Malmo / SE. (aak) Swedish AAK Group (former AarhusKarlshamn AB) has released its Sustainability Report for 2016/2017. The report outlines AAK’s sustainability strategy, objectives, activities, and achievements within the five focus areas of the company’s model for sustainable growth – Our Customers, Our Suppliers, Our Planet, Our People, and Our Neighbours.
«The company’s overall resource efficiency has improved significantly for a number of years and 2016 was no exception», says Anne Mette Olesen, AAK’s Chief Marketing Officer responsible for CSR. «Energy consumption, calculated per produced unit, decreased by 6.1 percent despite a strategic decision to increase the production of highly refined products which, all other things being equal, require more energy to process. Calculated per produced unit, our dedicated and responsible global operations organization was also able to decrease direct carbon dioxide emissions, water consumption, and water discharge».
AAK also reports strong progress on the very important palm oil sustainability commitments. In 2016, all of AAK’s palm oil suppliers were risk assessed by key partner Proforest and geospatial risk assessments were performed on all mills in AAK’s supply chain which was followed by audits of selected mills. Furthermore, AAK has continued its supplier engagement by organizing workshops focused on sustainability, and by engaging in a dialogue with all suppliers to drive continued strong progress of policy implementation.
In addition, AAK reports on its women’s groups program in West Africa which now has more than 115’000 women included, a 27 percent increase compared to last year. The very successful program focuses on support, interest-free micro credits, training and trading directly with the women collecting the shea kernels.
