Climate Change Data

Environmental Metrics

ESG Focus Areas

• Sustainability

Environmental Achievements

• Reduced waste volume significantly due to a group-wide differentiation between products and waste.
• Increased energy efficiency of production processes, reducing fuel needs and emissions.
• Minimized fresh water consumption by drawing necessary water from a circuit and reusing it.

Social Achievements

• Created over 200 new jobs at the British pizza factory in Westhoughton due to capacity expansion.
• Maintained an apprenticeship ratio of about 10% with 200 apprentices enrolled in nine vocational courses.
• Launched a dual electromechanical engineering program at the Tirlemontoise refinery in Tienen, Belgium.

Governance Achievements

• Successfully placed a corporate bond valued at €300 million with a term of seven years and a 1.25% per annum coupon.
• Increased the free float of AGRANA from 7% to just under 19% by way of a capital increase.
• Improved financial ratios positively impacting the credit rating.

Climate Goals & Targets

Environmental Challenges

• Volatility of sugar and ethanol markets.
• Negative headlines about sugar's role in obesity.
• Exchange rate fluctuations and charges from the startup of the new starch factory in Zeitz.

Mitigation Strategies

• Cost reduction and efficiency improvement programs along the entire value chain.
• New beet contracting system sharing risks and opportunities with beet growers.
• Setup of a “Global Markets” sales organization to handle higher export volumes.

Supply Chain Management

Supplier Audits: Not disclosed

Responsible Procurement

• Supplier Code of Conduct, environmental, labor and social standards guidelines.

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Physical Risks

• Extreme weather events (drought, flooding, storms, hail)

Transition Risks

• Changes to legal and political framework (e.g., EU climate and energy policies, free trade agreements).

Opportunities

• Extended growing period for beets due to climate change.

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: GRI

Certifications: ISO 9001, IFS Food, BRC Global Standard Food Safety, FSSC 22000, ISO 50001

Third-party Assurance: PricewaterhouseCoopers Aktiengesellschaft Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft (PwC)

UN Sustainable Development Goals

• Not disclosed

Not disclosed

Sustainable Products & Innovation

• Biogenic carbon dioxide, organic sugar, high-protein food and animal feed.

Awards & Recognition

• Not disclosed

Environmental Metrics

ESG Focus Areas

• Emissions reduction
• Responsible water use
• Circular economy
• Conscious consumption
• Attractive workplace
• Safe operations
• Responsible sourcing
• Sustainable farming
• Human rights
• Climate change

Environmental Achievements

• Reduced Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by about 23% compared to the base year 2018.
• Increased the share of renewable energies in the energy mix by around 8% compared to the previous year.
• Commissioning of biomass power plant in Wanze, Belgium.
• Implementation of energy efficiency measures in Pemuco, Chile.
• Achieved FSA Gold status (highest FSA rating for sustainability) in Germany, Belgium, France and Poland.

Social Achievements

• Launched a cross-divisional mentoring program with 12 tandem pairs.
• Initiated “Unconscious Bias” workshops to address unconscious forms of bias.
• Improved EcoVadis sustainability rating, achieving silver medal and ranking in the top 9% of all rated companies.

Governance Achievements

• Successfully delisted subsidiary CropEnergies.
• Issued its first sustainability-linked bond under the new Sustainability-Linked Financing Framework.

Climate Goals & Targets

Environmental Challenges

• Persistently challenging supply situation for raw materials.
• Sustained high volatility in energy prices.
• Inflation.
• Cooling economy in Central Europe.
• Unexpected emergence of a new beet disease, Stolbur.
• Falling ethanol prices.
• Volatile raw material markets.
• Contraction in the European starch market.
• Declining yogurt market in China.
• Shortage of skilled workers.

Mitigation Strategies

• Improving established business segments.
• Investments in protein activities and alternative ethanol chemistry.
• Simplify structures, review investments.
• Enhance measures against beet diseases.
• Strategic realignment of CropEnergies.
• Further develop and expand specialization strategy for the product portfolio.
• Innovate products and strengthen application consulting.
• Expand product portfolio.
• Further develop product categories; strengthen diversification and marketing of innovative plant-based product solutions.
• Preventive measures to ensure key positions are filled in good time.

Supply Chain Management

Supplier Audits: More than 200 external audits carried out at growers’ premises as part of RedCert2 certification process. 63 locations had valid SMETA or comparable social audits.

Responsible Procurement

• Code of conduct for suppliers.
• Sustainable procurement guidelines.
• Compliance with sustainability criteria of the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI).

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Physical Risks

• Extreme weather conditions
• Droughts
• Flooding
• Heat waves
• Water shortages
• Pests and diseases

Transition Risks

• Regulatory measures for CO2 reduction
• Blending targets for renewable raw materials
• Higher procurement prices for energy and other resources

Opportunities

• Increased demand for renewable energies
• Development of energy-efficient products
• Development of biomass-based products

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: GRI

Certifications: ISO 9001, ISO 50001, ISO 45001 (five Freiberger plants)

Third-party Assurance: KPMG AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft (KPMG)

UN Sustainable Development Goals

• Goal 7 (Affordable and clean energy)
• Goal 12 (Responsible consumption and production)
• Goal 13 (Climate action)
• Goal 15 (Life on land)
• Goal 8 (Decent work and economic growth)

Südzucker’s initiatives contribute to these goals through renewable energy use, sustainable production practices, emissions reduction, biodiversity protection, and job creation.

Sustainable Products & Innovation

• Renewable ethyl acetate
• Plant-based meat, fish, and dairy alternatives
• Bio-based chemicals

Awards & Recognition

• EcoVadis silver medal