What are the material issues the company has identified?

In its 2021 Sustainability Report Yara identified a range of material issues, such as occupational and process safety, climate change, business integrity, leadership and employee enablement, diversity, equity and inclusion, sustainable farm management. Among these, creating economic value for its stakeholders stands out as a key material issue for Yara.

Stakeholder engagement in accordance with the GRI Standards

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines the Principle of Stakeholder Inclusiveness when identifying material issues (or a company’s most important impacts) as follows:

“The reporting organization shall identify its stakeholders, and explain how it has responded to their reasonable expectations and interests.”

Stakeholders must be consulted in the process s of identifying a company’s most important impacts and their reasonable expectations and interests must be taken into account. This is an important cornerstone for CSR / sustainability reporting done responsibly.

Key stakeholder groups Yara engages with:

To identify and prioritise material topics Yara engaged with its stakeholders through the following channels:

Stakeholder Group	Method of engagement
Employees	·      Internal channels and townhalls ·      Training and coaching ·      Employee surveys ·      Regular job appraisals ·      Engagement with trade unions
Distributors and retailers	·      Regular, direct dialogue ·      Commercial teams and agronomists worldwide
Farmers	·      Commercial teams and agronomists worldwide ·      Customer satisfaction surveys and feedback in key markets ·      Farmer meetings, crop clinics, field meetings, and ·      demonstrations/trials
Suppliers	·      Regular, direct dialogue ·      Integrity Due Diligence process ·      Strategic collaborations and long-term relationships
Investors and lenders	·      Stock exchange releases, press releases, and presentations ·      Roadshows, conferences and meetings
Regulators and policy makers	·      Engagement in policy-making processes and provision of analyses and studies ·      Dedicated advocacy resources in Oslo (Norway), Brussels (EU), Washington DC (USA) and Ottawa (Canada) ·      Engagement in industry associations by leaders across the company’s different locations ·      Visits, social events, and conferences
Food industry	·      Partnerships, joint initiatives, projects, and trials ·      Partnering in industry coalitions ·      Visits, meetings, and seminars

What actions were taken by Yara to create economic value for its stakeholders?

In its 2021 Sustainability Report Yara reports that it took the following actions for creating economic value for its stakeholders:

• Creating economic value for employees
• In 2021, Yara paid USD 1,270 million in employee wages and benefits. Every employee received extraordinary USD 1,000 bonuses for 2020 and 2021, acknowledging their exceptional efforts during the pandemic.

• Creating economic value for shareholders
• In 2021, Yara paid USD 1,578 million to shareholders.

• Creating economic value for governments
• In 2021, Yara paid USD 351 million in income taxes to governments.

• Creating economic value for banks
• In 2021, Yara paid USD 138 million in interest expenses to banks.

• Creating economic value for communities
• In 2021, Yara paid USD 5 million in donations and sponsoring, largely related to pandemic relief, food security, and inclusive growth.

Which GRI Standards and corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed?

The GRI Standard addressed in this case is: Disclosure 201-1 Direct economic value generated and distributed

Disclosure 201-1 Direct economic value generated and distributed corresponds to:

• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
• Targets: 8.1, 8.2
• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
• Targets: 9.1, 9.4, 9.5

 

78% of the world’s 250 largest companies report in accordance with the GRI Standards

SustainCase was primarily created to demonstrate, through case studies, the importance of dealing with a company’s most important impacts in a structured way, with use of the GRI Standards. To show how today’s best-run companies are achieving economic, social and environmental success – and how you can too.

Research by well-recognised institutions is clearly proving that responsible companies can look to the future with optimism.

7 GRI sustainability disclosures get you started

Any size business can start taking sustainability action

GRI, ISEP, CPD Certified Sustainability courses (2-5 days): Live Online or Classroom  (venue: London School of Economics)

• Exclusive FBRH template to begin reporting from day one
• Identify your most important impacts on the Environment, Economy and People
• Formulate in group exercises your plan for action. Begin taking solid, focused, all-round sustainability action ASAP. 
• Benchmarking methodology to set you on a path of continuous improvement

See upcoming training dates.

 

References:

This case study is based on published information by Yara, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original please revert to the following link:

https://www.yara.com/siteassets/investors/057-reports-and-presentations/annual-reports/2021/yara-sustainability-report-2021.pdf/

Note to Yara: With each case study we send out an email requesting a comment on this case study. If you have not received such an email please contact us.