2011 Communication on Progress - Louis Dreyfus Commodities

Participant
Published
  • 06-Jun-2011
Time period
  • June 2010  –  June 2011
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.

  • 20th May, 2011

    To our stakeholders:

    I am very pleased to confirm that Louis Dreyfus Commodities 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 Annual Communication on Progress, we describe some actions taken by the Company during the course of the last year (our first as a member of the UN Global Compact), actions that will also serve to allow us to continually improve the integration of 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.

    Sincerely Yours

    Serge Schoen
    Chief Executive Officer
    Louis Dreyfus Commodities

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.

  • Louis Dreyfus Commodities has sought to ensure via our global network of legal departments that we are always as a minimum compliant with the law on Human rights in all of the countries and territories that we operate. During the course of 2010, we were alerted to the forthcoming UN launch of the guiding Principles, as drafted by John Ruggie and his team, and the need to go beyond legal compliance.

    As a result, during the course of the coming year, we plan to continue a thorough review and implementation of the forthcoming UN framewaork for managing business and human rights challenges. We have already started to assess Johon Ruggie's Guiding Principles in the context of our business, and this will help us develop more pro-activity in the field of Human Rights.

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

  • In April 2011, we participated in a workshop hosted by one of our clients in Atlanta, attended by John Ruggie, to learn more about the "Protect, Respect and Remedy" framework that is due to be adopted by the UN Human rights Council in June 2011. Louis Dreyfus Commodities sees the framework as an opportunity to further our approach to Human Rights.

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

  • We are subject to some annual audits conducted by specific clients that include certain Human Rights criteria. These audits will now become part of a pro-active corporate approach to the observation and promotion of Human Rights.

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.

  • Our Code of Conduct covers a multitude of Labour-related issues including (but not limited to) the non-acceptance of any form of discrimination in the work environments built by the Company around the world, and the strong condemnation of child or forced labour and pro-active application of UN recommendations in this respect.

    During the course of our first year of membership of the global compact, we introduced a Sustainability Policy that also addressed certain Labour Issues. These include the provision of a safe and healthy working environment for all our employees, access to training and development including a full annual review for all staff, and the promotion of a discrimination-free work environment for all employees. In the policy, LDC also targets to ensure that the Company and our partners are not involved in any activity involving forced, compulsory or child labour.

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

  • Through the LDC Code of Conduct, distributed to all employees of the Group, as well as global communication of our Sustainability Policy, we managed to effectively communicate our corporate goals to all staff on the subjects of discrimination in the workplace, as well as child and forced labour issues.

    During 2010, we also wrote to the Trade Associations for many of the commodities that we trade (International Cotton Association (ICA), The Grain and Feed Trade Association (GAFTA), The Federation of Oils, Seeds and Fats Associations (FOSFA), and the Sugar Association of London (SAL) amongst others), requesting that they incorporate the following Human Rights clause into their standard terms and conditions, terms and conditions that the international trade use as benchmark terms.

    "In entering into this Agreement the Seller represents that they and their relevant suppliers:

    1. make no use of child labour (as defined by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138 - http://www.ilo.org/ilolex/cgi-lex/convde.pl?C138);
    2. make no use of forced labour (as defined by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105 - http://www.ilo.org/ilolex/cgi-lex/convde.pl?C105); and
    3. comply with all applicable law in the territories in which you operate, including human rights, labour, environmental, and anti-corruption law."

    We continue to engage with these Associations and their members on the adoption of this clause.

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

  • Again, some external audits of specific facilities are undertaken on an annual basis by certain clients, and would include studies on our labour practices. Our Global Human resources function is in the process of reporting on certain key elements of our diverse employee profile, which will be reportable after the next reporting period.

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.

  • As part of the Company's Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) programme, we are in the process of assessing the Company's environmental impact. Our Sustainability Policy requires us to measure our greenhouse gas footprint, our water useage, our waste generation and our energy consumption at all of our industrial facilities worldwide. Once measured, we will seek to reduce all of them annually through the setting of reduction targets. The implementation of this policy will be through the LDC Environmental Management System, which contains four elements;

    1) Assessing all Company environmental aspects and impacts
    2) Studying all environmental legal and regulatory requirements, and measuring compliance
    3) Developing systems to effectively ensure we can measure, monitor and manage our environmental impact
    4) Identification of all wastes/emissions, with a plan to reduce them

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

  • Through the use of workshops involving global and regional production staff designated as responsible for environmental management at each of our industrial units, we are uniformly applying the same principles and criteria of good environmental practice at all of our facilities. In some cases, this is supported by customer audits of our facilities, and the extension of these principles to our suppliers on a contractual basis.

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

  • Our Sustainability Policy requires that any breaches of policy, or incidents of environmental concern must be reported to the Global Sustainability Manager, the Global SHE Manager, as well as the Global Head of Risk.

    Any incidents of this type will also be reported by the Global Sustainability Manager to the Sustainability Committee on a quarterly basis. This Committee is comprised of the most senior officers of the Company.

    Again, a number of our businesses require from certain clients annual auditing to take place that include environmental criteria

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.

  • Our Code of Conduct prohibits employees from making or receiving any inappropriate pecuniary or other benefit from customers, suppliers, public officials or any other business relations or partners.

    During the course of the reporting period, Louis Dreyfus Commodities has instigated a series of training courses to educate and brief senior management on issues related to fraud and corruption. The likely outcome of this in-house training over the course of the next reporting period is the creation of a new department covering regulatory and ethical compliance, that will instigate training for relevant employees within the Company.

    We also have an Internal Audit Committee that meets monthly to review issues of control and conduct, that specifically discusses any issues of corruption that may arise in the Company's field of business.

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

  • Engaged in dialogue/education during the course of the last reporting year with the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea looking into corruption/money laundering involving physical flows of sugar in the region.

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

  • The training that the Company plans to implement during the next reporting period will also result in the means to measure our anti-corruption record.