Sustain­ability Policy

1. Subject

SONAX GmbH is deeply committed to making an active contri­bu­tion to a more sustain­able society. The company fully recog­nizes the envi­ron­mental, social, and economic impacts of its actions and strives to shape them in a respon­sible and forward-thinking way.

The sustain­ability policy provides a binding frame­work to ensure that processes, prod­ucts, and deci­sions are aligned in a way that meets the needs of the current gener­a­tion without compro­mising the oppor­tu­ni­ties for future gener­a­tions. The sustain­ability prin­ci­ples reflect our clear commit­ment to sustain­ability and trans­par­ently commu­ni­cate our values, goals, and actions both inter­nally and exter­nally.

2. Scope

The sustain­ability guide­lines apply to:

• all employees of SONAX GmbH

• all loca­tions and facil­i­ties of SONAX GmbH

• all rela­tion­ships with busi­ness part­ners of SONAX GmbH

The sustain­ability guide­lines are directed at all internal and external stake­holders – employees, busi­ness part­ners, suppliers, customers, author­i­ties, society, acad­emia, as well as banks and insur­ance compa­nies, and external service providers or busi­ness part­ners working for SONAX GmbH.

3. Objec­tives of Sustain­ability Manage­ment

The long-term ambi­tions and overall objec­tives of sustain­ability manage­ment are:

• To make a posi­tive contri­bu­tion to the devel­op­ment of society

• To work with our part­ners to reduce the ecolog­ical foot­print along the value chain

• To comply with legal require­ments, promote inno­va­tion, and strengthen compet­i­tive­ness

4. Prin­ci­ples of Sustain­ability Manage­ment

The sustain­ability manage­ment system has been devel­oped in accor­dance with all rele­vant German and inter­na­tional sustain­ability stan­dards and regu­la­tions, specif­i­cally:

• The Paris Agree­ment on Climate Change and the United Nations Sustain­able Devel­op­ment Goals (SDGs)

• The Universal Decla­ra­tion of Human Rights

• The United Nations Guiding Prin­ci­ples on Busi­ness and Human Rights

• The United Nations Conven­tion on the Elim­i­na­tion of All Forms of Discrim­i­na­tion Against Women

• The Inter­na­tional Covenant on Civil and Polit­ical Rights, which reaf­firms our commit­ment to civil liber­ties and non-discrim­i­na­tion

• The funda­mental conven­tions of the Inter­na­tional Labour Orga­ni­za­tion (ILO)

• The Organ­i­sa­tion for Economic Co-oper­a­tion and Devel­op­ment (OECD) Guide­lines for Multi­na­tional Enter­prises

• The prin­ci­ples of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC)

The sustain­ability depart­ment and manage­ment are respon­sible for the imple­men­ta­tion of this policy.

5. Sustain­ability Manage­ment

Sustain­ability manage­ment encom­passes all topics iden­ti­fied through the double mate­ri­ality analysis. For each topic, the corre­sponding impacts, risks, and oppor­tu­ni­ties were deter­mined, and specific goals and measures were defined.

Product port­folio

SONAX actively manages the use of raw mate­rials with the aim of mini­mizing the ecolog­ical foot­print without compro­mising the perfor­mance of its prod­ucts. A SONAX raw mate­rial list cate­go­rizes all used mate­rials to meet both legal require­ments and volun­tary commit­ments.

Product Port­folio Goals:

• 100% elim­i­na­tion of microplas­tics in all ingre­di­ents by 2035

• Reduc­tion of "Cate­gory 1" formu­la­tions on the SONAX raw mate­rial list¹ by 50% by 2035

• Increase of the propor­tion of in-house manu­fac­tured formu­la­tions without raw mate­rials from "Cate­gories 1 and 2" of the SONAX raw mate­rial list¹ to over 80% by 2035

• 99% of all formu­la­tions are SVHC-free (≥ 0.1%) by 2035

• 100% of all prod­ucts are SVHC-free (≥ 0.1%) by 2035

• 100% of formu­la­tions are PFAS-free

Social respon­si­bility

SONAX promotes a corpo­rate culture based on respect, trust, and equal oppor­tu­nity, with a strong emphasis on diver­sity and inclu­sion to enable all employees to fully realize their poten­tial. Addi­tion­ally, safety and health protec­tion are of the utmost impor­tance to ensure a healthy and safe working envi­ron­ment.

