2022 in review

A Message from our President

I am pleased to present our first Corporate Social Responsibility report. This report shows the progress we made against our CSR ambitions and how our corporate social responsibility commitments are at the heart of everything we do. It reflects our belief that actions matter and that we have a responsibility to make a positive impact in communities around the world.

Steven Verweij President Europe & AMEAP

We officially launched our approach to Corporate Social Responsibility in 2022. Across our organisation we witnessed a lot of great initiatives and actions to help Dawn operate more sustainably and make positive changes for a better tomorrow. From our humble beginnings as two bakers making delicious donuts more than a century ago, we have grown into a worldwide leader in bakery ingredients manufacturing and distribution. We have global reach with a local focus. We have been working side by side with our partners for more than a century to serve local communities and businesses. It is a tradition we continue with pride and passion.

Our global Corporate Social Responsibility Approach brings it all together and allows us to look towards the future more focused and more connected: making a bigger, positive impact.

Our approach to social responsibility aligns to our commitment to our people, our products and our customers. It is what we call our Circle of Excellence:

• PEOPLE: Make the planet better for people and communities around the world

• PRODUCTS: Operate responsibly with products that delight

• CUSTOMERS: Prioritise positive partnerships that make an impact

2022 was also a year with challenges both for Dawn and the entire bakery industry. After the pandemic which brought lockdowns and economies come to a standstill, we were all hoping for a return to normality in 2022.

But just as the last lockdowns were ending in early 2022, we faced the terrible news of the invasion of Ukraine. As the world was still recovering from the pandemic-related supply chain disruptions, we all had to shift gears and react to another crisis impacting our industry in so many ways.

Our teams immediately introduced initiatives to help the people of Ukraine in any way possible, including some Team Members providing Ukrainian refugees shelter in their homes.

From an industry perspective, the war in Ukraine has exerted even more pressure on supply chains and raw material availability. We have seen inflation rates rise across Europe on the back of the energy crisis. With eggs, grains, wheat and sunflower oil all in short supply, our teams were pushed to new levels of creativity to solve these challenges. From doing our utmost to secure the scarce raw materials to avoid out of stock on certain products, to adapting our recipes with alternative raw materials and supporting customers with applications using alternative ingredients. We worked in close partnership with our customers to find ways to tackle the shortage of key ingredients.

In the challenging year that 2022 was, I could not be more proud of the progress we have made towards our 2025 Corporate Social

Responsibility ambitions. This first annual Corporate Social Responsibility report for Europe & AMEAP provides an overview of the progress we are making and how our ambitions align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Our objectives centre around supporting people, communities, the baking industry and the environment. Our targets and objectives are focused on:

• Supporting communities through corporate giving and volunteering for example

• Promoting the wellbeing of our Team Members

• Reducing CO2, water and waste in our plants

• Moving to more sustainable packaging

• Creating ‘Better-for-You’ products

• Sourcing our key ingredients in a sustainable way

People are at the top of our Circle of Excellence. That is why I am happy to see we have made so much progress in achieving our ambitions and launched a lot of initiatives supporting communities and the wellbeing of our Team Members.

Spurred in part by the energy crisis, our plants are making good strides in operating more responsibly. Our R&D teams are realising strong progress in making our products ‘better-for-you’ whenever possible. We have also made a major leap forward in operating more transparently. All our plants are registered with Sedex, the world’s largest platform for chain assessment to store, analyse, share and report on sustainability practices. Through Sedex we are able to optimally manage, assess and report on our sustainability performance with a view to meeting our supply chain goals. All our suppliers act in alignment with our Code of Excellence, which is our guidance for ethical approach to business and fair trading. It serves as the firm foundation for how we do business.

The sale of our frozen business in late 2022 means we are now a 100% ingredients company. This affects some of our Corporate Social Responsibility ambitions as we no longer produce finished bakery items. As a result, it is even more important to partner with our customers and suppliers to make a positive impact. It is all about helping each other, so together we can bring about a more sustainable bakery industry. A sustainable and successful industry that both fulfills consumers’ evolving needs and complies with all applicable food safety standards and regulations.

Progress and change take time. But every step we take together helps in the journey that lies ahead of us. By making everyday changes and improvements, we get a little better every day. Looking at how far we have come in 2022, I am confident that together we will keep inspiring sustainable bakery success in 2023 and beyond.