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General Disclosures

Organizational Profile

102-1 Name of the organization

Clariant AG

102-2 Activities, brands, products, and services

In addition to the information described in the Financial Report and on the Corporate Website, Clariant also deals with goods that are subject to different trade control regimes, such as chemical weapons conventions or the dual-use goods regulation. All of the respective national and international trade control provisions, as well as embargo regulations, are monitored by a global trade control network within the Clariant organization. With the help of IT systems, along with organizational controls, all deliveries are reviewed to ensure trade compliance. Thus, for example, controlled goods can only be delivered if the necessary permits are obtained from the relevant authorities in addition to end-user statements from the customer. Clariant ensures that all trade control requirements are fulfilled.

102-3 Location of headquarters

Rothausstrasse 61
4132 Muttenz
Switzerland

102-4 Location of operations

102-5 Ownership and legal form

Stock company listed at SIX Swiss Exchange

102-6 Markets served

102-7 Scale of the organization

102-8 Information on employees and other workers

PwC CH	2019		2020
	permanent	temporary	permanent	temporary
Employees by employment contract and gender (in FTEs)	16 650	572	12 763	472
male	13 084	413	9 846	368
female	3 566	160	2 917	104

	2019		2020
	full-time	part-time	full-time	part-time
Employees by employment type (in FTEs)	16 786	437	12 887	348
male	13 396	100	10 143	71
female	3 390	337	2 744	277

Clariant does not have knowledge of any substantial portion of its work being performed by workers who are not employees. Furthermore, there are no significant seasonal variations in Clariant’s employment numbers.

102-9 Supply chain

102-10 Significant changes to the organization and its supply chain

Read more: Financial Report, Disposals

102-11: Precautionary principle or approach

Clariant adopted the precautionary principle defined in 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro. According to the precautionary principle, remedial actions may only be postponed if no serious or lasting damages to the environment are looming. More detail can be found on the following website: www.precautionaryprinciple.eu.

Clariant has expanded the environmental considerations of the precautionary principle with social aspects. Further, Clariant continuously invests in safe products and efficient as well as environmentally compatible processes. Clariant also deploys measures to completely live up to its responsibilities toward employees, customers, shareholders, and other stakeholders.

102-12 External initiatives

Clariant supports a large number of externally developed initiatives. For example:

Clariant expressly supports the United Nations Global Compact and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), also known as the United Nations Human Rights Charter. The charter comprises general human rights principles that serve as a joint ideal for all people and nations to ensure that each individual and all bodies of the company constantly strive to promote respect for corresponding rights and freedoms through education and training. National and international measures must thereby guarantee the formal as well as the actual recognition of, and compliance with, human rights. This applies to Clariant too.

Clariant has signed the »Responsible Care® Global Charter« developed by the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA), which monitors compliance with this charter. The charter is a self-commitment by the chemical industry worldwide to pursue continual improvements in the fields of environmental protection, product responsibility, work safety, transportation safety, and dialogue.

Clariant is committed to the Global Product Strategy (GPS), which was developed in 2006 by the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) as part of its commitment to the United Nations Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM). This approach promotes the safe use of chemical products through the entire life cycle and enhances product stewardship throughout the value chain.

102-13 Membership in associations

Clariant is a member of numerous interest groups and trade associations at international (International Council of Chemical Associations [ICCA]), regional (Cefic), and national levels (business federations or national chemical industry associations, such as ABIQUIM in Brazil, CPCIF in China, Verband der Chemischen Industrie [VCI] in Germany, and the American Chemistry Council [ACC] in the USA).

Clariant is also active in sectoral associations at both a regional and national level, as in the bioeconomy sector (Leaders of Sustainable Biofuels, ePure, EuropaBio, Bio-Based Industries Consortium, BioDeutschland, etc.)

Clariant is proud to be a member and supporter of scientific and research organizations such as SUSCHEM, the European Technology Platform for Sustainable Chemistry, confirming its strong commitment to develop the next generation of sustainable chemistry solutions.

