Two-plus decades, one goal: Sustainability

Materiality Assessment

The basis of Cabka’s ESG-strategy is a materiality assessment conducted in 2022 to determine which sustainability issues are most relevant to Cabka’s business operations and stakeholders. In this process, three perspectives were analyzed to ensure that focus remains on those areas that have the greatest impact:

• Significance of ESG topics on the enterprise value of Cabka

• Significance of impacts Cabka has on people and the environment

• Importance of different ESG topics to our stakeholders

This double materiality assessment was supported by PwC Netherlands, involving Cabka’s main stakeholder groups and led to the definition of eight material topics:

• 3 Strategic topics: Circular Economy, Occupational Health & Safety, Product Quality & Innovation

• 5 Foundational topics: Climate Change & Energy, Supplier Environmental Assessment, Business Ethics, ESG Management and Diversity & Inclusion.

Ambition Levels

As part of the ESG Framework project, base ambition levels were agreed upon with the full management team in June 2022. Cabka aims to enable breakthrough all over the supply chain, with continuous innovation of smart reusable solutions for transport packaging with a focus on quality in the product process and circularity as the core element.

Cabka’s Ambitions on core environmental topics:

• Lead the circular economy transition by continuously raising the bar around material use, manufacturing and move towards 100% recycled product input.

• Support the Paris Agreement by setting a near term Science Based Target and moving towards Net Zero for the entire value chain by 2050.

• Take responsibility for our environmental impacts beyond our direct operations through engagement with our suppliers on their environmental performance.

Cabka’s Social Ambitions:

• Ensure a diverse and inclusive workplace to help drive business growth through balanced decision making and ensure equal opportunities within Cabka

• Working towards Zero Harm and Zero Accidents by fostering a healthy and safe working environment, people engagement and integrating health and safety into our culture, with annual improvements on the related indicators

ESG Management Structure

The management of ESG is implemented in a hybrid (central and decentral) structure in the organization. Senior management in the company is directly involved in the aspects identified as material by the Group as a result of the materiality analysis. This is to ensure that ESG management fits our organization and delivers on our priorities.

Keeping Plastics in the Loop

Cabka is striving to be the circularity leader in the industry.

Waste reduction and reutilization while lowering environmental costs are at the core of our recycling facilities in Europe and the US. Over the years we have established true circularity models as we use clients’ waste as input for our production process. Having 30 years of experience in plastics recycling, Cabka is a valued partner for customers, whose corporate agendas are shifting towards circular business models.

In 2023, Cabka processed 140 kilotons of hard-to-recycle plastic waste and other recycled plastic to create new products, making up 89% of our total raw material intake. Over 60% of that waste was recycled in-house. Our products are not only focused on the recycled content, but also on durability, reusability, and recyclability. Advanced inhouse material engineering, tailored product design and advanced processing technology are the foundation that forms our leadership.

We have proven that profitability and sustainability can fit together: we recycle, create new products, and then recycle them again after they reach the end of their life. This way, we retain the highest utility and value of products, close the loop, reduce waste, conserve natural resources, cut greenhouse gas emissions and limit the plastic waste polluting our environment.

Our inhouse Life Cycle Analysis and Total Cost of Ownership Tools illustrate our efforts to continuously analyze economic and environmental impacts of our products. Over the past years we have worked with numerous customers with our specialized LifeCycle Analysis tool that calculates CO₂ emission, impact on human health, impact on ecosystem diversity, and impact on resource availability. Every product and use case are different, which is why we gather customized data on individual transport systems’ environmental impacts to be able to work with our partners on finding the best solution for meeting present and future sustainability goals.

Cabka's Certifications

CABKA ESG REPORT 2023

Cabka published its second ESG report as part of the 2023 Annual Report. Refer to chapter 03 ESG – Contributing to a better future of the report for full disclosure.

