President and CEO:
Sustainability – a key enabler for future success
At AAK, we deliver plant-based oils and fats solutions
with care for the planet and the people that we reach
through our business. I am proud to share the progress
we have made during 2019 in this annual Sustainability
Report. Our achievements are the result of a tremendous
8
amount of dedication from AAK colleagues and
collabo ration partners around the globe.
Sustainability – part of our DNA
Sustainability has been at the core of AAK for many
years. It has a strong alignment to who we are and
how we run our business and our company. We also
see it as fundamental to our continued development
and future success. Drawing on a diverse range of raw
material sources, AAK has a responsibility and a role
to play in enabling sustainable foods to consumers.
By ensuring responsible supply chains, minimizing our
environmental impact and by being a knowledgeable
partner on sustainability we can provide value-adding
sustainable solutions to our customers and thereby
consumers.
In 2019, we initiated a strategy process to identify
opportunities for future growth, and sustainability was
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Three-year plans are initiated in order to strengthen
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impact in our supply chains and prerequisites to grow in
a sustainable manner. The AAK materiality analysis was
also revisited during the year and new information was
collected from important stakeholders regarding how we
can improve and enable their sustainability ambitions.
This groundwork and valuable insights combined with
continued support of the ten principles of the UN Global
Compact and the Sustainable Development Goals will
be our guiding stars and support our role in creating
value-adding sustainable oil solutions going forward.
Ambitions and achievements during 2019
The AAK ambitions have been met in many ways during
2019. Our colleagues are making efforts to create a safe
workplace, education of our employees is strengthening
skills and people’s engagement show how we can
act as catalysts for sustainable change in societies
where we operate. These are efforts where the impact
is hard to measure but we know it’s there and that it’s
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tant steps not only for AAK but also for our customers,
our suppliers and our planet.
A leading and knowledgeable partner on sustainability
Together with an increasing concern about health and
the environment, AAK has seen the demand for plantbased
foods grow over the last few years. During 2019,
we launched AkoPlanet™, a portfolio with solutions for
plant-based foods that are good for both people and the
environment. This important step will lift our capabilities
to respond to a fast-moving market segment not only
with our solutions but also with our knowledge and
experience with sustainable value-adding solutions and
impactful work carried out in our supply chains.
Sustainability progress for all key raw materials
We have for many years been working on achieving
sustainable development in our supply chains. We see
this experience as a great strength of the company,
demonstrating our ability to upscale initiatives that
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this is our direct shea sourcing program Kolo Nafaso in
West Africa. During 2019, we have grown this initiative
tremendously and today more than 230,000 women
shea collectors are engaged in the program with
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A journey that has given us valuable experience to
further apply and build on.
Minimizing our environmental impact
Our ambition to minimize our environmental impact
is shown in our ever-expanding efforts to prevent the
negative effect of our production sites. We have seen
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indicators during 2019. The total energy consumption
per processed unit decreased by 7 percent, and
the water consumption per unit processed material
decreased by 2.3 percent compared to 2018. In
addition, we reduced our greenhouse gas emissions
per processed unit raw material by 4.4 percent. Work
is now ongoing to identify further improvements to
reduce our environmental impact.