Dive Brief:
- Unilever topped Oxfam's list of the world's 10 largest companies in "Behind the Brands," its annual report card of sustainability efforts in the food and beverage industry. Its top scores were in climate control and farmers' and workers' rights, as they were last year. But the company also made improvements to the treatment of women and water management categories.
- Nestle and Coca-Cola ranked second and third, while Danone and Associated British Foods Plc tied for last. Those last-place companies would have placed fourth in the original rankings, which demonstrates significant behavioral changes for manufacturers and in consumers' increased demand for transparency.
- Out of the various sustainability categories, some of the largest increases came from company policies on land rights and treatment of women. Most companies reported little to no gain for policies governing the rights of farmer and supply-chain workers.
Dive Insight:
Having public rankings of the sustainability efforts of the top 10 global food and beverage producers encourages transparency among these and other companies. Being held accountable to consumers by a public ranking of their successes and shortcomings can be motivation for manufacturers to increase progress.
This list also demonstrates where major manufacturers seem to be excelling with their sustainability efforts and which issues still need work across the board. Climate-related efforts received the highest scores total across the 10 companies, with Unilever, Nestle, and Kellogg leading the way. It was the only category with no score below a 4 for any company (which means all companies made at least some progress).
However, farmers' and workers' rights tied for the lowest scores across the board, with several companies receiving scores of 3 (poor) in these categories. That included even third-place-ranked Coca-Cola, which received a 3 for its treatment of farmers (the only 3 the company received). Oxfam said that the company is aware of and is assessing how farmers are treated in its supply chain, but Coca-Cola has not made "credible commitments" to support small farmers.
The category with the next lowest score, despite improvements from several companies, was treatment of women in the workplace. This category includes issues such as equal pay and equal treatment for female employees, farmers, and executives alike. PepsiCO CEO Indra Nooyi recently drew attention to this issue at Tina Brown's Women in the World Summit earlier this month, when she admitted she was still called "honey" and "sweetie" and experienecd uneqal treatment in the workplace. "That has to change," she said. PepsiCo received a score of 4 in this category.
Here's the full list:
- 1. Unilever
- 2. Nestle
- 3. Coca-Cola
- 4. Kellogg
- 5. Mars (tie)
- 5. PepsiCo (tie)
- 7. Mondelez
- 8. General Mills
- 9. Associated British Foods Plc (tie)
- 9. Danone (tie)