Stakeholders

Our purpose can only be realized by working with our stakeholders¹. 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.

Our stakeholders

Employees

Our people are our most important asset, and our employees represent 120 nationalities¹, working at more than 200 sites and offices in almost 50 countries worldwide. The safety, health and well-being of our people is our highest priority and we aspire to provide an incident- and injury-free working environment for everyone, including our contractors. We continued to deliver on our People & Organization (P&O) strategy, while developing a new expression of our culture and preparing our new P&O strategy. 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 Nutrition, Materials and Innovation. 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 39,000 suppliers. Our suppliers are important partners for achieving our purpose, and we work closely with them through our Sustainable Procurement Program, comprised of our supplier development and evaluation program, our scope 2 program and our scope 3 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.

“We continue our support of the UN Global Compact, and remain committed to reporting our progress within this framework via this Report.”Geraldine Matchett and Dimitri de Vreeze

¹ All data presented in Stakeholders are subject to the non-financial reporting policy.