AAK AB

"AAK requires all external suppliers and their subcontractors to comply with this Code. The Code applies to all actors in the supply chain back to the origin of the raw material.[...] Freedom of association [...] Forced labour [...] Child labour [...] Discrimination [...] Suppliers shall comply with all applicable national and legal standards on working hours and overtime [...] Suppliers shall offer a safe working environment for all employees. Adequate health and safety procedures and the use of relevant protective equipment shall be implemented. [...] Suppliers shall protect employees in the working place against physical, verbal, sexual or psychological harassment, abuse or threats"

[Translation] "In AAK's supply chains, small farmers, in particular female farmers, have an important role:• About 40% of the global production of palm oil produced by smallholder farmers in Indonesia and Malaysia [...] One of our priorities with regards to sustainability is to improve the livelihoods and welfare of smallholders, [...] we invest in training programs and cooperate with non-governmental organizations, industry colleagues and suppliers in many different regions, and in local villages through our agricultural advisors." [...] "2020 status: 3,100 smallholders engaged "

"Land rights and tenure - AAK will only source raw materials from growers with the necessary land rights, and where legal or customary rights of others are not adversely affected. In particular, our requirement is that new development only takes place with the free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) or equivalent of other land rights holders such as local communities. [...] Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) FPIC is a principle requiring that indigenous and local communities have the right to give or withhold their consent to proposed projects that may affect the lands to which they hold legal title, or they customarily own, occupy or otherwise use"

"For better sourcing of palm, our 2025 ambitions are:100 percent traceability to plantation [...] Key achievements 2021 Increased palm traceability to plantation to 81 percent, representing an increase of 16 percent compared to 2020"

"Commitments and ambitions:100 percent verified deforestation-free and conversion-free palm [...] supply chains by 2025" [...] "In 2021, AAK achieved 67 percent of VDF palm [...] 96 percent of our suppliers have signed the AAK Group Policy Sustainable Palm Oil [...] RSPO-certified palm increased to 39 percent, representing an increase by 23 percent since 2019. In 2021, there was a 1 percent increase in the demand for RSPOcertified volumes, with the ambition to reach 2 percent by 2022. To increase the demand for certified sustainable palm, we include sales of RSPO-certified in our ambition of percent of revenue connected to the SDGs."

"We expect our suppliers: [...] To be or become member of the RSPO " [...] "Driving industry change For companies to work effectively to drive change in the palm oil production base, monitoring and reporting of progress in the production base is essential. The RSPO certified volumes we purchase have the best guarantee available of meeting NDPE commitments, but to date there has been no way of measuring compliance in non-certified volumes. In complex global supply chains, achieving transparency on progress by companies several tiers away can be a challenge. The No Deforestation No Peat and No exploitation Implementation Reporting Framework (NDPE IRF) is a monitoring and reporting tool developed by sustainability practitioners and major brands and processors of palm oil, facilitated by Proforest. It is a shared industry approach to reporting on progress in meeting NDPE commitments, based on a stepwise approach towards ensuring full compliance. AAK has supported the development of the NDPE IRF since its inception in 2018, when we worked with one of our suppliers to be among the first to test the approach to monitoring and reporting on NDPE progress in the palm oil production base, with results presented at the RSPO Round Table in Kota Kinabalu in 2018. Since then, the IRF has become an accepted industry approach to monitoring and reporting and is being rolled out among refineries in 2020."

"the methodology uses the mill list and publicly available information on mills and mill groups that have implemented methods to ensure and verify that their volumes are compliant with No-deforestation policies. This includes RSPO certification and concession monitoring, where concession boundaries linked to a deforestation monitoring platform showed no clearance since the 2015 cut-off date."

"We also support a unique project in Mexico together with Solidaridad, the objective of which is to develop the sustainability of three palm oil social enterprise cooperatives, with the ultimate ambition of achieving RSPO certification. In 2021, we announced a partnership with Musim Mas and Nestlé to support smallholders in Aceh, Indonesia, with the objective of increased yields and earnings for the smallholders, reducing the incentive to encroach into protected areas as a way of increasing their income."

"Via our collaboration with Forever Sabah, AAK continues to support the jurisdictional certification approach in the Malaysian state of Sabah, where only 20 percent of the independent smallholders hold the title to their land. "

"Suppliers shall operate in compliance with the applicable national and local legal requirements. Suppliers shall comply strictly with all antitrust and competition law. [...] Supplier must maintain documentation necessary to demonstrate compliance with the requirements of this Code. The documentation must be made available to AAK on written request or during audit on location by AAK personnel or by a third party."

In their 2020 RSPO ACOP, AAK report their total volume of palm as 1238493 tonnes. 38.12% of this is RSPO certified

In relation to the supplier code of conduct for raw material suppliers which states their human rights requirements and FPIC commitments - "Suppliers must maintain documentation necessary to demonstrate compliance with the requirements of this Code. The documentation must be made available to AAK on written request or during audit on location by AAK personnel or by a third party."[...]"AAK will take appropriate action to investigate issues and seek to work with the supplier to resolve it."

"Public mill list and grievance addendum Our universe of mills list is updated twice a year. To access our most recent mill list, please click here: AAK Public Mill List."