Social Respon­si­bility Goals:

• Acci­dent rate per 1 million working hours < acci­dent rate per 1 million working hours BG RCI (SONAX / BG RCI ratio)

• Reduc­tion of the LTIR² metric to < 3.5 in the 5-year average (2031-2035)

• Striving for zero serious acci­dents

• Devel­op­ment of the occu­pa­tional safety culture

• Estab­lish­ment of systems and data base to set a quan­ti­ta­tive training goal within future strategic adjust­ments

• Main­tain gender ratio of all employees at 50% (+/- ​5%)

• Avoid any employee discrim­i­na­tion, striving for no inci­dents according to AGG reported by the internal complaint office

• Employee turnover < 7% in the 5-year average (2030-2035)

See also: Occu­pa­tional Safety and Health Policy
See also: Corpo­rate Respon­si­bility Code
See also: Corpo­rate Philos­ophy

Envi­ron­ment

SONAX is actively committed to mini­mizing the envi­ron­mental impact of its actions. The focus is on preventing and reducing waste­water and waste, as well as protecting against soil cont­a­m­i­na­tion, air pollu­tion, and noise gener­a­tion. At the same time, the company is dedi­cated to contin­u­ously reducing energy consump­tion and the asso­ci­ated CO₂ emis­sions in compli­ance with legal require­ments.

Envi­ron­mental Goals:

• Envi­ron­ment: Reduce waste­water volume (m³) per ton of product by 20% by 2035

• Envi­ron­ment: Ensure 80% recy­cla­bility of all pack­aging by 2035

• Envi­ron­ment: Inte­grate 65% recy­cled mate­rial in our plastic pack­aging by 2040

• Envi­ron­ment: Reduce waste volume (t) per ton of product by 10% by 2035

• Energy: Reduce CO₂ emis­sions by 35% per ton of product by 2035

• Energy: Tran­si­tion to 100% renew­able energy (“green elec­tricity”) for exter­nally sourced power by 2030

See also: Envi­ron­mental Policy
See also: Energy Policy

Supply chain

SONAX adopts a holistic approach to ensure trans­parency, secu­rity, and account­ability in the supply chain. The focus is on close collab­o­ra­tion with suppliers and a strong emphasis on sustain­able prac­tices throughout the entire value chain. Addi­tion­ally, SONAX employs proac­tive risk manage­ment to iden­tify and miti­gate poten­tial hazards in the supply chain early on. This includes regular aware­ness training for the work­force regarding gover­nance risks.

Supply Chain Goals:

• More than 95% of the rele­vant work­force is trained on iden­ti­fied gover­nance topics

• 100% of part­ner­ships and busi­ness prac­tices are based on a Code of Conduct

• Regular analysis and mini­miza­tion of sustain­ability risks in the supply chain

6. Decla­ra­tion of Commit­ment

Sustain­ablity Manage­ment is deeply embedded in the mindset and actions of SONAX GmbH and repre­sents a central element of the compa­ny's strategy and culture. Our sustain­ability-related success factors are based on the consis­tent align­ment of all processes with our sustain­ability prin­ci­ples, the active commit­ment of all stake­holders, and the promo­tion of a culture that supports inno­va­tion and contin­uous improve­ment.

These guide­lines are reviewed annu­ally by the sustain­ability depart­ment and the manage­ment board, updated as needed, and approved during the strategic review meeting.

¹Raw mate­rials in Cate­gories 1 and 2 of the SONAX raw mate­rial list are substi­tuted either due to legal require­ments or volun­tary corpo­rate poli­cies.

²LTIR: Number of acci­dents per total working hours in a year multi­plied by the stan­dard­iza­tion factor (200,000 working hours).

Leitheim, 15.07.2026