BenevolentAI S.A.

Climate Impact & Sustainability Data (2022, 2023)

Reporting Period: 2022

Environmental Metrics

Total Carbon Emissions:7,311 tCO2e/year

Scope 1 Emissions:246.9 tCO2e/year

Scope 2 Emissions:103.9 tCO2e/year

Scope 3 Emissions:6,959.8 tCO2e/year

Total Energy Consumption:2,134,168 kWh/year

Waste Generated:26.8 tons/year

ESG Focus Areas

diversity and inclusion
attraction and development
safety and wellbeing
innovation
product quality
cybersecurity
ethical conduct
reducing waste
climate change

Environmental Achievements

Reduced paper use by moving away from printing to cloud-based or digital systems; recycling rate of 55% at London site and 60% at Cambridge site.

Social Achievements

Reduced staff attrition to 15.7% (down from 17.2% in 2021); voluntary turnover in Drug Discovery function was 9%, lower than the Life Sciences industry average of 9.5%; 92% of current or former employees would recommend BenevolentAI to a friend, with an overall Glassdoor score of 4.8.
Increased gender balance within Board of Directors, Senior Leadership Team (SLT), and Product & Tech team; women made up 53% of the global workforce (2021: 50%), 43% of the Executive Team (2021: 50%), 54% of the SLT (2021: 40%), 48% of People Management roles (2021: 44%), and 38% of the Board of Directors (2021: 14%).
Initiated a non-commercial collaboration with Drugs for Neglected Disease initiative (DNDi) to identify targets and approved drugs to treat dengue fever.

Governance Achievements

Strengthened corporate governance by formally adopting the UK QCA Code; appointed Jean Raby as Senior independent NED and Dr John Orloff as Workforce NED; implemented a Board Diversity Policy; completed the first Board evaluation questionnaire.

Climate Goals & Targets

Long-term Goals:

Commercialise certain drugs discovered using the Benevolent Platform™ (targeted for the second half of this decade or shortly thereafter).

Medium-term Goals:

Commence IND-enabling studies for at least one additional asset; transition three projects into lead optimisation; initiate four new drug discovery programmes; sign an additional collaboration.

Short-term Goals:

Out-license BEN-2293 in 2023 (subject to positive Phase IIa data); initiate a Phase I study for BEN-8744 in ulcerative colitis in H1 2023; deliver one to two CTA or IND-stage drug candidates.

Environmental Challenges

Risk that one or more existing commercial or academic collaborations are terminated, or additional collaborations are not forthcoming.
Dependence on the Benevolent Platform™ to identify the right drug target for the right disease.
Dependence on the Benevolent Platform™'s key data suppliers for its Knowledge Graph.
All drug candidates are in early-stage pre-clinical development or clinical development and are not yet commercially approved.
Dependence on third parties such as CROs to deliver on pre-clinical and clinical development timelines.
Others may discover, develop, or commercialise products before BenevolentAI does.
Inability to generate additional revenue through out-licensing pipeline assets or signing new collaborations; inability to raise sufficient capital if macroeconomic conditions worsen.
Changes to R&D tax credits may reduce their availability.
Inability to out-license certain drug pipeline assets in line with stated strategy.
Exposure to adverse local political decisions, changes in laws and regulations, and/or economic events impacting the pharmaceutical, technology, and AI industries.
Security of information, both for internal IT systems and those of third parties.
Intellectual Property (IP) protection and the potential for breach of confidential information.

Mitigation Strategies

Close relationships with partners; diversification of commercial revenue streams; validated capability in Target ID space.
Continued investment in the Benevolent Platform™ and personnel; diversification of drug discovery deployments.
Multimodal approach with over 85 different data sources and over 100 data providers; multi-year agreements; growth of proprietary data.
Data foundations approach; consultation with regulators early in the development process; broad mix of pipeline assets; partnering with other pharmaceutical companies.
Work with leading international CROs; investment in clinical capability.
Thorough assessment of chosen indications; development of pharmaceutical assets for drug targets where there is no current therapeutic available; composition of matter patents.
Raised gross proceeds of £186.8 million (€225 million) in April 2022; extended collaboration with AstraZeneca; aim to add further commercial collaboration agreements.
Incorporation of recent planned changes to the UK R&D tax credit scheme into financial guidance; work with industry bodies.
Engagement with potential licensing partners early in the asset’s development cycle.
Regular monitoring of developments in key geographies; strong relationships with regulatory bodies and trade associations.
Mix of in-house and outsourced support; investment in protection of data and IT systems; cybersecurity procedures; cybersecurity insurance.
Active management of IP; filing of patent applications; composition-of-matter patents.

Supply Chain Management

Responsible Procurement

Supply Chain Policy/Code of Conduct

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: QCA Code, UK Corporate Governance Code 2018 (partially)

Third-party Assurance: PwC

Reporting Period: 2023

Environmental Metrics

Total Carbon Emissions:5,904 tCO2e/year

Scope 1 Emissions:282.0 tCO2e/year

Scope 2 Emissions:280.8 tCO2e/year (market-based + location-based)

Scope 3 Emissions:5,341.6 tCO2e/year

Renewable Energy Share:27% (London office)

Total Energy Consumption:2,241,245 kWh/year

Water Consumption:92 m3/year (London office only)

Waste Generated:8.1 tons/year (London office), 17.8 tons/year (Cambridge lab waste)