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sustainability strategy and materiality

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sustainability strategy and materiality

sustainability is at the heart of our purpose - to improve the quality of life for people today and generations to come. this means we drive sustainability along our value chain in order to reduce our own impact and that of our suppliers and customers. We aim to achieve this through:

• sustainable supply: ensuring the responsible environmental and social performance of suppliers. • sustainable processes: using innovative and resource-efficient technologies based on

renewable resources, while ensuring the safety of our employees.

• sustainable product solutions: enabling fresh, safe and healthy food, and biochemicals based on renewables.

this is reflected in our initiatives. through our sustainable sourcing program we aim to assess the social and environmental responsibility of our raw material suppliers (50% by 2015 and 90% by 2020). We intend to introduce new technologies based on second generation feedstocks and based on our gypsum-free process in the coming years. to ensure the safety of our employees, we aim to achieve zero safety-related incidents by 2020. our sustainability assessment is used to evaluate all new projects as well as our key product groups through life Cycle Assessment (lCA) and in terms of our material issues.

embedding sustainability in our organization requires engagement from various parts of the organization, including procurement, innovation, operations, finance, marketing, and communi- cations as well as our external stakeholders. Further, we drive sustainability through leadership commitment by our Ceo as well as our Head of sustainability and dedicated working groups. We have evaluated megatrends presented in publications by thought leadership, such as the World Business Council for sustainable Development, in order to identify the key forces impacting our business and stakeholders.

Aligning our business to address our most material issues helps us to serve the needs of a growing population in an increasingly resource constrained world. the megatrends of population growth, resource depletion, and food security have many related material issues which affect our business, our value chain, and our stakeholders.

In 2013, we conducted our annual evaluation to determine which issues are most relevant for our business and our stakeholders. this process comprised of identification, ranking, and evaluation of issues along our value chain. Internal stakeholders from different business and corporate functions were surveyed and interviewed. they also supported the process to identify and engage external stakeholders, including customers, suppliers, governmental agencies, business partners, nGos, universities, and thought leaders, to respond to the issue survey and raise additional topics and concerns.

the resulting materiality matrix captures the relative importance of each issue for Corbion and our stakeholders. understanding and strategically addressing our issues enables us to improve our performance and prepare for future developments. We report on the identified issues in various ways depending on the particular topic, ranging from how it relates to our business, to our value

54 Corbion AnnuAl RepoRt 2013 sustAInABIlItY stAteMents ST AKEHOLDER’S C ONCERN IMPACT ON CORBION Circular economy

Good agricultural practices Sustainable supply

Resource efficiency Emissions Health and well-being Human capital

Product safety Food waste

Waste and effluents

Renewable resources Food security Business conduct contribution, to our performance. the use of renewable resources lies at the heart of our strategy. A sustainable supply, and in particular good agricultural practices are therefore important issues for Corbion, which we address through our sustainable sourcing program and engagement activities. the efficient use of resources such as energy and water, the reduction of carbon footprint, wastes and emissions, and the development of processes which do not interfere with the food value chain are key elements in our process development and operations to reduce our impact and optimize our performance. the integrity of our business conduct and the protection and development of our human capital are essential for us to ensure our long-term success as a responsible business. Finally, providing safe products which contribute to food security, health and well-being and a circular economy are priorities for both our ongoing business and the future viability of our business.

Materiality matrix

renewable resources Corbion's contribution to an economy based on the use of renewable resources as an alternative to fossil-based resources.

business conduct Business practices with regard to transparency, integrity and the prevention of corruption.

Circular economy providing pure biobased materials and addressing concerns related to the disposal of plastics, thus enabling a circular economy.

emissions Corbion's emissions, including carbon footprint and measures to minimize Greenhouse Gas emissions from cradle to gate.

health and well-being Contribution of Corbion products to human health and well-being through food nutrition/fortification and medical biomaterials.

product safety Health and safety impacts of Corbion's products and services during their life cycle.

Food security societal concerns about the use of food crops for the production of biochemicals (e.g. competition with food production).

Food waste Corbion’s efforts and solutions to reduce food waste along the value chain.

good agricultural practices Comprises Corbion's engagement to ensure sustainable agricultural practices to secure its supply and reduce impact.

resource efficiency Refers to the efficient use of energy, water, and resources in both the company's production processes and upstream processes.

sustainable supply Refers to the efforts of Corbion to engage the supply chain in order to manage risks and improve sustainability performance and working conditions.

Waste and effluents Refers to the management and reduction of solid waste and effluents from Corbion's production processes.

human capital Refers to how Corbion treats its employees in terms of training, human rights, fair remuneration, and occupational health and safety.

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