"AAK recognises RSPO certification as the foremost established and stable systematic organisation and standard for sustainable palm oil [...] AAK conducts on-site assessments of our suppliers and their supply chains, including with external third-party assessors"

"breaching AAK's Code of Conduct for Raw Material Suppliers [...] AAK [...] will seek to work with the supplier to resolve it. If no adequate resolution can be found, AAK will terminate commercial relations with the supplier" [...] "After each mill visit, a timebound action plan is developed with the mill to address any issues identified."

AK report the status of the non compliances raised with them and found by them in a mill grievance list.

"AAK requires all external suppliers and their subcontractors to comply with this Code. The Code applies to all actors in the supply chain back to the origin of the raw material.[...] Freedom of association [...] Forced labour [...] Child labour [...] Discrimination [...] Suppliers shall comply with all applicable national and legal standards on working hours and overtime [...] Suppliers shall offer a safe working environment for all employees. Adequate health and safety procedures and the use of relevant protective equipment shall be implemented. [...] Suppliers shall protect employees in the working place against physical, verbal, sexual or psychological harassment, abuse or threats"

"Suppliers shall operate in compliance with the applicable national and local legal requirements. Suppliers shall comply strictly with all antitrust and competition law. [...] Supplier must maintain documentation necessary to demonstrate compliance with the requirements of this Code. The documentation must be made available to AAK on written request or during audit on location by AAK personnel or by a third party."

In relation to the supplier code of conduct for raw material suppliers which states their human rights requirements and FPIC commitments - "Suppliers must maintain documentation necessary to demonstrate compliance with the requirements of this Code. The documentation must be made available to AAK on written request or during audit on location by AAK personnel or by a third party."

"AAK requires all external suppliers and their subcontractors to comply with this Code. The Code applies to all actors in the supply chain back to the origin of the raw material.[...] Freedom of association [...] Forced labour [...] Child labour [...] Discrimination [...] Suppliers shall comply with all applicable national and legal standards on working hours and overtime [...] Suppliers shall offer a safe working environment for all employees. Adequate health and safety procedures and the use of relevant protective equipment shall be implemented. [...] Suppliers shall protect employees in the working place against physical, verbal, sexual or psychological harassment, abuse or threats"

"smallholder inclusion in raw material supply chains is a key objective for AAK. Our policy is to actively ensure that smallholders are not excluded from our supply chain" [...]"Indian soy smallholder engagementIn line with AAK’s Policy for Responsible Sourcing of Vegetable Oils, our joint venture in India, AAK Kamani, has committed to actively include smallholders into its soy supply chain."

"Land rights and tenure - AAK will only source raw materials from growers with the necessary land rights, and where legal or customary rights of others are not adversely affected. In particular, our requirement is that new development only takes place with the free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) or equivalent of other land rights holders such as local communities. [...] Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) FPIC is a principle requiring that indigenous and local communities have the right to give or withhold their consent to proposed projects that may affect the lands to which they hold legal title, or they customarily own, occupy or otherwise use"

"We achieved 30% verified deforestation-free soybean oil supply chain in 2021. This is a 1 percentage point decrease compared to 2020 due to changing global volumes."

"In line with AAK’s Policy for Responsible Sourcing of Vegetable Oils, our joint venture in India, AAK Kamani, has committed to actively include smallholders into its soy supply chain. [...] AAK Kamani has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the so-called SMART project in Maharashtra, India. [...] The key objectives of the project are: Supporting value addition in the post-harvest segment of agricultural value chains ;Developing a mechanism for productive alliances involving various stakeholders in agricultural supply chains; Improving the current policy and regulatory framework in the agribusiness sector; Developing marketing and credit linkages with community-based organizations (CBOs) like farmer producer companies, cluster-level federations and farmer groups; Improving the efficiency in agricultural supply chains through private sector partnerships that can be scaled up through project interventions."

"After an initial risk assessment in 2019, where about 90 percent of AAK-sourced soy volumes were rated at “low risk” for deforestation, we have once again partnered with Proforest to fully map our supply base."

"Suppliers shall operate in compliance with the applicable national and local legal requirements. Suppliers shall comply strictly with all antitrust and competition law. [...] Supplier must maintain documentation necessary to demonstrate compliance with the requirements of this Code. The documentation must be made available to AAK on written request or during audit on location by AAK personnel or by a third party."

In relation to the supplier code of conduct for raw material suppliers which states their human rights requirements and FPIC commitments - "Suppliers must maintain documentation necessary to demonstrate compliance with the requirements of this Code. The documentation must be made available to AAK on written request or during audit on location by AAK personnel or by a third party."[...]"AAK will take appropriate action to investigate issues and seek to work with the supplier to resolve it."

"Suppliers must maintain documentation necessary to demonstrate compliance with the requirements of this Code. The documentation must be made available to AAK on written request. AAK will conduct on-site assessments of our suppliers and their supply chain including with external third-party assessors [...] AAK will only source raw materials that have been produced without High Carbon Stock deforestation, conversion of High Conservation Value areas, or development on peatland soils. [...] AAK’s objective is to ensure traceability in our raw material supply chains, sufficient to ensure that we achieve transparency of raw material origins, as the basis for assuring compliance with these policy requireme

"Suppliers shall strive to minimize the environmental impact of their activities through responsible management, widespread environmental awareness and the use of technologies with low environmental impact. AAK will only source raw materials that have been produced without High Carbon Stock deforestation, conversion of High Conservation Value areas, or development on peatland soils. [...] Should a supplier fail to comply with the requirements of the Code, AAK will through dialogue and cooperation try to solve the situation or as a last resort terminate the relationship."