ESG related assessments

The Carbon Disclosure Program (CDP) is a non-profit organization that runs a global disclosure system for investors, companies, cities, and states to manage their environmental impact – it is best known for its disclosure system on climate impacts. Over 21,000 companies (representing 2/3 of global market capitalization) were scored by CDP in 2023. In its first assessment (2023), Cabka scored B on a scale from A to D-, with A being best practice. The B score reflects the importance Cabka gives to climate issues and proves that we are well on track with other European businesses on the topic. From an industry perspective, Cabka scores better that the plastic manufacturing sector on average. Cabka is amongst the 41% of “plastic product manufacturing” companies globally that reached the B score.

EcoVadis

EcoVadis (www.ecovadis.com) is a provider of business sustainability ratings and has created a global network of more than 90,000 rated companies to date. The EcoVadis sustainability assessment methodology is an evaluation of how well a company has integrated the principles of sustainability into their business and management system. The sustainability scorecard of EcoVadis illustrates performance across 21 indicators in four themes: environment, human rights, ethics, and sustainable procurement. In October 2022 Cabka has confirmed its SILVER status in the EcoVadis assessment and improved its score by two points to 58 points. With this improvement, Cabka remains among the TOP 25 percent of companies rated by EcoVadis. Among Manufacturers of plastics products, Cabka is in the top 18% of companies rated by EcoVadis. In December 2023 Cabka has achieved GOLD status in the EcoVadis assessment.

The Gold award demonstrates the significant progress which has been made in one year, moving Cabka from the top 25% to the top 6% of rated companies, placing it among the best in the industry.

Circulytics

Circulytics (https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/resources/circulytics/overview) is a free of charge self-assessment company-level measuring tool developed by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in collaboration with more than 30 companies and academic organizations. The mission of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation is to accelerate the transition to a circular economy. With this purpose, the foundation develops and promotes the idea of a circular economy by working with, and inspiring, businesses, academics, policymakers, and institutions to mobilize systems solutions at scale, globally. The insights gathered through Circulytics assessment empowers businesses to benefit from the transition to a circular economy. Having access to the right data can help a business find a competitive edge, reduce costs through waste elimination, and meet environmental ambitions. Circulytics accurately measures the readiness and overall performance with regards to the circular economy.

Cabka Group reached a B score in 2023, being the second highest possible score out of nine, reaching from E to A.

ISO Certifications

Cabka operates strictly following ISO-standards. ISO certification certifies that a management system, manufacturing process, service, or documentation procedure has all the requirements for standardization and quality assurance. ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is an independent, non-governmental, international organization that develops standards to ensure the quality, safety, and efficiency of products, services, and systems.

ISO-9001 - the international standard that specifies requirements for a quality management system. Cabka uses this standard to demonstrate the ability to consistently provide products and services that meet customer and regulatory requirements. All Cakba’s main production plants are in possession of this ISO- Standard.

ISO-50001 – an ISO standard which specifies requirements related to energy consumption and shows that an organization guards their energy consumption. For example Cabka’s plant in Weira automatically monitors its energy consumption and switches systems off for efficiency reasons. The standard looks at efficiency, but not at zero reduction. Cabka Weira is in possession of this ISO-standard. Cabka is investigating whether this specific standard should be applied to the other locations.

ISO-14001 – an ISO standard that specifies the requirements for an environmental management system that an organization can use to enhance its environmental performance. The norm helps an organization achieve the intended outcomes of its environmental management system, which provide value for the environment and the organization itself. The intended outcomes of an environmental management system include the enhancement of environmental performance, the fulfilment of compliance obligations and the achievement of environmental objectives. Cabka’s production site in Weira is ISO 14001 certified since 2022. Other production locations are also working towards this standard.

ISO-45001 – an ISO standard which specifies requirements for an occupational health and safety (OH&S) management system to enable organizations to provide safe and healthy workplaces by preventing work-related injury and ill health, as well as by proactively improving its OH&S performance by eliminating hazards and minimize OH&S risks (including system deficiencies), taking advantage of OH&S opportunities, and addressing OH&S management system nonconformities associated with its activities. The Cabka production site in Weira was ISO 45001 certified in 2022.