In 2020, Clariant’s top three contributions to policy memberships are:

German Association of the Chemical Industry (Verband der Chemischen Industrie e. V. [VCI])
Chamber of Commerce Basel (Handelskammer beider Basel)
Scienceindustries, the Swiss business association for the chemical, pharmaceutical, and biotech industries.

Strategy

102-14 Statement from senior decision-maker

102-15 Key impacts, risks, and opportunities

Ethics and Integrity

102-16 Values, principles, standards, and norms of behavior

As a leading specialty chemicals company, Clariant not only ensures adherence to legal regulations, but also commits itself to important global initiatives. All of Clariant’s actions comply with the principles laid down in the Responsible Care® Global Charter, the Global Product Strategy, the United Nations Global Compact, and the company’s internal Code of Conduct and Code of Conduct for Suppliers.

All employees receive the Code of Conduct when they are hired and must agree to it when signing their contract of employment. Relevant e-learning modules are mandatory for all employees. Participation in these training courses, which cover different topics or themes of the Code of Conduct, is registered, and employees not participating receive a warning. The Code is available in all relevant national languages.

102-17 Mechanisms for advice and concerns about ethics

With regard to seeking advice, compliance officers at both regional and local levels as well as at Group Headquarters are available to provide support on issues concerning ethically correct and legally compliant conduct of employees or business processes. In addition, employees as well as suppliers and other stakeholders have the opportunity to raise concerns or questions—anonymously as well—about ethical business conduct on the »Clariant Integrity Line« (an online portal introduced in 2014). The responsible compliance officer of the corresponding country then answers or forwards the concerns or questions to the competent colleague in the Compliance or Human Resources department or ESHA.

Complaints pertaining to violations of the Clariant Code of Conduct can be equally made via line managers, through Group Compliance (i.e., reported to the local or regional HR Department or compliance office, or directly to the Group compliance officer), or via the »Clariant Integrity Line.«

Governance

102-18 Governance structure

102-20 Executive-level responsibility for economic, environmental, and social topics

Clariant’s Executive Committee provides the guidelines and the corresponding control for sustainable management. The Head of Environmental Safety & Health Affairs, Head of Sustainability Strategy & Advocacy, as well as the Head of Product Stewardship report directly to a Member of the Executive Committee on sustainability matters and are in charge of implementing the sustainability strategy. The Executive Committee reports to the Board of Directors.

102-21 Consulting stakeholders on economic, environmental, and social topics

Clariant revised its materiality matrix in 2017 in a sophisticated, consultative process between stakeholders and Clariant on economic, environmental, and social topics, among others. Key stakeholders voiced their opinions regarding the topics on which Clariant should focus, and the results of the survey were analyzed and broken down into region- and function-specific perspectives. This allowed Business Unit and Regional Management Committees to follow up with their respective stakeholders.

Through the »Clariant Sustainability Dialogue,« Clariant can further engage with important stakeholders from customer industries, politics, NGOs, and the media in order to foster an open dialogue and future cooperation. Additionally, Clariant maintains a constant dialogue with NGOs, and sales representatives regularly meet with customers to discuss sustainability topics.

102-38 Annual total compensation ratio

102-39 Percentage increase in annual total compensation ratio

Clariant’s compensation philosophy is aimed at promoting and reinforcing the quality and commitment of employees. Clariant is generally committed to paying its employees fair and appropriate compensation in the form of wages and salaries, social components, and other perks. This compensation should meet minimum statutory standards and, in principle, exceeds them in each country in which Clariant is active.

The spread of salaries between Clariant employees varies from one country to another. This heavily depends on the relevant local managerial and employment structure and is frequently culturally influenced. For this reason, local salary structures cannot be used to address compensation issues. On a global level, the ratio between the median annual base salary and the highest base salary is 1:12. In terms of the total compensation, including variable salary components, the spread is 1:19. The ratio tends to be higher in growth regions than, for example, in Europe. Part-time employees have been excluded from the calculation above.

