AAK Annual Report 2018

31 31 Sustainability ambitions and GRI To maintain momentum and drive improvement, we define ambitions within each of the five focus areas. Achievements and future ambitions are publicly available in our Sustainability Report. Further, based on the Global Reporting Initiative Standards, we globally monitor indicators that are material to our stakeholders and ourselves. Strong smallholder projects in our different supply chains, continued direct engagement with more than 134,000 shea-collecting women in West Africa, and a continued strong track record within our resource efficiency are some of the key achievements during 2018 – achievements that also contribute to the SDGs. Global CSR team The engine behind our sustainability activities is our decentralized global CSR team, established in 2007. It consists of local teams with competencies covering our sustainability scope. The Global CSR Manager reports to the CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) who is a member of AAK’s Executive Committee. Knowledge sharing and partnerships Sharing our knowledge, objectives and achievements with our stakeholders is a fundamental part of our approach. In our annual Sustainability Report we share global information based on the GRI framework supported by a variety of local projects and initiatives illustrating how our strategy comes alive. Specifically, we offer to share ethical information with customers via the Sedex platform. The UN Global Compact encourages companies to engage in partnerships to tackle global challenges more effectively. We strongly believe that this will allow you to accomplish more than you would on your own. Partnering with other businesses, NGOs and govern- mental agencies are ways to accomplish more. AAK is participating in or partnering with, for example, RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil), GSA (Global Shea Alliance) and Proforest. Monitoring and dialogue Our sustainability approach is not static but rather adjusted to input from stakeholders such as customers, investors, NGOs, and employees. We monitor new and upcoming legislation, follow trends in our communities, and benchmark our sustainability practices against those of retailers, customers, and competitors. Our overall objective is to grow AAK sustainably and progress within sustainability as a whole. If you would like to learn more about our sustainability achievements, initiatives and ambitions, please refer to our annual Sustainability Report.