2019Report by the Managing Board

Stakeholders

Our purpose can only be realized by working with our stakeholders. Through empowering our employees, engaging with our customers and suppliers, and with the support of our investors, we will create a stronger legacy and brighter futures for generations to come. We discuss topics that are relevant to our operations and our impact on society regularly with our stakeholders. These conversations shape how we define and execute our strategy, including risk management, materiality, and new business opportunities.

Employees

Our people are our most important asset, and our employees represent more than 100 nationalities, working at more than 210 sites and offices in 47 countries worldwide. The safety of our people is our highest priority and we aspire to provide an incident- and injury-free working environment for everyone, including our contractors. Our People & Organization strategy defines our approach toward our people.

For information on how we engage our employees, see 'People'.

Customers

Our customers are key stakeholders. They drive our business and through our collaborations, we enable solutions that help solve some of the world's biggest problems.

For information on our business and customers, see 'Review of business'. For information on how we engage with our customers, see 'Customers'.

Investors

Capital providers play a significant role in the success and prosperity of our company. They support us in our pursuit of a long-term oriented strategy which aims to continually create value for shareholders while offering a low-risk environment for debt holders.

For more information on how we communicate with investors, see 'Investors' and elsewhere in this Report.

Suppliers

Our supply chain consists of more than 32,000 suppliers. Our suppliers are important partners for achieving our purpose, and we work closely with them through our Sustainable Procurement Program.

For more information on how we work with our suppliers, see 'Suppliers'.

Society

We engage with society at multiple levels — from local community initiatives, to collaborations with universities and research institutes. We work with NGOs and civil society toward solutions for societal issues, and advocate with governments and society on important issues relating to the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement. We also engage in philanthropic and sponsorship activities to the yearly amount of approximately €6 million for the coming period. As outlined in our Code of Business Conduct, we do not make political donations.

For more information on how we engage with these stakeholders, see 'Society'.

Materiality

In order to assess material topics that are both of interest to society and have impact on our businesses, we annually update our materiality analysis. In 2019, we conducted a thorough and extensive materiality analysis, based upon and aligned with the timeline of the new Strategy 2021: Growth & Value - Purpose led, Performance driven.

Our update in 2019 used Strategy 2021 as its point of departure. The initial analysis was supported through desk research of peers and other institutions to arrive at a list of potential material topics. Direct feedback on the proposed topics was obtained through stakeholder interviews, employee workshops and surveys, as well as a stakeholder dialogue, to arrive at a shortlist. The results were reviewed and validated by the Executive Committee. The resulting matrix was compared with the Corporate Risk Assessment to make sure all relevant topics were captured from a materiality and/or risk perspective. Finally, the matrix was reviewed and approved by the Managing Board.

Changes in 2019

In the Materiality matrix 2019, the topics have been aligned with the new strategy, so a number of topic names have changed, or topics have been combined or split. The most significant changes include aligning material topics with our focus domains and the inclusion of 'Labor practices & human rights' as a topic in its own right.

For more information on materiality, see 'Management approach for material topics'.

Collaborative platforms and networks

We collaborate with like-minded peers through platforms and networks that contribute to our purpose of creating brighter lives for all. These collaborations are chosen to amplify and accelerate our advocacy efforts in support of a transition to more sustainable economic models on topics that align to our focus domains of Nutrition & Health, Climate & Energy and Resources & Circularity. Collaborative platforms and networks such as these can help formulate new solutions, and measurement and performance methods, as well as roadmaps for business contributions toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this section, we describe some of the most significant initiatives.

Cross-domain initiatives

World Economic Forum (WEF)

We are a strategic partner of WEF. We actively participated in their meetings throughout 2019, including the annual meeting in Davos. We continued to strengthen our presence at regional events, including in Africa, the Middle East, and China, to highlight key partnerships and initiatives concerning nutrition, climate change and circularity. We engaged in many projects and initiatives of WEF, including the Future of Proteins, and Low-carbon Emitting Technologies.

During the WEF Annual Meeting 2019, in collaboration with partners including Salesforce, Yara and Cargill, we successfully introduced the SDG Tent, a venue for discussing business engagement for achieving the SDGs. Several highly successful events were hosted at the SDG Tent. In 2019, our CEO Feike Sijbesma co-chaired the Consumer Governors and chaired the Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders. He also became a Member of the Board of Trustees of WEF.

