1. ANALYSIS OF BLOOMBERG
ESG DATA FOR 5 LARGEST
COMPANIES IN THE
AGRICULTURE INDUSTRY
By Kaitlyn Etienne
Calvin College, class of 2016
B.A. Environmental Studies
2. What this presentation will focus on
• Introduction: The meaning of ESG scores and focus company
info
• FA ESG Analysis
• Focus companies’ ESG scores over the past 5 years
• RV ESG Analysis
• Comparison of the focus companies to other companies in the
agriculture/food industry
• How well the companies are reporting on Key Performance Indicators
(KPIs)
• Supply Chain Analysis
• Comparison of the focus companies’ customers
• Remaining Questions and Conclusions
3. Environmental, Social, Governance
• The Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) score is
based on the company’s annual disclosure of various
metrics in its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
report. For example:
• Total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
• Number of women on the board
• Percentage of independent directors
• Scores are weighted differently depending on the industry
4. • A high ESG score indicates that a company is aware of
what metrics the Bloomberg terminal measures and
how disclosure or lack thereof will appear to
stakeholders viewing the ESG data
• The highest scoring companies are actively involved
in improving their scores for the various metrics (for
example, reducing GHG emissions)
What a high ESG score says about a
company
5. Meet the companies
• Archer Daniels Midland (ADM US)
• The Company procures, transports, stores, processes, and
merchandises agricultural commodities and products. The
company processes oilseeds, corn, milo, oats, barley,
peanuts, and wheat.
• Corporate Headquarters: Decatur, IL
• Bunge (BG US)
• A global agriculture and food company, Bunge buys, sells,
stores, transports and processes oilseeds and grains to
make protein meal for animal feed and edible oil products for
commercial customers and consumers. Bunge also produces
sugar and ethanol from sugarcane, mills wheat and corn, and
sells fertilizer.
• Corporate Headquarters: White Plains, NY
• Ingredion (INGR US)
• Refines corn and produces sweeteners and starches. The
Company has customers in a wide range of industries,
including the food, soft drink, brewing, pharmaceutical,
corrugating, paper, and textile industries.
• Corporate Headquarters: Westchester, IL
6. Meet the companies, continued
• Seaboard (SEB US)
• A global food, energy, and transportation company,
Seaboard is comprised of a family of innovative
companies, which includes Seaboard Foods
(Premium pork foods like Prairiefresh and Daily’s) ,
Seaboard Marine (containerized shipping service),
Butterball, LLC, Seaboard Overseas Trading Group
and many others.
• Corporate Headquarters: Shawnee Mission, KS
• Chiquita (CQB US)
• Chiquita Brands International, Inc. markets,
produces, and distributes fresh bananas and other
fresh produce. The Company also distributes and
markets fresh-cut fruit and other branded fruit
products.
• Corporate Headquarters: Charlotte, NC
7. FA ESG score analysis
• The FA ESG data includes the company’s Environmental,
Social and Government scores separately, as well as the
ESG combined score, over past years
• The focus companies’ ESG scores over the past five
years were compared. These scores are on a range from
1 to 100, with 100 being the highest score
• Gaps in scoring were observed for some companies,
while others received a score every year
8. How have the companies scored overall
in recent years? (FA ESG scores)
Company
Name
ESG Score by Fiscal Year
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013*
Archer Daniels
Midland
18 0 0 19 N/A
Bunge 29 29 21.07 37 N/A
Ingredion 16 19 25 25 21
Seaboard 11 11 11 11 11
Chiquita 0 11 11 23 N/A
*Not all companies may have
completed 2013 reporting at the
time these scores were
observed on the Bloomberg
Terminal.
Red= did not report, Orange= lowest score per year, Green= highest score per year.
Scores rounded to the nearest whole number
9. FA ESG score observations
• Bunge has repeatedly received the highest ESG scores
over the past 5 years, with Ingredion also receiving
higher scores as well
• Seaboard, although reporting, has received the lowest
scores over the past 5 years
• Curiously, Seaboard has also received the same score of
11.16 (un-rounded) for the past 5 years. Chiquita also
received this same score of 11.16 two years in a row. Why
is this?
10. Observing gap years in scoring
• Archer Daniels Midland and Chiquita have had gaps in
their reporting
• Is it better for a company to report a low score repeatedly
from year to year, or to have gaps, but still have high
scores on the years that they do report?