Salary adjustments are negotiated in accordance with a fixed and unambiguous system and implemented through mutual agreement between the line manager and the Human Resources department. As a basic principle, a consistent »salary philosophy« ensures that adjustments are made in the context of the local markets and the individual performance.

Read more: Compensation Report

Stakeholder Engagement

102-40 List of stakeholder groups

102-41 Collective bargaining agreements

PwC CH		2017		2018		2019		2020
Percentage of total employees covered by collective bargaining agreements		48%		47%		47%		53%

Clariant pays wages and salaries that are determined by relevant local competitive markets rather than by legally defined minimum wages. As of the end of December 2020, 53% of employees were covered by collective bargaining agreements with employee representatives. Managerial positions are generally not included in such agreements.

102-42 Identifying and selecting stakeholders

102-43 Approach to stakeholder engagement

102-44 Key topics and concerns raised

Reporting Practice

102-45 Entities included in the consolidated financial statements

102-46 Defining report content and topic boundaries

In order to define report content and topic Boundaries, Clariant applied all four Reporting Principles, namely Stakeholder Inclusiveness, Sustainability Context, Materiality, and Completeness.

Clariant continually evaluates the materiality of economic, environmental, and social topics. A comprehensive materiality assessment conducted in 2017 identified the issues that were most relevant to Clariant and its stakeholders, enabling the prioritization of initiatives. Clariant uses regular stakeholder interactions and market monitoring to make necessary adjustments to its materiality matrix. In 2020, after discussions with stakeholders and management indicated that the topics of Climate Change and Digitalization were increasing in importance, the materiality matrix was updated. Regarding climate change, Clariant foresees increasing pressure from regulators and a heightened focus among investors, and is thus allocating increased resources to the topic and ramping up efforts to reduce CO₂ emissions. On the topic of Digitalization, the 2020 lockdowns made virtual collaboration with stakeholders a necessity – a change that will most likely persist beyond the pandemic. Clariant is also leveraging digital opportunities to develop innovative business models, improve customer satisfaction, and operate more efficiently.

As part of the 2017 assessment, external and internal stakeholders were asked to share which topics they deemed most relevant to future value creation. Overall, 131 external stakeholders, 69 employees, and 36 managers gave feedback.

Clariant reports on topics that are considered to be of high and very high relevance in the Integrated Report and the GRI Report. The Boundaries are outlined in the respective topic’s Management Approach in the GRI Report

102-47 List of material topics

Materiality Matrix

102-48 Restatements of information

Any restatement of previously reported data is explained in a footnote under the respective disclosure.

102-49 Changes in reporting

There are no significant changes from pervious reporting periods in the list of material topics and topic Boundaries.

102-50 Reporting period

2020

102-51 Date of most recent report

The last GRI Report was published in March 2020 on Clariant’s website.

Read more: GRI Report 2019

102-52 Reporting cycle

Annual

102-53 Contact point for questions regarding the report

Questions about this report should be addressed to:

Sustainability Affairs – Group Innovation & Sustainability
Alessandro Canalis, Tel. +41 61 469 65 10
sustainability@clariant.com

Investor Relations
Andreas Schwarzwaelder, Tel. +41 61 469 62 92

102-54 Claims of reporting in accordance with the Standards

This report has been prepared in accordance with the GRI Standards: Core option.

102-55 GRI content index

Read more: GRI Report 2020: Content Index

102-56 External assurance

Read more: PwC Assurance Report

Compliance

Compliance is a key element of Corporate Governance. It refers to compliance with the law and directives as well as with voluntary codes within the company. View entire glossary

Stakeholder

Stakeholders are people or groups whose interests are linked in various ways with those of a company. They include shareholders, business partners, employees, neighbors, and the community. View entire glossary

Value chain

The value chain describes the series of steps in the production process, from raw materials through the various intermediate stages to the ﬁnished end product. View entire glossary