Oslo, 27 May 2019

To our stakeholders:

I am pleased to confirm that Aker BioMarine reaffirms its support of the Ten Principles of the United Nations Global Compact in the areas of Human Rights, Labour, Environment and Anti-Corruption.

In this annual Communication on Progress, we describe our actions to continually improve the integration of the Global Compact and its principles into our business strategy, culture and daily operations. We also commit to share this information and our continuous work towards tangible impact on the Sustainable Development Goals towards our stakeholders and the broader public.

Sincerely yours,

Matts Johansen
Chief Executive Officer

People policy: Trust and freedom, we believe people fundamentally want to do a good job. Don’t need control mechanisms to track that people are doing their job, manager follow-up if a problem.

Goals: measure in feedback tool for instance “this workplace is psychologically safe/physically safe”, “at work, my opinion seems to count” and “I feel valued at work”.

Whistleblower channel established.

Establishing worker’s council in our Houston plant (and in Norway).

Upgrade of crew cabins and social area on board our oldest fishing vessel.

Absenteeism is low, globally about 1,5%

Gender diversity: 30% women in plant in Houston and 50% women in leadership positions

32 nationalities on 380 employees

Leadership team: 4 of 9 are women

We aim to apply Norwegian labour rights and values globally, harmonized with local practice. One example of this is that we practice 2-4 weeks of termination notice to employees as compared to general US employment practice which is zero.

Member of the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO), and adhere to the “The Basic Agreement" - an agreement between the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO) including all its national and local associations and individual enterprises, and the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) including all its unions and associations (divisions).

As for Human Rights section;

Whistleblower channel established.

Establishing worker’s council in our Houston plant (and in Norway).

Upgrade of crew cabins and social area on board our oldest fishing vessel.

As for Human Rights section;

Absenteeism is low, globally about 1,5%

Gender diversity: 30% women in plant in Houston and 50% women in leadership positions

32 nationalities on 380 employees

Leadership team: 4 of 9 are women

Sustainability and in particular the enviromental aspect of sustainability has been a key strategic priority since the outset of our operations. We harvest krill (low in the value chain) in the pristine Antarctic ocean, so a sustainability focus far beyond basic compliance (hereunder active NGO dialogue) has been a guiding principle since the outset.

Improving Human and Planetary Health is the purpose of Aker BioMarine. We systematically work to ensure tangible improvements throughout our own value chain (that we own and control ourselves) towards the following Sustainable Development Goals:
SDG2 Zero Hunger
SDG3 Good Health and Well-Being
SDG12 Responsible Consumption and Production
SDG14 Life Below Water

An example from the current period is Aker BioMarine pioneering the negotiation and implementation of Voluntary Restrictive Zones / Penguin Buffer-Zones:
Nearly all krill fishing companies operating in the Antarctic announced they would voluntarily stop fishing in areas around the Antarctic Peninsula, including ‘buffer zones’ around the breeding colonies of penguins, in order to protect Antarctic wildlife. The companies also pledged to support scientific and political efforts to create a network of large-scale marine protected areas in the Antarctic, including areas in which they currently operate. During the current season Aker BioMarine has suffered significant commercial implications as a direct consequence of maintaining our commitment to the zones.

On maritime environmental footprint, we built a new vessel in the period, with significant improvements in emissions: Aker BioMarine has commissioned the first krill harvesting vessel built from scratch, Antarctic Endurance for NOK 1,1 billion (USD 140 million). The vessel was built at the Norwegian shipyard VARD, involving 900 people from 40 Norwegian companies. Antarctic Endurance uses environmental technology to help reduce the footprint of our operations. The vessel began operations from the beginning of the 2019 harvesting season.

The Voluntary Restrictive Zones are reported on and reviewed in systematic dialogue with the parties involved, hereunder Greenpeace.

We report every 3 years on company CO2-emissions, including indirect emissions through transport of our product towards customer. For the upcoming period we aim to develop more detailed KPIs on emission and automate our CO2-reporting.

Aker BioMarine has a fully integrated value chain which gives us good control over products and services delivered from beginning to end and low exposure to compliance risks.

Externally, we have drafted and made public our Code of Conduct, in which we have a zero tolerance policy towards corruption, bribery and extortion. In addition, we make our suppliers commit to our Supplier Declaration in which they commit to international conventions and regulations within anti-bribery, corruption and to ensure sure and proper working conditions.

Internally, we have policies on inter alia Gifts and Hospitality, Whistleblowing, Screening of business partners and a good track record within compliance.

Whistleblowing mechanism for grievances.

Gift register for all gifts received through business.

All new employees are onboarded within inter alia Code of Coduct anti-corruption.

Responsibility is delegated to line, Chief Compliance Officer handles policies, case handling etc, Board of Directors ultimately responsible with frequent reporting.

Our limited exposure to corruption from customer and/or supplier side has resulted in severance of all ties.

Since last reporting period, we have implemented new screening and monitoring tool for surveillance of business partners.

Increased internal controls on anti-corruption.