A S Creation Tapeten : .S. Cretion Sustinbility Report 2023

Sustainability report

(Separate non-financial Group report pursuant to Section 315b HGB (German Commercial

Code))

of A.S. Création Tapeten AG

for the 2023 financial year

Contents
General Information	2
1.	Business model	3
2.	The sustainability strategy of A.S. Création	4
2.1.	Key areas of action relating to the sustainability strategy	4
2.2.	The "GREEN STEPS" mission statement for sustainability	5
2.3.	Embedding the idea of sustainability within the company	6
2.4.	Sustainability strategy subjected to independent review by EcoVadis	7
3.	Current progress with sustainability activities in the main areas of action	7
3.1.	Area of action - Product safety	8
3.1.1.	Research and development	8
3.1.2.	Input materials used and certificates obtained	8
3.1.3.	"d'eco" quality label for extra-sustainable wallpaper products from A.S. Création....	9
3.2.	Area of action - Use of resources and climate change mitigation	10
3.2.1.	Waste management and the circular economy	11
3.2.2.	Water management	12
3.2.3.	Energy management	13
3.2.4.	CO2 emissions and climate change mitigation	14
3.3.	Area of action - Working conditions and promotion of young talent	19
3.3.1.	Occupational health and safety	19
3.3.2.	Education and training	20
3.3.3.	Equal opportunities	21
3.4.	Area of action - Compliance and information management	22
3.4.1.	Compliance	22
3.4.2.	Responsible information management	24
3.4.3.	Data protection	24
4.	Report in accordance with the EU Taxonomy Regulation	25
5.	Outlook	25
Annex 1: Overview of metrics	27
Area: Resource use and climate change mitigation (A.S. Création Tapeten AG)	27
Area: Working conditions and promotion of young talent (A.S. Création Tapeten AG)	27
Area: Resource use OOO Profistil (Belarus plant)	28
Annex 2: Report in accordance with the EU Taxonomy Regulation	29
	Page 1

General Information

In preparing its separate non-financial Group report (hereinafter referred to as "Sustainability Report"), A.S. Création Tapeten AG complies with the statutory requirements of Section 315b HGB (Handelsgesetzbuch - German Commercial Code) in conjunction with Sections 289c, 289d and 289e HGB. The selection of topics was made on the basis of their materiality with regard to reaching an informed opinion on the course of business, the business performance and the position of A.S. Création (business relevance) as well as their impact on key stakeholders, i.e. the various groups with an interest in the company (impact relevance).

In the opinion of A.S. Création, the material impact of the Group's business activities on the natural environment and its stakeholders can be attributed to the two manufacturing companies A.S. Création Tapeten AG and OOO Profistil. With this in mind, the metrics are presented solely in respect of these two manufacturing companies. Unless otherwise stated, all qualitative statements in this report relate to the Group.

The aspects defined in Section 289c HGB are presented in the respective chapters of this sustainability report:

Matters set out in Section 289c HGB	Sustainability Report 2023	Topics
Business model	Chapter 1.	Business model
(Section 289c(1) HGB)
Risks	Chapter 2.1.	Key areas of action and risk
(Section 289c(3) HGB)	assessment
	Chapter 3.2.4.	Reduction of CO2 emissions
Environmental matters	Chapter 3.2.1.	Circular economy
(Section 289c(2) No. 1 HGB)	Chapter 3.2.2.	Water management
	Chapter 3.2.3.	Energy management
	Chapter 3.2.4.	Carbon footprint
	Chapter 3.3.1.	Occupational safety
Employee-related matters	Chapter 3.3.2.	Education and training
(Section 289c(2) No. 2 HGB)
	Chapter 3.4.1.	Compliance
Social matters	Chapter 3.1.	Product safety
(Section 289c(2) No. 3 HGB)
Respect for human rights	Chapter 3.4.1.	Compliance
(Section 289c(2) No. 4 HGB)
Combating corruption and bribery	Chapter 3.4.1.	Compliance
(Section 289c(2) No. 5 HGB)

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As from 2024, A.S. Création will be obliged to comply with the new requirements set out by the European Union (EU) with regard to sustainability reporting (CSRD - Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive). In preparation for this, A.S. Création conducted the materiality analysis required under the CSRD as early as 2023 for the purpose of identifying material sustainability matters from a stakeholder perspective. The findings of this materiality analysis confirm the previous assessment, i.e. the facts and metrics that A.S. Création reported on in previous sustainability reports will also be reflected in future sustainability reports in accordance with the CSRD. However, due to the extremely detailed provisions set out in the CSRD, the sustainability report will be much more extensive in scope and will be based on a different structure. The Sustainability Report for 2023 does not contain any adjustments in respect of the CSRD, meaning that both the structure and the scope of the report correspond to the previous year's report.

