We are proud to maintain our focus on sustainability even as the industry contends with multiple major challenges, including fluctuating consumer demand, disturbed supply chains, cost pressures, and rising interest rates. We have remained resilient in the face of these issues, not only achieving growth but making important progress toward our sustainability goals. In 2023, we published our latest third-party audited Greenhouse Gas Verification Statement covering scopes 1, 2, and 3. We remain the only food color supplier to have done this and consider it hugely important as it allows us to build trust with our customers and demonstrate the results of our sustainability work in a truly transparent way. The data for scopes 1 and 2 showed that we managed to increase production output while still reducing CO2 at our production sites by 13%. This is equivalent to approximately 1,900 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e). This carbon saving can be attributed to our work to improve energy efficiency in general as well as our significant investment at our German production facility. We continue to be recognized by EcoVadis for our sustainability management, and secured a silver medal in 2023. This puts GNT among the top 20% of companies within our industry, and we aim to improve our score in the coming years. We also reported a 90% compliance rate for our Policy on Sustainable Sourcing in 2023, marking a 20% increase on 2022. In addition, more than half of the contract farmers for our EXBERRY® plant-based colors have now achieved FSA Gold level. This represents the highest level of sustainable agricultural practices as defined by the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative. Beyond our sustainability successes, GNT continued to grow as a business worldwide. Our factory and warehouse in North Carolina are now fully operational, helping us to better serve our North American customers. We also continue to expand our plant-based EXBERRY® color portfolio, launching an array of new color solutions over the course of the year, including additional brown, yellow, and orange products.

We are now working to prepare GNT for the future to enable us to take on new challenges and achieve our ambitions in the years to come. In 2023, we unveiled our Strategy 2030 – Growing Together to Deliver Success. This is a comprehensive framework for growth that outlines our positioning in the market and how we create customer value. To deliver on this strategy, we have appointed Susanne van Bragt-Peters as our Director of Operations. She joins our executive team and her key duties include overseeing raw material sourcing, production, and the supply chain. One of the key drivers for our strategy is setting new sustainability standards across every stage of our value chain. Together with her team, Susanne will further drive GNT toward our ongoing target of reducing carbon emissions from our operations by 50% between 2020 and 2030. This all serves to underline our unwavering commitment to delivering on the ambitious sustainability goals we first set out in 2021. You can find full details on our targets and strategy in this report, along with detailed data on the progress we have made so far. We hope you find it informative and inspiring.