MALMÖ, SWEDEN — AAK highlighted a new sustainable palm oil plan and the progress it made in a shea-sourcing program involving women in West Africa when the Malmö-based company on April 14 released its sustainability report for 2020.

AAK adopted a sourcing plan, which includes satellite monitoring, that aims for a palm oil supply chain that is 100% traceable to plantation and 100% verified deforestation-free by 2025. The company increased traceability to plantation to 70% in 2020, which marked an increase of 27% when compared to 2019. The company’s palm oil supply chain that is deforestation-free increased by 92% in 2020 when compared to 2019 and now makes up 50% of AAK’s total palm oil supply chain.

The number of women involved in Kolo Nafaso, AAK’s direct shea-sourcing program in West Africa, increased by 39% in 2020 when compared to 2019 and now involves more than 320,000 women. AAK teamed up with Saha Global, a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Ghana, to help women entrepreneurs create new businesses that provide access to clean drinking water for their communities. AAK and Saha Global plan to help bring the women-owned businesses to the Kolo Nafaso communities.

AAK in 2020 also reduced its environmental impact in several ways. The company decreased energy consumption by 5.4%. AAK’s production sites generated 75,704 tonnes of waste in 2020, which marked a 49% decrease when compared with 2019. Water consumption per unit of processed material fell by 63% in 2020 when compared with 2019.

“It’s a great pleasure for me to announce that we continue to see strong development within our sustainability activities and our contributions toward the UN sustainable development goals,” said Johan Westman, president and chief executive officer for the AAK Group. “There has been significant progress made within the sourcing of our raw materials and with regards to resource efficiency in our operations. Furthermore, we have strengthened our portfolio of solutions that are good for both people and planet.”