1. Business model

The A.S. Création Group, headed by A.S. Création Tapeten AG, consists of the two divisions Wallpaper and Furnishing Fabrics. The Wallpaper division produces and distributes wallpaper and borders worldwide and represents the larger of the two divisions, accounting for around 90% of Group revenue in 2023.

Approximately 71% of the wallpaper products are manufactured in Germany at the parent company A.S. Création Tapeten AG, based in Wiehl Bomig. The remaining 29% of the overall production volume is manufactured by the Belarusian Group company OOO Profistil. The other operating companies assigned to the Wallpaper division are pure distribution and trading entities without their own production facilities. These are based in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France and Russia.

The Furnishing Fabrics division distributes curtains and furnishing fabrics as well as sun protection products such as pleated blinds, roller blinds and vertical blinds. This division is based in Germany.

A.S. Création's direct customer base consists primarily of various types of trading businesses, such as wholesalers and retailers, specialist stores, discounters, DIY stores and (online) mail order companies.

The majority of A.S. Création's suppliers are based in the EU. This supplier strategy is aimed at ensuring reliable procurement and providing legal certainty, including with regard to European labour and social standards.

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2. The sustainability strategy of A.S. Création

2.1. Key areas of action relating to the sustainability strategy

Today, the field of corporate sustainability encompasses a multitude of aspects relating to the environment, social issues and corporate governance. It is impossible for companies to cover every conceivable sustainability matter within the three aforementioned fields. With this in mind, it makes perfect sense - and, indeed, it is common practice - to focus on those sustainability matters on which the company's business activities have a material impact and which the company itself can influence.

In line with this approach, A.S. Création has conducted a systematic analysis of its business activities along the value chain in order to define the key areas of action with regard to its sustainability strategy. In the context of this analysis, A.S. Création surveyed both internal and external stakeholders of the company. In addition, national and international frameworks such as the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were used as a guide.

The following areas of action were defined on the basis of this analysis:

1. Product safety
   As wallpaper is used indoors, the product should not only provide consumers with a sense of home comfort but should also be harmless to their health. Product safety is therefore one of the most important sustainability matters for A.S. Création. For this reason, A.S. Création is committed to improving product quality continuously, which includes investing in the research and development of innovative formulations.
2. Resource usage and climate-relevant emissions
   As a manufacturing company, A.S. Création consumes natural resources: raw materials for the production of wallpaper products, energy for operating the systems and water for washing purposes and for cooling the operating equipment. Furthermore, waste is generated in particular during the production process. This is detrimental to the planet's limited resources, while the associated greenhouse gases also put a strain on the ecosystem. In this context, A.S. Création is committed to saving valuable resources, reducing energy consumption and replacing fossil raw materials by acting efficiently.
3. Working conditions and promotion of young talent
   A.S. Création products are of a fashionable nature and are subject to colour and design trends that vary from country to country. To survive in a competitive market driven by ever- changing trends, it is essential to have a team that combines specialist expertise with creativity, a wealth of ideas and well-developed anticipatory skills. Thus, it is of particular importance for A.S. Création to create an open organisational culture that is free from prejudice and promotes the above-mentioned aspects. At the same time, HR policy must also be geared towards inspiring committed young talent and attracting them to the company so that the company remains responsive and open to future trends. With this in mind, A.S. Création's sustainability strategy attaches great importance to ensuring the health, equal opportunities, training and further education of its employees and thus staff satisfaction.

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1. Compliance and information management
   Statutory provisions and legal regulations form the framework within which a company operates. Non-compliance with these provisions and regulations may lead to both significant financial losses and major reputational damage for the company. As an exchange-listed stock corporation with international operations, A.S. Création Tapeten AG is subject to a multitude of regulations that are generally becoming more pronounced and increasingly complex. Against this background, A.S. Création is of the opinion that ensuring all conduct complies with the law and directives is essential to its own sustainability strategy. As the decisions and actions of A.S. Création employees not only have an impact within the company but may also affect people and companies along the supply chain, A.S. Création undertakes to act with due care and foresight in its business dealings in order to protect people and nature.
2. Financial success
   One of the key prerequisites for the continued existence of a company is, needless to say, financial success. It is imperative that a company's financial position, financial performance and cash flows are extremely solid if it is to finance its investments and expenses in the long term, as this forms the basis for ensuring the company's future viability as a going concern. Therefore, the aspects of ecology and economy must go hand in hand. In this context, sustainable financial success is an essential prerequisite for the consistent implementation of CSR-related improvements. A.S. Création is of the belief that ecologically responsible action and financial success are by no means mutually exclusive. Instead, they will be dependent on each other in the medium term. Therefore, we at A.S. Création see it as our responsibility to embrace the issues of profitability and sustainability as two sides of the same coin, both in our corporate strategy and in our internal operational processes.

