Sustainability Report: Symrise Progressing on Environmental Care, Efficiency and Safety

Water consumption dropped 31 percent relative to sales volumes since 2007, relative energy consumption also decreased by 23 percent, while relative carbon dioxide emissions were reduced by 23 percent and the number of accidents on the job declined by 46 percent.

16 May 2012 --- Symrise is publishing its latest sustainability report with a new look and new structure. The report, entitled Sustainable Solutions, underscores the company’s sustainability strategy with facts and figures, background reports and interesting articles. With this report, Symrise is inviting stakeholder groups to join the discussion on sustainability issues.

Acting sustainably means assuming responsibility and considering the future today. Global megatrends such as world population growth and the increasing scarcity of resources present both companies and society with numerous challenges, such as ensuring health and food supplies. But these trends also offer great opportunities. That’s why Symrise AG’s 2011 annual report and sustainability report both put a strong focus on global needs and sustainable solutions. The company wants to offer its customers solutions to the urgent issues of our time with its innovative new products and technologies.

“Delivering sustainable added value is a focal point of our entrepreneurial activity. This means, specifically, that we aim to offer our stakeholders added value along the entire value chain and at the same time open up attractive growth potentials for our company. To do so we collaborate closely with customers, employees, suppliers and partners and make their requirements our own,” explains Dr. Heinz-Jürgen Bertram, CEO of Symrise AG, about the company’s sustainability strategy.

Now in its sixth edition, Symrise’s sustainability report documents the development of the company’s sustainability strategy in 2011. A comprehensive performance section contains specific data and interesting articles on activities along the value chain. Key figures show how much progress Symrise made in 2011. Progress was seen in various areas, such as environmental care, efficiency and safety. Water consumption dropped 31 percent relative to sales volumes since 2007, relative energy consumption also decreased by 23 percent, while relative carbon dioxide emissions were reduced by 23 percent and the number of accidents on the job declined by 46 percent.

Four stories detail how Symrise is providing added value for its stakeholders in the areas of “Securing Success”, “Caring for Nature”, “Respecting People” and “Serving Society”. One of these stories offers exclusive insight into the company’s commitment in Madagascar. Symrise obtains its high-quality bourbon vanilla there and works in direct cooperation with many thousand vanilla farmers. Unique among its peers, the company is completely integrated into the Madagascan economy and assumes responsibility for local societal and ecological issues. This commitment helps everyone along the entire value chain: the farmers and their families, Symrise’s customers and their consumers as well as the company itself.

Symrise aims to continually improve the quality and transparency of its reporting. That’s why the company is publishing this report at the highest application level (level A) of the G3 guidelines of the international Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). A PDF version of the sustainability report “Sustainable Solutions” can be downloaded at www.symrise.com/en/sustainability