Dear stakeholders,

Our efforts to increase sustainability in our supply chains started over 30 years ago. So much has changed during this period. A greater recognition of the challenges faced by smallholder farmers, coupled with growing expectations from consumers and clients alike have led us to rethink our business models. This in turn has driven sectorial change in most major commodity markets.

We all strive to do better and more. Yet so much remains to be done if we are to help lift smallholders out of poverty and assist them in becoming true agri-entrepreneurs.

A tangible demonstration of Touton’s dedication to upholding its shareholders’ commitment to sustainability is our recently joining the United Nations Global Compact.
We support the Ten Principles of the United Nations Global Compact on human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption, and commit to engage in collaborative projects which advance the broader development goals of the United Nations, particularly the Sustainable Development Goals.

In our first annual Communication on Progress, we describe our actions to continually improve the integration of the Global Compact and its principles into our business strategy, culture and daily operations. We also commit to sharing this information with our stakeholders using our primary channels of communication.
 

Sincerely yours,
 

Patrick de Boussac
Touton CEO

If we are to deliver against our commitment to sustainability we need to ensure that workers’ and partner farmers’ basic rights are protected. This includes the respect of core human rights including the protection of children and non-discrimination based on gender or race. It also means providing decent working conditions – both for our work force and for those engaged in the communities we work with.
 
We document and communicate working conditions and terms of employment to all workers contracted directly. We provide Touton workers with a ‘Livret d’Hygiène et Sécurité’ along with their ‘Livret d’Accueil’ (Inception booklet). This is made available to all Touton employees both at HQ and overseas.

Our Code of Ethics provides a framework for action for all our employees and workers. It covers a variety of topics including workplace-related harassment, abuse or threats. Each Group company is responsible for implementing this Code, subject to the constraints and specifics of its activity or geographical location. The Code must be incorporated into the rules of procedure in each company and displayed on the premises. Compliance with, and application of the rules contained in the Code, are binding on all employees. In the event of non-compliance with the Code disciplinary sanctions may be imposed by the Managers of the company concerned or the Group’s General Management. It also provides for a mechanism to ensure we act in full respect of human rights and national regulations in countries where we source our products.
 
As part of our clients’ due diligence requirements we are regularly submitted to ethical, social or environmental audits, such as SMETA, which is an ethical trade audit used by clients that are members of SEDEX (Supplier ethical data exchange)

As a company involved primarily in sourcing tropical commodities, we are particularly vigilant when it comes to working conditions in the areas and communities where we interact with farmers. In the cocoa supply-chain especially, in order to ensure no forced labour or child labour occurs in our supply-chain, we work with credible independent implementing parties to undertake awareness-raising and mitigation programmes. We partner with the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) & Child Rights International (CRI) in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. We are also partnering with the Jacobs Foundation on a parenting skill programme with the International Rescue Committee (IRC).

We are conscious of the fact that women play a crucial role as agents of change in smallholder farming communities. That is why we ensure they are empowered to contribute to their children’s well-being, as well as their households’ health, nutritional needs and, where possible, income streams. We ensure women farmers can access our training and coaching programmes and encourage and support women to take on income generating activities.

Gender Equity in Touton HQ:
Out of 90 fixed term employees at our Bordeaux HQ, 40% of management positions are held by women vs 57% of all execution/operations positions.

Empowering women as agents of change:
We were able to reach an average of 23% of women through our Good Agricultural Practice and Coaching sessions. We work hard to improve this.
Our Nutrition programme reached 200 households in Ghana. While our primary target for this intervention is women, we ensure men are also involved in the awareness-raising activities so as to be supportive of activities undertaken.
We conducted vaccination campaigns for cocoa communities and built a Maternity Clinic that will reach ca. 2500 beneficiaries in Côte d’Ivoire.

Touton has a Human Resource Unit equipped with qualified staff who are responsible for ensuring consistent compliance with our HR policies.  
We maintain records on employees and suppliers and maintain the highest labour standards across our global operations.

Our Supplier Code covers risks related to labour conditions (including forced labour).
 
Child labour occurrences have been identified by in the cocoa supply-chain. That is why we implement programmes in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, our main cocoa-sourcing countries, that aim to raise awareness on child labour risks, mitigate occurrences, and implement remedial action where cases are identified.
 
We are working with several credible implementing partners to do so, notably the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI), Child Rights International (CRI) and more recently International Rescue Committee (IRC).

Improving the living standard of smallholder farmers is identified as one of the most effective ways of preventing forced labour and child labour in the cocoa sector long term. Touton invests actively in improving the living standards for cocoa farmers through training, certification and access to services activities.

We are also creating employment opportunities for youths through coaching on agri-business services.
 
Lastly, we are currently conducting a call for proposals for an auditing firm to review our internal social and environmental policies and identify any gaps we need to fill. The audit and remedial actions will be undertaken in 2019.