World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)

We are a member of WBCSD and participate in various working groups and coalitions.

We are a founding member of Food Reform for Sustainability and Health (FReSH) project and a Board member of the Food and Nature Program, to drive food system change. In October, WBCSD launched the 'CEO Guide to Food System Transformation', based on input from, and signed by, CEOs of 17 WBCSD member companies. The Guide describes seven pathways whereby business can help transform the system, such as 'sustainable agriculture', 'healthier diets' and 'food loss and waste reduction'.

In 2019, our CFO Geraldine Matchett joined the Redefining Value Board, and Managing Board member Dimitri de Vreeze joined the Circular Economy Board.

Factor10 is WBCSD's Circular Economy program and consists of 30 leading companies across multiple sectors, including DSM. We are co-leading the circular metrics workstream of Factor10, convening 25 other global companies to develop a harmonized set of indicators for measuring circularity on a business or company level. In November, the 'CEO Guide to the Circular Bioeconomy' was published by WBCSD to call for the shift toward a sustainable, low-carbon, circular bioeconomy, and was signed by 16 companies including DSM.

Redefining Value is WBCSD's program supporting external disclosure and decision-making. Within this program, the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) Preparer Forum for Chemicals, a collaboration between WBCSD, DSM and four industry peers, published 'Climate-related financial disclosure by chemical companies: implementing the TCFD recommendations'. We ran a pilot within Dynamic Risk Assessment focusing on the food sector and participated in the Integrated Performance Management project. We also contributed to the ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) Disclosure Handbook.

We are also active within the WBCSD Climate Policy Working Group and the Climate & Energy Program.

Accounting for Sustainability (A4S)

Ms. Matchett continued her role as Co-Chair of the A4S CFO Leadership Network. This network brings together leading CFOs to help embed the management of environmental and societal issues into business processes and strategy, particularly through the finance function. Ms. Matchett is a signatory to the A4S CFO Statement of Support for the TCFD recommendations and the A4S CFO Net Zero Statement of Support.

In 2019, we participated in the various events and meetings throughout the year. We shared our perspectives on investor engagement through presentations at workshops and webinars, and on the TCFD recommendations during workshops in the UK and Brazil. In New York City (New York, USA), Ms. Matchett participated in a panel discussion on behalf of DSM at the US East Coast launch of the A4S CFO Leadership Network.

Dutch Sustainable Growth Coalition (DSGC)

The DSGC is a CEO-led coalition of eight Dutch multinational corporations which aims to drive sustainable growth business models that combine economic profitability with environmental and social progress and thus contribute to the achievement of the SDGs. To accelerate this transition in the Netherlands and abroad, the Coalition wants to lead the way and pursues a strategy of Scale – Share – Shape.

In 2019, the Coalition assessed new fields for collaboration such as internal change management and sustainable packaging. Moreover, together with other business leaders, they urged EU Heads of State to aim for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Climate & Energy initiatives

Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition (CPLC) and High Level Commission on Carbon Pricing and Competitiveness, convened by the World Bank

Represented by Mr. Sijbesma, who has served the World Bank Group as a Climate Leader since 2017, we continued to drive carbon pricing and share our experiences on the topic through the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition (CPLC). The CPLC's long-term objective is for effective carbon pricing to be applied throughout the global economy. In addition to facilitating leadership dialogues, the CPLC, together with partners, is also mobilizing business support to put an internal price on carbon. We apply an internal carbon price of €50 per ton CO₂eq when reviewing large investments and acquisitions, and we include this in internal management reporting by the business groups.

Mr. Sijbesma also co-chaired the High-Level Commission on Carbon Pricing and Competitiveness, convened by the World Bank Group. Launched at the 2018 World Bank High-Level Assembly, the Commission is composed of CEOs and senior executives from leading global companies, as well as former high-level government officials and representatives from academia. The Commission addresses competitiveness concerns that have the potential to inhibit the worldwide uptake of carbon pricing. The Commission convened at various high-level events throughout 2019, such as the Annual Meeting of WEF in Davos, with the flagship report published during the UNSG Climate Action Summit in New York City (New York, USA).

