Greenovation

Dear customers, friends and partners, dear W&H employees,

A war in the middle of Europe, the ongoing consequences of the pandemic, inflation and the energy crisis – the years 2022 and 2023 present us all with major challenges. New crises, the acute management of which keeps us on our toes and ties up our capacities and thoughts. At the same time, our long-term sustainability goals have lost none of their relevance. The effects of climate change have been felt more clearly than ever in recent months with extreme temperatures, forest fires and floods.The corona pandemic, with its increased need for packaging, has shown that we need to find solutions that combine hygiene and product protection with waste avoidance and resource conservation.

With this in mind, we present this update of our sustainability report on the progress we have made in recent months despite all external challenges.In some cases, that progress has even gained new momentum by the challenges - for example, the need to save gas has contributed to a remarkably rapid reduction in our consumption.We have also made great progress in professionalizing our sustainability organization. A key milestone here was the establishment of global structures, which have now resulted in the first group-wide sustainability report, which you have in front of you. This report also contains the first group-wide CO2 balance sheet.

On the product side, the sustainable development of our industry is at the heart of every customer discussion. By developing new packaging examples for the circular economy, we remain a driver of this development.With machine solutions, we ensure the economic feasibility of new ideas.

In the social sector, we continued our commitment this year. One focus was on promoting career guidance and apprenticeships, which are crucial for the future both for us as a company and for society.

We also continued to drive forward professionalization in the area of governance – particularly with regard to requirements such as the Supply Chain Responsibility Act and material compliance.

In the coming months, we want to further refine our sustainability activities through a materiality analysis and implement additional key figures to make our progress more measurable. We look forward to gaining further experience, for example in the implementation of photovoltaic projects.We are continuing our activities in the area of social affairs and are eager to see how larger projects such as the Digital Lab develop. In the area of governance, new regulations, particularly in the area of reporting, will challenge our resources.We are aware that we and our industry still have many steps ahead of us.

But each of these steps brings us closer to our goal: to future-proof our society and W&H as a family business for the next generations. We are certain that the passion for innovation that W&H stands for will help us achieve this goal.

With sustainable greetings