AAK Annual Report 2019

39 Risks related to climate change Together with an external partner, AAK has during 2019 started to identify the physical and operational risks of climate change at our production sites. We have decided to first focus on water-related risks because of an increased number of extreme weather events glob- ally linked to water as well as the potentially destructive power of water. The evaluation gives us input on risk exposure to production loss due to water-related hazards. The inherent risk exposure and the residual risk with regard to mitigation actions and plans will be discussed and implemented at each site. Draft reports have been submitted by more than half of our sites and the work will be further refined during 2020. As soon as all areas required by AAK have been covered and all production sites have been imple- mented, the results can be used to determine the financial loss/implications and opportunities due to climate change before further actions are initiated. You can read more about the evaluation under Mitigating risks in a dynamic environment in our Sustainability Report. Disruptions to critical IT systems AAK uses modern IT infrastructure and technology to support its business. Disruptions to critical IT systems could potentially have an impact on the business. Therefore, this is a risk that needs to be analyzed and mitigated with the objective to prevent possible issues and minimize impact. This work is conducted by Group IT together with our local entities. Our critical IT systems are audited annually, with security, internal processes and compliance in focus. Cyber security has a very high priority at AAK and in order to minimize external threats, we are continuously investing in technology that is operated by a highly skilled staff. The Group IT Security Policy is imple- mented at all AAK units, and a common framework is used for our global IT infrastructure. Changes in external factors Business operations are affected by raw material prices, transport costs, energy prices, interest rates and exchange rates. Our employees are experienced in reacting quickly to changes in external factors and adapting operations, products and services to customer needs.