6 BIOGAIA SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2021 Sustainability work that is constantly in progress BioGaia’s business, the foundation of how we create value, is based on contributing to better health. Even if we focus on the health of individuals through our products, the concept of “health” has a broader meaning to us. We want our operations to make a positive contribution to society as a whole. This is why we take responsibility to reduce our climate and environmental impact and to ensure responsible conduct throughout the value chain, at the same time as we continue our commitment to societal initiatives that promote improved health. Just like 2020, the pandemic continued to impact the world this year and health represented a key issue. It is easy to think of health as the absence of sickness, but health is a broad concept that encompasses physical, mental and social well-being, parameters that interact with each other. Research is being conducted, for example, to study the link between human gut health, our intestinal flora, and mental illness, something that could play an important role in improving both mental and physical well-being, and make a difference to both individuals and society. This is a field that we look forward to following going forward. During the year, BioGaia has taken part in international discussions about antimicrobial resistance and, as part of SwedenBIO, campaigned to spotlight the problem of resistant bacteria, viruses, yeasts and parasites. We have continued to pursue our strong community engagement by supporting a number of organisations that work with health-promoting activities, particularly the Foundation to Prevent Antibiotic Resistance (PAR), which focuses specifically on antibiotic resistance. Global system changes and collaboration are needed to improve health worldwide, and we want to use our influence, our products and the research we conduct to accelerate change to work preventively to avert ill heath. In parallel with the continued progress of the pandemic, the IPCC published a new and disturbing report in the summer of 2021 on the status of our planet’s health. We can also see in a number of places that red warnings have been raised in relation to biodiversity. These are global challenges that BioGaia takes very seriously and that also have a serious impact on human well-being. Our own day-to-day work to reduce the operation’s environmental footprint has continued. For example, we have stepped up efforts to reduce emissions from our packaging and to phase out palm oil, to benefit both the climate and biodiversity. During the year, we could more clearly see the social and psychological consequences of the restrictions imposed on society. This has given us, like many others, changed circumstances to work and create a grounded and healthy corporate culture. To increase the sense of belonging, we have used flexible models for distance working compared with time spent at the office, and also continued to implement initiatives to encourage everyday exercise. Moreover, we have placed extra emphasis on improved leadership through training and developed our on-boarding process for new employees. These initiatives have helped us nurture our corporate culture in an uncertain world when many people were forced to work from home. In 2021, our rating on the MSCI ESG index increased to an A and BioGaia has continued to be included on Allbright’s green list, a ranking that rewards gender equality in a company. These are awards we are very proud of, but that only show the tip of the iceberg of the work that has taken place. The real work is below the surface, continuous and holistic sustainability work that is always ongoing. It includes improved communication and greater transparency but also concrete changes such as the introduction of a whistleblower system, Group-wide anti-corruption training, the implementation of a Code of Conduct and greater diversity in both management and on the Board. BioGaia is convinced that our efforts will become even more important in the future. A future when we shift focus from disease and temporary solutions to a more sustainable view of health through prevention. It is also with long-term sustainability in mind that we are planning to run our entire business. I look forward to sharing our progress with you. Isabelle Ducellier, CEO BioGaia MESSAGE FROM THE CEO CONTENTS
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