Continued strong sustainability progress for AAK

AAK's Sustainability Report for 2020 demonstrates how sustainability is at the heart of the company’s purpose, Making Better Happen™, and how it is embedded in all parts of the AAK value chain – Making Better Happen from plant to brand.

The report outlines ambitions, activities and achievements within the three focus areas of the company’s sustainability framework – Better Sourcing, Better Operations and Better Solutions.

“It’s a great pleasure for me to announce that we continue to see strong development within our sustainability activities and our contributions towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals”, says Johan Westman, President and CEO, AAK Group. “There has been significant progress made within the sourcing of our raw materials and with regards to resource efficiency in our operations. Furthermore, we have strengthened our portfolio of solutions that are good for both people and planet.”

An achievement of major importance during 2020 has been the significant increase of women involved in Kolo Nafaso, AAK’s direct shea sourcing program in West Africa. The program, which has a very positive impact on the women and their families, now involves more than 320,000 women, a 39 percent increase compared to 2019. AAK has also taken important steps on the journey towards sustainable palm, adopting a sourcing plan aiming for a palm oil supply chain that is 100 percent traceable to plantation and 100 percent verified deforestation-free by 2025.

In addition, AAK has significantly reduced its environmental impact by decreasing energy consumption, water consumption and waste per processed unit raw material.

“Another key step has been to sign the Science Based Targets initiative commitment letter, bringing all our production sites and our supply chain under the Science Based Targets initiative”, says Anne Mette Olesen, Chief Strategy & Sustainability Officer. “This and all other ambitions and achievements that we share in the report are results of a truly global and cross-functional team effort.”