AAK sustainability report 2018

AAK Supplier Code of Conduct Supply chain risk assessments done by Proforest in 2018 Key achievements AAK supports the United Kingdom Modern Slavery Act 2015 and its objective to eradicate forced labor and human trafficking in companies and their supply chains. The core of the act is a requirement for companies to publish an annual statement in which they explain the steps they have taken to prevent and combat human rights abuse such as slavery and trafficking in their supply chain – and in their own entities. The Act is applicable to companies doing business in the UK and consequently includes AAK. Since January 2017, AAK has published its Statement on the Modern Slavery Act describing the various initiatives implemented over the years originally derived from our membership and commitment to the principles of the United Nations Global Compact. The AAK Statement on the Modern Slavery Act can be found at AAK’s website under Sustainable growth / Statements. Introduced in 2009, the AAK Supplier Code of Conduct has been implemented with direct raw material suppliers. During 2018, AAK adopted its Code of Conduct for Suppliers of Raw materials stipulating additional requirements for individual raw materials. The Code is an integral part of the approval system of new raw material suppliers and compliance with the Code is a prerequisite for final approval. In West Africa, the Code has been implemented in a different way due to various linguistic and cultural challenges. Because ethical requirements in business relations are not a widespread tradition in the region, more meetings and explanations are required to achieve the necessary understanding. The AAK supplier codes are available at our website. AAK Statement on Modern Slavery Act Shea direct engagement on women’s groups level Number of women enrolled in Burkina Faso and Ghana 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2015 2016 2017 2018 150,000 100,000 50,000 0 36,579 14,304 7,613 4,300 2,250 94,473 119,527 131,607 134,261 54,919 Contributes to: Shea Palm Coconut 25 Progressing on responsible sourcing In 2018, we have made good progress within respon- sible sourcing of our supply chains. A key achievement is that we have further increased our direct engage- ment with shea-collecting women in West Africa to 134,261. To further strengthen our engagement with the women’s we have also opened 2,616 bank accounts in total for the women groups. Besides shea we have also continued our strong smallholder engagement within palm oil, coconut and soy. Within palm oil we have further progressed on our engagement with our suppliers to drive the sustainability standard. Addi- tionally, we have together with Proforest conducted important supply chain risk assessments for our key raw materials shea, palm and coconut. These will serve as foundations for our progress towards even more sustainable supply chains in 2019 and beyond. 2015 2015 2015 2015 Number of bank accounts AAK has opened for the women’s groups 3,000 2,500 2,000 1,500 1,000 500 0 961 1,789 2,147 2,616