Sustainability report

Stakeholder engagement Every third year, AAK conducts a stakeholder analysis in order to ensure relevance, accountability and to stay ahead of evolving expectations of our stakeholders. This process allows us to engage and mobilize internally and to identify our most signifi- cant topics, both positive and negative, ensuring a unified approach at all levels of the organization. The stakeholder analysis 2019 The stakeholder analysis process in 2019 started with a determination of which key stakeholders that should be engaged in the analysis. A list of significant topics considered most relevant for AAK's progress on sustainability was updated, involving relevant internal stakeholders. Stakeholders included in the analysis were identified based on mutual depend- ency and valuable relevant expertise (such as trade organizations), close relationships with the company (employees and company decision makers), an ability to directly influence the company, having an important relation with AAK (customers and investors), an ability to make an impact in our value chain (suppliers of raw materials and packaging), and stakeholders important to AAK’s corporate citizenship (municipalities). The external people included were also considered individ- uals with expert knowledge involved with NGOs, RSPO and marginalized communities and farmers. Transparent dialogue In order to enable a transparent approach, the survey and dialogues were conducted with support from an experienced third party. With the goal of capturing a broad perspective, the stakeholder survey was composed of both quantitative questions and qualita- tive interviews. The quantitative portion of the survey involved respondents rating the AAK significant topics as a very specific exercise undertaken as part of our Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) process. The qualitative portion of the survey gave AAK further insight into our stakeholders’ ambitions, including evaluations of AAK’s ongoing sustainability work and suggestions for how we can improve in order to meet expectations in the future. The stakeholder analysis matrix The quantitative section of the survey was based on 31 significant topics which were initially taken from AAK’s previous stakeholder assessment. In order for the analysis to capture both internal and external perspectives, a matrix was set in relation to the corre- sponding ranking carried out by the local sustainability teams and other internal stakeholders. The internal perspective was then compared with the perspective of all stakeholder groups, including external ones. This made it possible for the analysis to capture both the perspective of AAK and external stakeholders, with a special focus on the topics listed as very important (see Sustainability Report 2019). Key topics raised Overall, AAK received valuable feedback regarding both what we do well and what we can improve. The top three topics raised by key stakeholder groups (consisting of customers, investors and suppliers) were: prevention of deforestation, reduce environmental impact throughout our supply chain, and achieving resource efficiency. Other significant topics raised where to promote employee development, prevent harassment and to initiate an active whistleblower system that concerns all parts of the supply chain. The feedback we received from the in-depth inter- views (with both customers and investors) was that we should be more transparent regarding our supply chains. Specifically, respondents suggested that we should further increase our efforts related to tracea- bility. This has been emphasized and further enhanced during 2020. Management engagement and prioritization After identifying the topics which are most signifi- cant for our stakeholders, AAK engaged the top 100 leaders in the organization in several workshops to discuss how to meet these expectations. The result was presented to the Executive Committee, clustered in categories and aligned with AAK’s sustainability ambitions and supporting key performance indicators. These ambitions have been further adjusted during 2020 to be aligned with our new purpose, Making Better Happen and to reflect developments in legal requirements, insights from continuous customer deep-dive interviews and investor feedback. Based on this exercise it is evident that the Materiality analysis conducted in 2019 still is highly relevant but that we needed to raise our ambitions overall related to deforestation, human rights and greenhouse gas emissions. AAK Sustainability Report 2020 64