Human rights is embedded in our compliance program
Yara has made a commitment to respecting internationally recognized human and labor rights throughout our own operations, as well as in our supply chain. Respecting human rights is fundamental to sound risk management and Yara’s value creation. We value our good relations with employees and their organizations and engage with them frequently.
We support the United Nations Global Compact, the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the International Bill of Human Rights, and the core conventions of the International Labor Organization (ILO). In addition, we perform human rights due diligence in our supply chain in compliance with the Norwegian Transparency Act (Åpenhetsloven).
Read our policy on human rights set out in our Code of Conduct
Read our Modern Slavery Transparency Statement 2022 (pdf, 0.9 MB)
Commitments
Human rights management, own operations:
By 2025, conduct human rights impact assessments (HRIAs) and address findings in all countries where we consider that our operations have the highest impact on human rights, focusing on Mexico in 2024. On track
Human rights management, supply chain:
Respect the rights of people in the supply chain by continuing our human rights due diligence activities, including audits and training, directed at high-risk business partners. On track
Living wage:
Closing the living wage gap in all countries of operation by 2025. On track
Norwegian Transparency Act
Read Yara's statement according to the Norwegian Transparency Act and contact us for any information requests
Human rights due diligence in the supply chain
In 2022, we established our Sustainable Procurement Policy, which is communicated to all suppliers. A key initiative for putting the policy into practice is the Supplier Compliance Management Process, which will be implemented in 2024. These are specific measures to monitor compliance with the Code of Conduct for Yara’s Business Partners, advance our human rights due diligence efforts, and raise the sustainability performance of our suppliers. Our human rights due diligence follows UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct. We use the Integrity Due Diligence (IDD) process along with our Sustainable Procurement Policy and Supplier Compliance Management Process (under implementation) to identify our human rights risk exposure and manage compliance in the supply chain.
Human rights impact assessments
Conducting targeted human rights impact assessments (HRIAs) is an integral part of meeting our due diligence obligations. Each HRIA we have conducted to date has proven highly valuable in identifying human rights impacts from Yara’s operations, and in evaluating how our human rights policies are implemented on the ground. Findings, action plans and implemented measures are presented to the Group Executive Board and the Board of Directors on a regular basis. Mitigating actions and providing remedy remain a local management responsibility. The Ethics and Compliance Department monitors implementation and reports on progress.
We conduct human rights and geopolitical risk assessments to rank our countries of operation and the countries we source raw materials from in terms of human rights risk exposure. The 2023 assessment identified 24 high-risk countries, up from 17 in 2022. The findings guide our priorities for targeted HRIAs.
In addition, HRIA findings have improved our understanding of the main human rights at risk of adverse impact in Yara’s value chain. These are presented in our Code of Conduct and in the section below outlining identified impacts. We recognize that this landscape may change, and that we need to continuously monitor the potential impacts from our operations and value.
Identified risks
Findings of potential and actual adverse human rights impacts have been fairly consistent across the countries where HRIAs have been performed to date, but the degree of negative impact varies. The table on the right provides an overview of the key rights-holders affected and which human rights have been identified to be at risk of adverse impact across the jurisdictions assessed.
See Yara's Integrated Report 2023 for the full statement on the Norwegian Transparency Act (Åpenhetsloven).
Business partner code of conduct
One of Yara’s goals is to develop relationships with business partners that share similar corporate values as Yara and conduct their business in an ethical and compliant manner. The Code of conduct for Yara’s business partners (BPCoC) is the Yara policy that outlines the legal obligations and the integrity standards Yara expects its business partners to uphold. The BPCoC considers the same internationally recognized and endorsed standards for human rights, business ethics, and labor conditions as our Code of conduct.
Integrity Due Diligence
Integrity Due Diligence (IDD) is the procedure for ensuring and monitoring the integrity of potential, new, and existing business partners. Yara had around 30,000 active suppliers in 2023. Our risk-based Integrity Due Diligence (IDD) self-assessment questionnaire has been completed by approximately 30 percent of the suppliers.
The purpose of the IDD process is not to reject business partners, but to identify integrity risks and to mitigate these to safeguard Yara’s interests. If adverse responses are identified in the IDD self-assessment questionnaire, we initiate a dialogue with the supplier, and are committed to influencing them to uphold the same integrity standards as at Yara. Fewer than 1% of our business partners are rejected annually.
As part of the IDD Procedure, we continuously monitor compliance in our supply chain by screening suppliers against sanctions, watchlists, and compliance databases. On a risk-basis, certain suppliers are selected for additional follow-up, including in-depth due diligence work, training and other communication efforts.
Sustainable procurement
The policy describes how we want to cooperate with our suppliers to create transparency in our suppliers’ business sustainability performance and how to improve their performance, and with that our own performance, where required. This policy guides our global Procurement organization and the implementation of a sustainable procurement program at Yara.
Supplier compliance
The objective of the Supplier compliance management process is to describe what the minimum requirements for supplier pre-qualification, qualification, and supplier compliance monitoring are, including supplier auditing, following a risk-based approach. This is a global process that allows cross-functional Procurement teams to cover increasing internal and external due diligence and reporting requirements, such as the Norwegian Transparency Act (Åpenhetsloven).
Supplier audits
We conduct supplier audits and assessments in sectors in which we have identified risks through, for example, our Integrity Due Diligence process, human rights impact assessments, reports of severe accidents, or previous audit findings.
In 2023, alongside the standard integrity due diligence questionnaire outlined in the Integrity Due Diligence process, we incorporated a dedicated focus on human rights and working conditions into the six supplier audits conducted in the corporate Suppler Social Audits pilot program. Given the complexity of Yara’s supply chain, we employed a risk-based approach to prioritize suppliers for social and human rights due diligence and audits. Suppliers were selected based on a combination of geopolitical and industry risks, along with their strategic importance to Yara’s business. Sourcing partners as well as logistics suppliers were included in the audit plan for 2023.
In addition to the social audits executed through the corporate program, Yara conducted 90 local supplier audits in 2023, with a primary focus on health and safety and technical aspects. Some of these audits have already included human rights criteria in their scope, and we are working to expand the incorporation of human rights aspects in local audits going forward.
All findings and improvement areas are discussed in full openness with our suppliers, along with possible actions or remediation efforts. Yara is committed to using our leverage to the best of our abilities to address any identified impacts.
Supplier GTC
Yara seeks to enter into fair and balanced agreements with all suppliers, based on consistent legal terms, and therefore it is our company policy that all supplier agreements should be based on our GTC of Purchase.
Please note that Yara may use country specific versions of this GTC of Purchase in certain jurisdictions to accommodate for mandatory law.