• Without taking into account the years in which ADM did
not report, the company has had higher scores than
Seaboard, which has reported all 5 years
11. RV ESG score analysis
• The RV ESG compares a company’s metrics to those of others in its
industry
• The agriculture companies researched interestingly have different
sets of companies they were compared to in the RV ESG appearing
on the Bloomberg Terminal
• ADM, Bunge, Ingredion, and Seaboard were each compared to 45
of their industry peers
• Chiquita was compared to 11 of its industry peers, meaning Chiquita
has fewer comparable publicly traded companies
• The overall ESG disclosure scores for each company were compared
to those of the companies’ respective top five highest-scoring industry
peers
12. How did comparable companies score?
(RV ESG disclosure scores)
Company
ESG
Disc
Score
Company
ESG
Disc
Score
Company
ESG
Disc
Score
Company
ESG
Disc
Score
Company
ESG
Disc
Score
Average
ESG Disc
Score
28 25 22 21 24
DANONE 55 NESTLE 53 NESTLE 53 NESTLE 53
CAMPBELL
SOUP CO
48
UNI-
PRESIDENT
ENTERPRISES
CO
51
UNI-
PRESIDENT
ENTERPRISES
CO
51
EBRO FOODS
SA
52
EBRO FOODS
SA
52
COCA-COLA
CO/THE
39
AJINOMOTO
CO INC
49
AJINOMOTO
CO INC
49
KIKKOMAN
CORP
44 AAK AB 50
PREMIER
FOODS PLC
31
CAMPBELL
SOUP CO
48
CAMPBELL
SOUP CO
48
NISSIN FOODS
HOLDINGS CO
LTD
43
FROMAGERIES
BEL
46
MONDELEZ
INTERNATIONAL
INC-A
25
CONAGRA
FOODS INC
48
CONAGRA
FOODS INC
48
GRUPO
NUTRESA SA
41
KIKKOMAN
CORP
44 CHIQUITA 23
ADM 19 BUNGE 37 INGREDION 21 SEABOARD 11
CALAVO
GROWERS INC
13
Industry Peers with top 5 highest ESG Disclosure scores included for each company
Common industry peers are highlighted. Scores are rounded to the nearest whole number.
13. RV ESG observations
• Most Common Top-Performing Peers
• Nestle
• Campbell Soup Co
• Uni-President Enterprises Co
• Ebro Foods SA
• Ajinomoto Co Inc
• Kikkoman Corp
• Conagra Foods Inc
• Average ESG Disclosure scores in the 20s indicate that the
peers of these agriculture/food companies are generally not
reporting on many metrics, or are not reporting high numbers.
However, some are reporting better than others. Danone,
Nestle, and Ebro Foods to name a few.
14. How do the focus companies’ scores
compare to those of their industry peers?
• Bunge stands out again, as its ESG Disc score is above
average among its industry peers
• ADM, Ingredion, and Seaboard’s ESG Disc scores are
below average among their industry peers
• Chiquita has so few industry peers, it ranks in the top
five, although its score is also lower than the average in
its industry
15. Comparison of companies’ RV ESG metrics
• A company’s
ESG score
takes into
account ~800
Key
Performance
Indicators
(KPIs) that
companies
may or may
not report on
• This project
compared the
focus
companies on
12 KPIs
Environmental
• Total CO2
• GHG Emissions
• Energy Consumption
• Fuel Used
• Total Water Use
• Total Waste
Social
• % Women Employed
• Community Spending
Governance
• % Independent Directors
• Investment in
Operational
Sustainability
• % Women in
Management
• % Women on Board
ESG
Disclosure
Score
16. KPIs the focus companies are reporting on
ADM
%
Independent
Directors
% Women on
Board
Bunge
GHG
Emissions
Energy
Consumption
Total Water
Use
Total Waste
% Independent
Directors
% Women on
Board
Ingredion
Community
Spending
% Independent
Directors
Investment in
Operational
Sustainability
% Women on
Board
Seaboard
%
Independent
Directors
Chiquita
%
Independent
Directors
% Women on
Board
17. KPI overall observations
• Bunge is reporting on the most metrics, and is the only one of the
focus companies to have scores in the environmental category of
indicators. It does not have scores in the social category of indicators,
however.
