AAK sustainability report 2018

65 Maintaining momentum Increasing sustainability awareness An important aspect of the AAK Group’s sustainability work is maintaining global momentum. To ensure this, the Global CSR Manager is in regular contact with all sites. Twice a year, consultation meetings with the CSR team leaders from each site are held where progress and challenges of the sustainability work is discussed. Furthermore, the Global CSR Manager visits the production sites frequently. To promote the continued sharing of information, best practices and progress on sustainability ambitions on a more regular basis, monthly virtual conferences are held The introduction of dashboards is sharpening attention on progress made. These comprise a one-page pres- entation of data and graphics showing GRI indicators with high priority or under significant development. A global dashboard has been created for AAK’s Executive Committee to follow global developments, while local dashboards illustrate and benchmark developments at individual production sites. The global implementation of our AAK Code of Conduct is another promoter for the integration of sustainability in our business. The Code is fully imple- mented with all employees having read, understood, accepted and signed the Code. Further systems have been established to ensure that our Code is part of the introduction package for new employees. Another successful initiative is our CSR Toolbox, a global one access-point to sustainability material established at our intranet and available to all AAK employees. The CSR Toolbox comprises materials such as policies and codes, presentations, training material, reports, videos and Q&As. Furthermore, the short e-learning modules, intro- duced in 2014 and targeting specific topics have been embraced by our global organization and proven to be an effective way to ensure sustainability is embedded with our employees globally. We have a strong focus on being proactive and consequently, existing and new e-learning modules that need to be passed by defined target groups are constantly being reviewed, developed and launched. Sustainability inclusion of new sites When AAK builds or acquires new production sites a grace period of one full year worth of production is given before they are being introduced to and integrated into the global CSR system. After the first full year of production the site manage- ment is asked to appoint a CSR team leader and set up a CSR team. The team should have competencies within human resources, health, safety and environ- ment, finance, sourcing, operations, and sales. Once the new CSR team has been established it receives a first introduction to CSR in AAK and the company’s “House of Sustainability”. Furthermore, the team leader will be invited to monthly global virtual conferences where, among other things, best practices are shared. The next step is the inclusion of the site into our annual global data collection. To that end the team is introduced to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), and in particular the definitions that have been established within the AAK Group. The spreadsheets that need to be completed immediately after the end of the year will be thoroughly reviewed with focus on the individual indicators. These data together with other sites’ data lay the foundation for our annual Sustainability Report in which the importance of the validity of the data is emphasized. For some new sites this is not far from the way they are already working. For others it is a completely new approach. Whatever the case, new sites are warmly welcomed and receive all the support required, from the headquarters as well as from other sites, to integrate into the global CSR system in the best possible way. with the participation of all CSR team leaders. To make sustainability even more visible within the organization, an internal sustainability award is presented each year to the AAK site or business area that has demonstrated outstanding sustainability performances. In 2018, the production site in Zaandijk, the Netherlands received an award for their overall very strong sustainability track record including improving energy and water use efficiency per unit processed product.