Global Commission on Adaptation (GCA)

Mr. Sijbesma serves as one of the commissioners on The Global Commission on Adaptation, managed by the Global Center on Adaptation and the World Resources Institute. The Commission was launched in October 2018 and is composed of over 30 Commissioners and 20 convening countries, bringing together leaders to drive action and find solutions to respond to the disruptive effects of climate change. A flagship report from the Commission was published in September. This report was part of the launch of the Year of Action that will focus on a series of work streams that can jumpstart the necessary adaptation actions across all sectors of society. We are partnering with GCA, particularly by lending our expertise in the food security and agriculture sectors, but also by mobilizing the private sector to adopt an integrated strategy to address climate adaptation alongside climate mitigation efforts.

RE100

Our engagement with RE100, the world's leading campaign to scale up the corporate sourcing of renewable power, continued throughout 2019. We participated in the learning opportunities, conferences and advocacy opportunities offered to us in Europe, the US and China. For more information on renewable energy, see 'Renewable energy' in 'Planet'.

We Mean Business

We Mean Business activates hundreds of companies and investors to commit to low-carbon initiatives. Our Vice President Sustainability sits in the Business Advisory Board. In 2019, we worked on several advocacy and communications activities that called for governments to match their ambition and policies to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and demonstrated the private sector's support for these efforts. We were one of the first companies to join the 'Business Ambition for 1.5°C: Our Only Future' campaign launched in 2019, committing to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 across our operations and value chains.

Global Environment Facility (GEF)

The GEF is an international co-financing mechanism that provides for global environmental projects catalyzing transformational change in key systems that are driving major environmental loss, in particular energy, cities and food. We are a member of the Private Sector Advisory Group of the GEF, advising the Secretariat on private sector engagement.

Resources & Circularity initiatives

Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy (PACE)

PACE is a public-private collaboration platform and project accelerator for the circular economy. With its broad membership, it aims to create systems change for the circular economy at speed and scale. The organization has initiated projects that focus on major material flows such as electronics, plastics, and food, and focuses on cross-cutting topics such as business models and metrics. In 2019, PACE expanded its leadership group and refined a three-year strategic action plan to focus their projects and activities. Feike Sijbesma represents DSM in the Global Leadership Group, which includes over 40 CEOs, Ministers and heads of international organizations.

Ellen MacArthur Foundation

CE100 is the Foundation's global innovation platform. It brings together companies, emerging innovators, universities and cities to accelerate the transition toward a circular economy. In 2019, representatives from DSM Additive Manufacturing and DSM Engineering Plastics attended the CE100 acceleration workshops in Europe, to share their businesses' circularity goals and solutions and engage with its members. At the Foundation's Annual Summit in May, DSM-NIAGA presented its journey to create 100% recyclable carpets and the use of blockchain to provide value chain information to customers in a trustworthy way. We were also part of the sounding board of the Foundation's circularity metrics work throughout the year.

Circle Economy

In 2019, we continued our membership of Circle Economy, a Dutch social enterprise that emphasizes practical and scalable solutions in the transition toward a circular economy. DSM Dyneema participated in Circle Economy's Circle Textiles Programme, which included workshops and matchmaking with circular brands in the textile industry. We also continued our participation in the Circle Built Environment Programme (with DSM Advanced Solar). Circle Economy supported our engagement program through an introductory seminar organized for employees in our materials cluster, and our attendance at the Circle Economy's Beyond Next festival in February. We were involved in the review of the next version of the Circularity Gap report, which focuses on nation states and is scheduled for publication in early 2020.

Nutrition & Health initiatives

UN World Food Programme (WFP)

In place since 2007, the DSM-WFP partnership 'Improving Nutrition, Improving Lives' aims to improve the nutritional value of the food that WFP distributes through product innovations such as fortified rice. Together, we make a difference to millions of people. The DSM-WFP partnership was extended for a further three years in 2018. The next phase of the partnership will place even greater emphasis on raising awareness for improved nutrition while continuing to develop new scientific and technical solutions — one of which is a major project to continue developing fortified rice, a crucial staple food in the developing world.