As a company involved primarily in sourcing tropical commodities, we are particularly vigilant when it comes to working conditions in the areas and communities where we interact with farmers. In the cocoa supply-chain especially, in order to ensure no forced labour or child labour occurs in our supply-chain we work with credible independent implementing parties to undertake awareness-raising and mitigation programmes. We partner with the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) & Child Rights International (CRI) in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. We are also partnering with the Jacobs Foundation on a parenting skill programme with the International Rescue Committee (IRC).

Providing a nurturing and protective environment for children:

- Over the past Season we were able to reach 7012 households in Côte d’Ivoire and 1067 households in Ghana with Child Labour Monitoring and Remediation Systems. Through those interventions, and activities conducted directly with partner cooperatives, over 2800 school kits and 1200 school benches were delivered, as well as 112 birth certificates established for children in Côte d’Ivoire.
- In Ghana we helped set-up 8 Community Child Protection Committees, 59 School Management Committees, and 298 Child Rights’ Clubs.
- Our pilot project on parenting skills with Jacobs Foundation in Côte d’Ivoire will allow us to reach 240 households, including ca. 675 children.

Strengthening farmers’ economic resilience and livelihoods:

Last season we increased the volume of certified sustainable cocoa to 25 %.
We trained over 32 000 cocoa farmers on Good Agricultural, Social and Environmental Practices (either for the first time or through refresher courses).
50 youths were trained to deliver services to cocoa farmers.
3,033 farmers (35% women) attended the Farmer Business School in three districts in Ghana, in partnership with Advans Savings & Loans Ghana.
Good Agricultural Practices Training activities are also now being conducted for cocoa and vanilla farmers in Madagascar.

We adhere to strict environmental standards in our offices and in our overseas factories.
 
In line with French legislation, we conducted an Energy-Use audit of our HQ in early 2018.

Our Ghana based cocoa processing factory has an Environmental and Social Management Plan covering the period of 2016-2019. We aim to run an LCA in 2019.
 
We are equipping some of our local offices in Ghana with solar panels.
 
We also encourage employees to look at environmental-friendly practices in the office.
 
In respect to activities on the ground we are proud to be one of the first 12 signatories of the cocoa sector-wide ‘Cocoa Forests Initiative’ (CFI) that was signed in 2017.

We are required to publish a company road-map on programmes undertaken to fulfill our CFI commitments in the course of 2019.

We joined the TFA2020 (Tropical Forest Alliance) platform in 2018. Our objective by doing so is to be able to exchange with peers and gain insights for our own work on the experience of other tropical commodity sectors in combatting deforestation.
 
We are mapping all the farmers from which we directly source cocoa in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. The data collected will be transferred onto a data platform we are currently developing with a technical partner in Bordeaux.
 

As part of our CFI commitment, and in line with our engagement to contribute to Ghana’s REDD+ commitments, we are piloting an ambitious programme in Ghana to address climate change impact for cocoa production and cocoa farmers’ livelihoods: the 3PRCL (Partnership for Protection, Production and Resilience in the Cocoa Landscape). Working hand in hand with the Ghanaian Cocoa and Forest authorities we are implementing activities that aim to increase cocoa productivity on less land, increase farmer resilience to climate impact, improve their livelihoods through diversification of crops, integrate agroforestry techniques and models. Our programme goes beyond cocoa communities and integrates all landscape actors actors.

Our 3PRCL programme in Ghana covers an area of 243,561 ha (incl. 149,400 ha of forest cover). It produces an average of 60,000 MT of cocoa annually, and covers 130,000 inhabitants.

By 2021 our aim is to reach 50,000 farmers and to:
- Contribute to the development and Implementation of a “Climate Smart Cocoa” national standard
- Reduce deforestation and increase forest protection
- Improve landscape management to support farming and rural livelihoods

ITouton has a Code of Ethics which provides guidance on fraud and corruption management. Compliance with, and application of the rules contained in the Code are binding on all employees. In the event of non-compliance with the Code disciplinary sanctions may be imposed by the Managers of the company concerned or the Group’s General Management. In according with applicable legislation the Touton Group has implemented a Whistleblowing Procedure.

Touton is also controlled once a year by auditors (“Commissaires aux comptes”) who also look at these aspects. The official “Tracfin” system provides for alerts to authorities in case of suspicion. This has never occurred.

We are currently conducting a call for proposals for an auditing firm to review our internal social and environmental policies and identify any gaps we need to fill. The audit and remedial actions will be undertaken in 2019.

n 2017 we conducted an internal risk assessment across our business lines and supply chains to establish risk levels in respect to human rights, labour, environment and corruption.

In September 2017 we organized a training course with an external consultant for the managers of our key offices on the specific topic of anti-corruption.

Tracking of alerts by Tracfin.

Number of people trained on Anti-Bribery and Corruption.

Once our new internal social policies are in place, roll-out to all group teams.