ABOUT THIS REPORT

ABOUT THIS REPORT

Our 2019 report builds on prior years’ initiatives and report content.

Tennant Company’s core business model, governance, policies, practices, customers and stakeholders changed little between 2018 and 2019. However, in January 2019 Tennant Company acquired Gaomei Cleaning Equipment Company with the strategic intent to continue our global diversification of revenue and expand our presence in China. Gaomei Products are included in this 2019 CSR but, due to decoupling of the carbon emissions reporting from the Corporate Sustainability Report, Gaomei enterprise and product emissions are not included in the Carbon Emissions section.

Stakeholder concerns and priorities, as well as our material issues and opportunities, have not changed drastically from 2018. The stakeholder assessment workshops that occurred in 2013 helped to identify our material issues. We regularly engage and reaffirm three main material issues: GHG Emissions, Waste, and Water, with our three main Stakeholder groups: Employees, Customers, and Investors. The material issues help to shape our objectives, goals, and metrics for our four focus areas: Products, GHG Emissions & Energy, Waste, and People & Communities. Additionally, the General Standard Disclosures did not change year over year. The reporting boundary for 2019 shows moderate changes from 2018 because IPC has been incorporated into reporting, expanding our footprint in Europe, mainly Italy. The 2019 CSR will be published before our 2019 GHG emissions are confirmed and submitted to CDP’s Supply Chain Program. As a result, you will notice the GHG emissions data will be from 2018. We made the decision to decouple the GHG emissions data from the full Sustainability Report so we could publish the report earlier in the year for our stakeholders. The intention is to use this format moving forward; if you have comments or concerns please contact SustainabilityReport@tennantco.com.

Additional details regarding our Stakeholder Engagement, Materiality Analysis and Reporting Boundary can be found in the Index. The Global Reporting Initiative Index, which is used to ensure we are reporting on relevant and material information supporting our sustainability initiatives, can also be found in the Index.

STAKEHOLDERS

Employees Customers Investors GHG Emissions Waste Water Products GHG Emissions & Energy Waste People & Communities

MATERIAL ISSUES FOCUS AREAS

ABOUT THIS REPORT

Circular Economy

Since the industrial revolution, our modern economy has depended on the transformation of natural resources into products. Today, fossil fuels and other natural resources are still the driving forces behind economic growth. However, this linear model of “take-make-waste” has an extensive value chain and associated waste streams resulting in huge environmental impacts. Recently, the concept of the circular economy has emerged to fundamentally shift the way we utilize resources and design our products.

A circular economy is based on the principles of designing out waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in use, and regenerating natural systems. As Tennant Company designs and manufactures products in-house, we have taken these principles as guidance to developing our future products and processes. In fact, we are already firmly rooted in keeping products in use with our RECON™ program, where we take back products from customers, recondition them, and then resell to customers looking for a high-quality product at a lower price.

Tennant Company is also a member of the Minnesota Sustainable Growth Coalition (SGC), a business-led partnership focused on advancing the next frontier of corporate sustainability and the circular economy. Member companies collaborate and share expertise within three primary focus areas of clean energy, water, and materials. While we are committed to all three, Tennant Company has joined the Materials team to help advance a circular economy by focusing on these key areas: design for circularity, reuse or repurpose, recycle, and regenerate. Our involvement in the SGC will not only bring meaningful, positive impacts to our broader communities and partner companies, it will help accelerate us on the path to becoming a more sustainable enterprise.

From Left to Right: Roy Rickaby- Design Quality Engineer, Rob van Rooij- EMEA Global Supply, Sarah Wolters- Product Management Specialist, Kate Powers- Senior Sustainability Specialist, Kurt Adelman- Senior Engineer, Abby Liubakka- Senior Product Stewardship Engineer, Matt Hetler- Senior Engineer.