Governance Body Sustainability Responsibility
Does the company assign responsibility for its sustainability strategy to its highest governance body?
24136130
Researched

About the data

The WBA Food and Agriculture Benchmark measures and ranks the world's most influential food and agriculture companies on their efforts to transform global food systems, tracking how companies work towards food that is healthy and nutritious, produced sustainably within planetary boundaries, and accessible and fairly produced for all. The 2026 edition assessed 350 companies spanning the entirety of the food and agriculture value chain, from agricultural inputs and commodities through to manufacturing, retail, and food service. Companies were scored on 23 food and agriculture-specific indicators and 18 core social indicators across four measurement areas: governance, sustainable food systems, healthy food systems, and inclusive food systems. The benchmark is developed in close collaboration with an Expert Review Committee and is designed to incentivise the most influential companies in the sector to adopt sustainable business practices across their own operations and supply chains, addressing critical issues including greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, freshwater use, nutrition, and living incomes for farmers, with human rights and social equity at its core. More information can be found here.
Assigning responsibility for sustainability decision-making and oversight to the highest
governance body ensures strategic alignment and accountability at the top level. Additionally, having
dedicated functions, teams or committees can drive effective implementation of the sustainability
strategy across the organisation. Linking senior executives’ remuneration to sustainability targets and
having a supervisory board with relevant expertise incentivises leadership to prioritise and achieve
meaningful progress on the company’s most material sustainability issues.


Research Guidance:


This element assesses if companies assign responsibility for sustainability-related decision-making and oversight, including transition planning and climate change mitigation, to the highest governance body.Attributes required: Highest governance body responsible for the broader sustainability strategy and for climate change mitigation strategy/transition plan.
Topics
Framework Mappings
Value Type
Category
Options
Yes
No
Not Applicable
Assessment
Steward Assessed
Report Type
Aggregate Data Report