roll out our new Environmental Management System as part of our Integrated Management System at our IFCO branches and service centers in FY23, including training for select employees and departments in our Pullach headquarters
    • In FY22, we completed a water reclamation project pilot that uses our ground-breaking technology to recycle water from the washing machines, conveyor systems and spin dryers in the wash process. We now plan to initially roll out the technology in four or five high-volume wash centers in North America, Latin America, and Europe. This new technology through pilot testing has resulted in 50% less fresh water is needed per RPC wash and 50% reduction in detergent consumption.
    • We upgraded our EnSURE Touch food safety system in North America with smart units. A new digital platform using cloud-based technology allows real-time remote hygiene verification. We plan to roll out this technology globally

    IFCO's 2021 ESG Report - "Thriving in the circular economy" - https://www.ifco.com/esg-report/

Anti-Corruption
  • Assessment, policy and goals
  • Description of the relevance of anti-corruption for the company (i.e. anti-corruption risk-assessment). Description of policies, public commitments and company goals on anti-corruption.

  • IFCO communicated the Code of Conduct, which addresses our Anti-Corruption policy, with its employees globally. Our Code of Conduct provides an ethical and legal framework to guide our directors, officers, and employees in all aspects of our business. It requires them to conduct business in accordance with the laws and regulations of the countries in which the business is located, and in a manner that enhances our reputation. In it, we outline our zero-tolerance approach to anti-bribery and corruption, our corporate responsibility, and other policies, including but not limited to, anti-money laundering, sanctions, and tax policies.

    • IFCO FY 2022 – Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement
    • Our Zero Harm Charter
    • Code of Conduct: - Anti-bribery and Corruption Policy
    • IFCO Integrity Line
    The above policies and IFCO Integrity Line can be found on our website at: https://www.ifco.com/governance

  • Implementation
  • Description of concrete actions to implement anti-corruption policies, address anti-corruption risks and respond to incidents.

  • IFCO will continue to provide training to all employees on our Code of Conduct and the policies within including anti-corruption. All IFCO Employees, including the employees of IFCO suppliers, can confidentially raise any concerns about misconduct, wrongdoing, or violations to our policies or any applicable law through the IFCO Integrity Line without fear of retaliation. The IFCO Integrity Line is available in 10 languages on our website at https://www.ifco.com/governance/

  • Measurement of outcomes
  • Description of how the company monitors and evaluates anti-corruption performance.

  • We conduct our business in an honest and ethical manner. Corrupt practices are unacceptable, and we take a zero-tolerance approach to bribery and corruption. We are committed to acting professionally, fairly and with integrity and respect in all our business dealings and relationships wherever we operate and implementing and enforcing effective systems to counter bribery. We will comply with the legal and regulatory framework in each country in which we operate.
    We also expect those that we do business with to take a similar zero tolerance approach to bribery and corruption. Before entering into an agreement with any third party who will act on behalf of IFCO, IFCO will perform proper and appropriate due diligence and obtain from the third-party certain assurances of compliance.
    Ongoing training has been conducted with the aim of enhancing employees’ compliance with the IFCO’s anticorruption and antibribery policy set out in the IFCO Code of Conduct. These training programs are tailored to specific departments within the IFCO group, including sales, finance, management, asset management and customer service.
    The Code of Conduct has also been made available to employees without access to HR systems at our service centers. IFCO is pleased to report that there have been no incidents reported.