BIOGAIA SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2021 21 A healthy business Environmental impact of operations (GRI 3-3) Materiality and risks Climate change is one of the defining issues of our times and during summer 2021 a worrying report was published by the IPCC that further underlined the need to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions to enable a more secure future. BioGaia is aware that the operations carried out give rise to emissions and other consequences in the form of environmental degradation. From this basis, the company strives to reduce all forms of potential and actual negative environmental impacts throughout the value chain and contribute to the sustainable shift necessary for the long-term viability of society. In addition to any brand and regulatory risks that may arise if the company fails to move quickly enough, increased physical risks also arise due to higher emissions. These may affect BioGaia’s own facilities, supply chains and consumers, and also have an indirect impact on BioGaia’s ability to operate. How work is conducted BioGaia’s Code of Conduct includes the principle of considering environmental impact in all decisions. This could include the choice of suppliers and rawmaterials. BioGaia also makes annual calculations of the company’s greenhouse gas emissions (page 23), which improve the understanding of the origins of the most substantial climate impact from operations and helps BioGaia to prioritise improvement measures. In 2021, an updated and deeper life-cycle assessment was conducted that has provided a more comprehensive under- standing of the climate impact of blister packaging and plastic bottles. This is described in the Material and raw material management section (page 16). The results are used as a basis for any measures and strategic decisions on the choice of packaging. The assessment also includes data on other environmental impacts such as acidification and eutrophication, which mean BioGaia can consider additional impacts in work moving forward. The life-cycle assessment is used as the basis for the strategy that was prepared during the year to reduce the future environmental impact from products and packaging. It also provided further accuracy in the calculation of the environmental impact of products. In 2021, the measurement methods for greenhouse gas emissions and their categorisation were refined and improved. 1,901 (1,702) tonnes of CO2 equivalents include items that are comparable with the previous year, where the increase is due to updated calculation methods for packaging, the use of more precise data for company cars and increased sales of products with higher emissions. Company reporting of emissions from business travel has been improved with more timely access to data from travel providers, and has fallen since the previous year. This year, an estimate was also prepared for outbound transportation, which was shown to make a significant contribution to BioGaia’s climate impact, a full 4,764 tonnes CO2e. The calculations were based on a number of assumptions and will therefore be developed further during 2022. Given that the type of transportation is decided by customers, BioGaia has relatively little control over these emissions. However, in the future BioGaia will strive to influence customers to choose more low emission transportation. For more details about emission categories included and estimation methods, see page 23. BioGaia has purchased climate offsets for the company’s emissions since 2013. For more information about the climate offset project, see section Community engagement on page 38. Since 2020, BioGaia AB has also purchased renewable electricity for the company’s own offices and production facilities. To ensure that all electricity used in operations is sustainable, BioGaia also purchased separate certificates for sustainable electricity in 2021, equivalent to electricity consumption of operations in Japan as it was difficult to purchase renewable energy directly from electricity suppliers there. Progress and priorities going forward BioGaia has chosen to focus efforts moving forward to areas where the company has the greatest potential to reduce its emissions and thereby make the biggest difference. These areas include: Ingredients, focusing on the phase-out of palm oil Packaging and work to create more sustainable packaging solutions Business travel, which has historically accounted for a large share of BioGaia’s emissions Supply chain’s environmental impact and methodology of calculation Work to phase our palm oil has been given the highest priority as the use of palm oil accounts for a significant share of BioGaia’s carbon footprint and has a negative impact on biodiversity. The phase-out of palm oil from the products is estimated to result in a total reduction of more than 150 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year, based on sales figures Chemicals management BioGaia’s manufacturing operations require a number of chemicals and it is essential that these are correctly managed in operations. Accordingly, careful risk analyses are conducted from a quality, environment and work environment perspective before new chemicals are added by BioGaia Production and work is continuously ongoing to identify alternatives to the chemicals considered most hazardous. All employees receive detailed information about how the chemicals are to be managed in the best possible manner and are provided with personal protective equipment whenever necessary. CONTENTS
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