PR97708

GENEVA, Sept. 12, 2022, /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/--

Audited ESG Report 2022 shows accelerated progress toward industry-leading

targets for 2025

Firmenich, the world's largest privately-owned fragrance and taste company,

today releases its annual Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report,

tracking progress toward the group's groundbreaking sustainability targets.

Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 was marked by strong sustainability performance across

the Group's three key pillars, climate, nature, and people, backed by growing,

best-in-class independent evaluation and reinforced ESG governance.

"I am proud that we continued to accelerate our industry-leading ESG actions

despite the challenging economic climate and kept making measurable progress

toward our 2025 targets, even exceeding them for renewable ingredients and

Living Wage," said Gilbert Ghostine, CEO Firmenich. "Our Firmenich Inclusive

Capitalism business model is gaining more traction and proving more and more

relevant in today's world. Every year, new climate extremes are having a

growing impact across the globe: Firmenich's bold environmental ambition is a

vital business investment today and for the future."

"Firmenich ESG strategy keeps progressing across our own operations and along

our supply chain," said Thomas Andro, Senior Director, Corporate

Sustainability. "Furthermore, consumer demand for sustainable products is a

structural growth trend in our industry and Firmenich's outstanding ESG

credentials, combined with our leadership and innovation in natural and

renewable ingredients, are becoming even more relevant for our customers as

they progress with their own sustainability roadmaps."

FY2022 ESG Performance Highlights

Acting on Climate Change: Firmenich was one of only two companies to receive a

fourth consecutive CDP Triple A rating for climate, water, and forests. Three

manufacturing sites, in Norway, Singapore and South Africa, were carbon neutral

in FY22, all operating without the use of offsets. Firmenich maintained

decoupling of growth in manufacturing output from its CO2 emissions: in FY22,

Scope 1 and 2 emissions were reduced by 36.1% vs. 2017, and the new ingredients

sites reduced Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 12.2% vs. 2020. The Group maintained

100% Renewable Electricity in its operations including in new acquisitions[1].

Firmenich aims to reach carbon neutrality in its direct operations by 2025,

absolute carbon emissions reduction by 2030 in line with limiting temperature

rise to 1.5˚C, as well as net-zero emissions by 2039 across its direct

operations and value chain (Scopes 1, 2, and 3). Its net-zero targets were

validated by the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) in August 2022, making

Firmenich the first company in its industry to receive SBTi approval.

Embracing Nature: Building on UEBT validation of the Group's biodiversity

strategy, work began on restoration at 15% of Firmenich sites with biodiversity

risk, in line with Science-Based Targets for Nature. Implementation of 100%

verified Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) was increased. Firmenich continued to

expand the proportion of ultimately or partially biodegradable ingredients in

its fragrances to 96.6% on average, having surpassed its 95% target a year

earlier. Firmenich reinforced green proteins in product development, enabling

customers to accelerate the plant-based food revolution and contribute to

climate change mitigation.

Caring about People: Building on gender pay equity and its work to strengthen

inclusion, Firmenich achieved Living Wage certification by Fairwage Network in

2022 ahead of the Group's 2025 target, a key step to ensure decent living

standards for all employees and their families. The Group advanced its high

global health and safety standards with an improved 0.26 Total Recordable Case

(TRC) rate, and a third consecutive Gold Award from the Royal Society for the

Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA). Firmenich continued to maintain zero human

rights non-compliance and scaled up its effort to drive concerted business

action by becoming United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) Impact Sponsor for

Labor and Decent Work.

Overall, Firmenich achieved an upgraded rating from Sustainalytics with a score

of 7.5, in the global top 50 of approximately 15,000 companies, that highlights

the Group's low ESG risk profile. A second consecutive Platinum rating by

Ecovadis with an industry-leading score of 88% placed Firmenich in the top 1%

of all companies assessed worldwide. The Group was also rated for the first

time as one of the "2022 World's Most Ethical Companies" by Ethisphere®, a

global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business

practices.

Firmenich continued to work actively in alliances and partnerships, including

the UN Global Compact, the Union for Ethical Biotrade (UEBT), One Planet

Business for Biodiversity (OP2B), and the Science-Based Targets initiative

(SBTi), to drive positive change at scale and foster effective action on

climate, nature, and people in the business community.

More detailed information on Firmenich's ESG journey is available online in the

ESG Report 2022.

The attached visuals from pp 9-10 of the report provide a snapshot of ESG

performance highlights and progress against targets in the climate, nature and

people pillars.

Disclosure

The Firmenich ESG Report 2022 is aligned with the OECD Guidelines for

Multinational Enterprises, the SASB Materiality Map®, and is prepared in

accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative's (GRI) standards. The ESG

Report's contents also provide an update on the Group's progress with the

implementation of the ten princi­ples of the UN Global Compact, the Sustainable

Development Goals (SDGs), as well as B Corp certification. The document has

been independently audited, receiving a reasonable level of assurance.

About Firmenich

Firmenich, the world's largest privately-owned fragrance and taste company, was

founded in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1895, and has been family-owned for 127

years. Firmenich is a leading business-to-business company specialized in the

research, creation, manufacture and sale of perfumes, flavors, and ingredients.

Renowned for its world-class research and creativity, as well as its leadership

in sustainability, Firmenich offers its customers superior innovation in

formulation, a broad and high-quality palette of ingredients, and proprietary

technologies including biotechnology, encapsulation, olfactory science, and

taste modulation. Firmenich had an annual turnover of 4.7 billion Swiss Francs

at end June 2022. More information about Firmenich is available at

www.firmenich.com.

[1] Firmenich moved to majority ownership of ArtSci in May 2022. This entity is

not included in the scope of the report and will be integrated gradually in the

Group's ESG framework in FY2023.

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SOURCE: Firmenich