In 2018, WFP reached 35 million beneficiaries with food that had been improved by the DSM-WFP partnership. Additionally, we collaborate on training and development initiatives and on employee fundraising campaigns.

UNICEF

The DSM–UNICEF partnership has been in place since 2013. The partnership with UNICEF and Sight and Life supports the Government of Nigeria in realizing its vision of scaling up the micronutrient powder (MNP) program nationally, reaching people suffering from malnutrition. Together, we have directly impacted the lives of one million children in Nigeria by providing access to MNP.

In 2019, the partnership expanded to India as an additional focus country by supporting the UNICEF India nutrition program, engaging private-sector stakeholders as part of the government of India's Social Movement on Nutrition program. The cooperation in India focused on mobilizing the private sector around nutrition literacy, through the platform IMPAct4Nutrition, which was established in March.

Furthermore, the partnership is being expanded to address agri-food business development as one of the Global Breakthroughs identified by Generation Unlimited, a partnership that forms part of the United Nations Secretary General's Youth 2030 Strategy. The key objective of this expanded partnership is to embed a longer-term vision for sustainable food systems in Africa. The partners will develop a business plan to attract young people and prepare them to contribute to sustainable food systems in a way that creates nutrition and food business at scale.

World Vision International

Our partnership with World Vision and Sight and Life, titled 'Joining Forces for Last Mile Nutrition', aims to impact the well-being of people at risk of micronutrient deficiencies, improve livelihoods across the agri-food value chain, and influence key stakeholders. We leverage our scientific excellence, technical expertise and extensive customer base to facilitate the development and supply of innovative nutrition, formulation and food fortification.

In Rwanda, the partners further enabled the transformation of the local maize value chain, ensuring a more efficient supply chain, working with farmers and other stakeholders on improving the quality of, and access to, raw materials in Rwanda for Africa Improved Foods. The results of the first pilot were positive, and the next phase will focus on scale-up.

The project EGGciting in Indonesia focuses on eggs as an important source of nutrition. This initiative will increase the availability, accessibility, and consumption of eggs at the household level in Sulawesi (Indonesia) by working with farmers to address bottlenecks in the supply chain, improving the quality of feed and driving demand on the consumer side for improved nutrition. Furthermore, in Brazil, market research for a pilot project started in 2019. This pilot is projected to transform the distribution of micronutrient-enriched products in Brazil, by incubating last-mile nutrition entrepreneurs — those entrepreneurs whose businesses serve populations living in inaccessible areas.

Partners in Food Solutions

Partners in Food Solutions (PFS) works to increase the growth and competitiveness of food companies in Africa. These aims are achieved by inspiring business leaders and linking highly skilled corporate volunteers from a consortium of leading companies including DSM, Cargill, General Mills, Hershey, Bühler and Ardent Mills with promising entrepreneurs and other influencers in the food ecosystem. The six corporate partners have empowered hundreds of entrepreneurs to work toward stronger, more resilient food value chains across the African continent.

In 2019, DSM employees contributed over 1,300 volunteer hours, working with 43 African clients across ten countries. By sharing expertise, volunteers were able to assist local entrepreneurs in growing their businesses and supporting a supplier base of more than 78,000 farmers. Volunteer Shelagh Dwyer commented, "What began as a volunteer opportunity through my job evolved into a 'Purpose Ambassador' role at DSM. My PFS volunteer experience reconnected me through DSM to my vocation of creating conversation around wellness and well-being through nutrition, and SDG2 of Zero Hunger."

Scaling Up Nutrition

The SUN Business Network (SBN) — co-hosted by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) and WFP — is the private-sector branch of the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement. It aims to support businesses in growing the role they play in nutrition and to support SUN countries in developing national business engagement strategies. The SBN is established in 14 countries, with 27 emerging country networks. These include more than 400 companies, mostly small and medium-sized enterprises. The global membership platform currently has 23 members, who have a combined workforce of 1.1 million employees. Mr. Sijbesma is a member of the Lead Group of the SUN Movement and Co-Chair of the Advisory Group of the Network. Our Vice President Malnutrition Partnerships & Programs is on the Operations Committee of the SBN.