• Ingredion is the only company to have a score in the social category
of indicators
• The most common category for these companies to have scores in is
governance
• The most common KPI for these companies to score on is % of
Independent Directors
• % of Independent Directors is the only indicator that Seaboard scores
on, which may explain why it has had the same ESG Disclosure score
for the past 5 years in a row
18. KPI observations—Ingredion
• Ingredion has the highest
% of Independent
Directors score among its
industry peers, at ~92
Name
Community
Spending
% Independent
Directors
Investment in
Operational
Sustainability
ESG
Disclosure
Score
MEIJI HOLDINGS CO
LTD
$76,043 22 $11,482,419 37
GRUPO NUTRESA SA 57 $8,752,491 41
KIKKOMAN CORP 27 $8,338,433 44
INGREDION INC $1,350,000 92 $8,000,000 21
Average* $2,729,833 47 $4,773,384 22
• The company also ranks
among the top of its peers
in Investment in
Operational Sustainability,
spending $8,000,000 in
2013
*Although only 4 companies are shown in the table, the
‘Average’ row here displays the average of all industry
peers of Ingredion. Scores rounded to nearest whole
number
19. KPI observations—Bunge
• As observed earlier, out of the
five focus companies, Bunge
received the highest ESG
disclosure score at ~37
• Bunge reports on 6 out of the
12 KPIs taken into account for
this project
• % Independent Directors and
Total Waste are the two KPIs in
which Bunge received a score
greater than the average
among its industry peers
Indicator Score
Total CO2 N/A
GHG Emissions 3,480
Energy Consumption 20.83
Fuel Used N/A
Total Water Use 115,000
Total Waste 0.23
% Women Employed N/A
Community Spending N/A
% Independent Directors 90.91
Investment in Operational
Sustainability N/A
% Women Mgt N/A
% Women on Board 9.09
Red= did not report, Orange= below
average score of industry peers,
Green= above average score of
industry peers. Scores are rounded to
two decimal places.
20. Intensity Metrics
Company
GHG
Emissions
Total
Water
Use
Total GHG /
CO2
Emissions
Intensity per
Sale
Water
Intensity
per Sale
ARCHER-
DANIELS-
MIDLAND CO
N/A N/A N/A N/A
INGREDION
INC
N/A N/A N/A N/A
BUNGE LTD 2,760 105,000 NA 1,712
SEABOARD N/A N/A N/A N/A
CHIQUITA N/A N/A N/A N/A
• Bunge was the
only focus
company to
report on Total
GHG/CO2
Emissions
Intensity per
Sale and Water
Intensity per
Sale
• This was likely
also a
contributor to its
higher ESG
scoreScores rounded to the nearest whole number
21. Value Chain analysis
• Information on companies’ top suppliers and customers is
available on the Bloomberg Terminal
• The suppliers and customers of the focus companies
were looked at to see if any of the companies have value
chain components in common
• Why information about the value chain is important
• Customers wishing to improve their own environmental practices
may consider their suppliers’ ESG information
• Customers may put pressure on suppliers to improve
environmental practices or look for companies with good
environmental records to do business with
22. What suppliers do these companies have
in common? (Value Chain information)
ADM
Mitsubishi
Oracle Corp
EMC Corp
CSX Corp
Clariant AG
Norfolk
Southern Co
ITT Corp
Citrix Systems Inc
VMware Inc
Ingredion
MeadWestvaco Corp
International Paper
Seaboard
Sealed Air Corp
Chiquita
Workday Inc
MicroStrategy Inc
Bunge
Kansas City
Southern
TIBCO Software
CSX Corp
Clariant AG
Norfolk Southern
Co
Alfa Laval AB
Navios Maritime
23. What customers do these companies have in
common? (Value Chain information)
ADM
Herbalife
Ltd
Kerry Group
PLC
Brenntag
AG
Ttet Union
Corp
Bunge
International
Paper
Kerry Group
PLC
Brenntag
AG
New Hope
Liuhe Co
Ingredion
International
Paper
Kerry Group
PLC
Seaboard
N/A*
Chiquita
Delhaize
Group SA
Core-Mark
Holding
Wal-Mart
Stores Inc
*No customers appeared in the
Bloomberg terminal for
Seaboard. This may be
because Seaboard’s customers
are not publicly traded.
24. Value Chain analysis
• Suppliers shared by two or more of the focus companies
• CSX Corp
• Clariant AG
• Norfolk Southern Co
• If multiple companies share a supplier, they may be able to join forces to
put pressure that supplier to improve its environmental, social, or
governance scores
• Customers shared by two or more of the focus companies
• Brenntag AG
• International Paper
• Kerry Group PLC
• Ingredion has International Paper as both a supplier and a customer
• Kerry Group’s ESG score: ~26, higher than Ingredion and ADM’s
scores, but not Bunge’s
25. Conclusions
• Overall, the agriculture/food industry companies that are the
focus companies’ peers are not reporting on many metrics
• It appears that the company in the industry that received the
highest ESG Disc score—Nestle—did so because it reported
above average on the most metrics, not because of one
outlying score
• Receiving an ESG score every year, even if scores are low,
may have a better impact on how the company’s ESG scores
appear over time on the than having gap years (example: ADM
versus Seaboard)
