Annual Report 2023

Annual Report 2023RESPONSIBLE PROCUREMENT A strong and responsible supply chain is crucial for our ability to keep up production, ensure a stable supply of goods to our customers and protect our reputation. Therefore, we focus on responsible supplier management in all our procurement activities. SUPPLIER CODE OF CONDUCT We work with a broad portfolio of suppliers from around the world. Our Supplier Code of Conduct (SCoC) plays a key role in this work, and in 2023 we focused on encouraging more strategically important and business-critical suppliers to sign and comply with our SCoC. That work will continue in 2024. Key to ensuring that more of our suppliers sign our SCoC is our ongoing dialogue with them. Our dialogue is intended to ensure that the suppliers understand the principles of our SCoC, and that they then accept and sign it. The process also involves ongoing follow-up, and through dialogue with suppliers, we ensure a real anchoring of and compliance with the SCoC. We have also continued our efforts to audit our large and important suppliers. In Germany, new legislation on supply chain due diligence entered into force. To ensure compliance with the new rules, we implemented a new IT system in our German business. The European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) is a new EU law that came into force on 30 June 2023. The aim of the law is to preserve forests and ecosystems that play a vital role in water retention and soil and air purification. In order to be ready for the law to enter into force, we have launched preparatory work. RESPONSIBLE PROCUREMENT OF SOY In terms of tonnage, soybean meal is our single biggest raw material import. Every year, the group procures 1.1 million tonnes of soybean meal, of which approx. 900,000 tonnes are imported to Denmark. Although the amount of soy we import accounts for only a small proportion of world soy production, we want – together with Danish and European players – to set a clear direction for Europe’s trade in verified deforestation-free soybean meal. In 2021, we published an action plan for the responsible procurement of soy. It describes our goals for the procurement of soybean meal, as well as the measures we are taking to get there. The action plan is available on our website, dlg.dk/en. It is our goal that, by 2025, all the soy we import must be responsibly produced and verified deforestation-free in line with the European Compound Feed Manufacturers’ Federation’s (FEFAC) Soy Sourcing Guidelines. In collaboration with our partners and suppliers, we are working on concepts that increase transparency in the 52 DLG ANNUAL REPORT 2023Side 51Side 53