Via the Network, we supported a number of SBN projects focusing on Sub-Saharan Africa. Together with the SBN global team, we built on the impact and energy of the first ever Nutrition Africa Investor Forum (NAIF), which reframed the dialogue around nutrition. As an SBN global member, we are supporting the implementation of SBN principles, notably around workforce nutrition commitments; overweight, obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases; and the delivery of technical assistance to national SBNs and their members. We advocate for business to take a leading role in these important issues.

Africa Improved Foods

Africa Improved Foods (AIF) is a joint venture between the Government of Rwanda and a consortium of Royal DSM, the Dutch Development Bank (FMO), DFID Impact Acceleration Facility managed by CDC Group plc (CDC), and International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group. AIF produces fortified foods made mainly from maize and soybean sourced from over 35,000 Rwandan farmers. These foods help meet the nutritional needs of vulnerable population groups such as pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, older infants and young children. AIF's Kigali factory also provides 300 skilled workers with well-paid jobs. In addition, the regional procurement of goods and services (such as transport) has led to indirect economic development across East Africa.

AIF is the first and only certified producer of Super Cereal Plus in Africa, and more than 70% of the price paid for this product flows back into the regional economy. A study executed by the University of Chicago estimated that the AIF intervention is expected to contribute almost USD 760 million to the Rwandan economy over a 15-year period. Another estimated USD 142 million will be contributed to the East African economy through regional purchases.

In 2019, AIF concluded its third year of business. During the year, AIF scaled up production and introduced nine new business-to-business and business-to-consumer products. Heightened demand and prices for Super Cereal Plus from existing customers, together with the acquisition of new institutional customers and entry into the Kenyan consumer market, contributed to an estimated 20% increase in sales compared to 2018. On the sourcing side, AIF and its partners scaled up direct farmer purchases. AIF CEO Amar Ali was recognized as intrapreneur of the year by the Schwab Foundation at WEF, and AIF won the Sustainable Community Initiative of the Year award at the Africa Foodex Awards.

MANDI

In 2019, we continued to expand MANDI (Making A Nutrition Difference to India), a socio-commercial consumer products business model delivering local nutritious products that are affordable and aspirational. The range of home fortification products branded as Nu-Shakti^TM include solutions for staples such as rice and flour, as well as fortified beverage powder. The business also aims to facilitate community awareness and education to help tackle the issue of malnutrition in India. In 2019, we started distributing through trade partners in modern and traditional retail channels in Tamil Nadu (India).

Sight and Life

The Sight and Life Foundation pioneers science-based innovation with the aim of eliminating all forms of malnutrition in children and women of childbearing age and improving the lives of the world's most vulnerable populations. With the continued support of DSM, the Foundation delivers value in the nutrition community by accelerating the translation of science into effective nutrition programming, building public-private partnerships and developing viable social business models for nutritious foods.

The Foundation is engaged in many initiatives, such as OBAASIMA, which aims to create demand for nutritious food in Ghana; the use of its Nutrition Kiosk to engage companies in support of the Government of India's 'Nutrition Mission' through a public-private platform, IMPAct4Nutrition, together with UNICEF; and the EGGciting project, which is about making eggs available and affordable to low-income households through new poultry-farming business models.

Creating new knowledge and thought leadership on key public health topics, such as multiple micronutrient supplementation (MMS), is an essential part of Sight and Life's work. In July 2019, the Foundation launched an insightful edition of Sight and Life Magazine on data in nutrition, which brings new voices to the discourse, including thought leaders and influential practitioners. For more information, visit: https://sightandlife.org

Initiatives complementing the focus domains

Catalyst

We continued to be a Global Supporter of Catalyst — the NGO accelerating women's progress in the workplace. Mr. Sijbesma continued his role on the Board of Directors and Ms. Matchett her role on the European Advisory Board.

In 2019, we participated in a number of Catalyst events, including two Roundtable conversations in the Netherlands, a Men Advocating Real Change (MARC) inclusion program, and the Catalyst Awards dinner in the US. We committed to sponsor a new Catalyst work program on The Future of Work for women, with a focus on the impact of technology and artificial intelligence on women's experience of work. We were involved in shaping the content of this project and participated in the inaugural Symposium. Catalyst profiled our campaign on Women in Science and Technology.

One Young World (OYW)

The One Young World Summit gathers 2,000 young leaders from more than 190 countries and all sectors, empowering them to make lasting connections to generate positive change for sustainable development. In 2019, we participated for the ninth time, with Mr. Sijbesma, who is also an OYW Global Advisory Board member, delivering a keynote speech on the need for leadership to adapt to change. Our delegation consisted of 12 young talents representing all our businesses and regions, and six recipients of the DSM Brighter Living Scholarship. The recipients were social entrepreneurs from Africa and Asia with links to our strategic focus domains, specifically in malnutrition and design for circularity. They were chosen with the aim of exploring possible business collaborations between DSM and their businesses. After the summit, the delegates were tasked with driving purpose-led initiatives inside and outside the organization.

External recognitions

We are proud when our efforts receive positive recognition from others. Below is a selection of some awards and recognitions that we received from NGOs and trade organizations, customers, suppliers and academia in 2019. A full list of our recognitions can be found on the company website.

In June, we were awarded the Best UN Sustainable Development Goals Award at the Sustainable Business Awards Singapore 2019. The award recognizes the alignment between our business strategy and objectives with the SDGs, driving societal impact and delivering on business goals.

In August, DSM Brazil was named for the ninth consecutive year in the Great Place to Work® list in Brazil. In the Brazilian agribusiness sector, it was ranked fourth overall.

In October, DSM was listed in the Forbes Global 2000: The World's Best Employers.

In October, Helen Mets, President DSM Resins & Functional Materials, won the 2019 World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) Leading Women Award in the Excellence category for her sustained and outstanding contribution to advancing sustainability in DSM.

In November, Mr. Sijbesma was listed number 42 on the Harvard Business Review The Best-Performing CEOs in the World, 2019.

In November, DSM was listed in the inaugural Financial Times Diversity Leaders, a ranking on companies in 10 European countries on a diverse and inclusive workplace.

In December, DSM was ranked in Fast Company's '2019 The Most Innovative Companies in China 50' and our DSM China President was profiled in their December publication. Fast Company highlighted our sustainable innovations in Health, Nutrition and Sustainable Living in their ranking.

ESG Ratings and Benchmarks

Sustainability is at the heart of our business. It is our core value: we see it as a key responsibility and an important business driver. This is reflected by our inclusion in several Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) Benchmarks and Ratings (see table below), many of which rate us a (sector) leader.

It is impossible for any company to actively participate in every ESG benchmark, so we annually review and prioritize these.

We base this on the following criteria:

• Recognition and use by our stakeholders, including our investors

• Transparency of methodology

• Primary reliance on publicly accessible information

• Avoidance of additional administrative work

• Provision of sufficient feedback to participating companies to enable them to make meaningful year-on-year improvements

Our priorities in 2019, and the outcomes, are listed below

	We maintained the lowest risk rating (1 out of 10) from ISS QualityScore. In December, ISS ESG classified DSM as 'Prime' according to its rating methodology. Our rating of B- puts us in the top decile relative to our industry group. ­
	In the April update by MSCI, we were informed that DSM had been upgraded to AAA. This change was effective as of the end of 2018. Our continued strength in the areas of carbon emissions and corporate governance, along with a lowering of our risk profile, were key contributors to this upgrade. ­
	In October, we were again listed in the Vigeo Eiris Benelux, Europe, Eurozone and World indices and were reconfirmed as a constituent of the Ethibel Sustainability Index (ESI) Excellence Europe and the Ethibel Sustainability Index (ESI) Excellence Global.
	In December, we were once again confirmed as a constituent of the FTSE4Good Index. We have been listed on this index since 2004.
	In January 2020, we were assessed by Sustainalytics as being at low risk of experiencing material financial impacts from ESG factors, ranking 1 out of 120 companies in the specialty chemicals industry.
	In January 2020, for our climate strategy, and water governance and strategy in 2019, we were assessed as A- and B respectively by CDP.
	EcoVadis awarded our company a Gold CSR Rating in November 2018. At the time of publication of this Report, we are in the process of being reassessed by EcoVadis.