A risk assessment in accordance with Section 315c of the German Commercial Code (Handelsgesetzbuch - HGB) in conjunction with Section 289c(3) of the German Commercial Code (Handelsgesetzbuch - HGB) was conducted in respect of the defined material sustainability matters. The assessment looked at whether any material risks arise from the business activities of A.S. Création or in connection with the business relationships, products and services of A.S. Création that are very likely to have a severe adverse effect on the sustainability matters material to A.S. Création. No reportable risks were identified.

2.2. The "GREEN STEPS" mission statement for sustainability

A.S. Création established "GREEN STEPS - Our path to a greener future" in 2022 as a mission statement that would give its sustainability campaign a distinct identity. GREEN STEPS symbolises the company's chosen path towards improving its sustainability performance step by step as well as its ambitious mission to transform into a sustainable business in the areas that it has identified as key. The name of the campaign is a conscious choice, because A.S. Création sees sustainability

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management as a continuous process rather than a self-contained project. Every goal set, every decision made and every measure taken represents a "green" step on A.S. Création's journey towards its sustainability transformation.

This journey will lead the company into uncharted territory and present it with difficult decisions and problems. After all, not all the challenges that A.S. Création is currently facing already have ready-made solutions. Mastering challenges, however, is deeply rooted in the DNA of the A.S. Création team. Therefore, the GREEN STEPS mission statement is linked to the vision that A.S. Création will be a pioneer in sustainable wallpaper production within the wallpaper industry.

The GREEN STEPS logo is also a signpost and communication medium. The integrated QR code, which will take interested members of the public to the "Sustainability" section on the A.S. Création website, allows them to keep abreast of the latest developments in sustainability at the company. All the key details of A.S. Création's sustainability work are presented here in a compact and easy-to-read format.

2.3. Embedding the idea of sustainability within the company

Developing a sustainability strategy for a company and implementing it successfully means identifying the sustainability aspects that are essential for that company (and thus the essential areas of action), defining measures and, if necessary, targets, and aligning its organisational structure with these areas of action. To ensure this, a Sustainability Officer was appointed with effect from 1 January 2021, reporting directly to the Management Board. On the same date, the remuneration system for the Management Board was overhauled and a sustainability component added in.1 Finally, sustainability was identified as one of the company's top strategic priorities in the new strategic plan for the years to 2030 devised by A.S. Création's Management Board and managers, and measures and projects were set out for putting this plan into action. Fact-finding events were organised for staff to showcase and explain what was being done.

The Sustainability Officer is instrumental in delivering the individual sustainability projects, which involves harnessing the expertise and resources of the company's various specialist departments and pooling these in project-specific CSR teams. He is supported in the management of these teams by the member of the Management Board within whose remit the respective project falls, which for overarching themes is the Chairman of the Management Board (CEO). These CSR teams also serve to anchor the subject of sustainability more firmly within the company and thus ensure ever-greater awareness of it amongst the workforce.

Overall, A.S. Création's suitability strategy and its management of sustainability issues now form an integral part of its organisational setup.

• Details of the system used to remunerate the Management Board are given in the Remuneration Report in accordance with Section 162 AktG (Aktiengesetz - German Stock Corporation Act), which can be found at https://www.as-creation.com/en/company/investor-relations/corporate-governance.

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2.4. Sustainability strategy subjected to independent review by EcoVadis

In order to obtain an independent assessment of its own sustainability performance, A.S. Création Tapeten AG first commissioned EcoVadis, an internationally renowned provider of sustainability ratings for companies, to carry out such a review in 2021. This assessment provides a detailed insight into environmental, social and ethical risks in more than 200 purchasing categories and over 160 countries. A.S. Création received 49 out of

100 possible total points for its first assessment in 2021, securing it a bronze medal in the EcoVadis assessment framework. Building on

the outcome of this first assessment, measures were then taken to implement the potential improvements identified by the EcoVadis rating. The effectiveness of these measures is reflected in the fact that A.S. Création scored as many as 54 out of a possible 100 points in 2022 and a grand total of 61 in 2023. This result has put A.S. Création in the top 22% (78th percentile) of all the paper processing companies rated by EcoVadis for 2023 and won it a silver medal. The improvements achieved relate mainly to the environment, employment and human rights, and ethics and show how the many measures already taken as part of the GREEN STEPS sustainability campaign are boosting A.S. Création's EcoVadis rating.

A.S. Création is planning to improve its score in the "Sustainable Procurement" category in 2024. EcoVadis's rating methodology ignores any practices that are not documented in policies or guidelines, even if they are implemented day to day. A.S. Création is putting a system in place to determine and monitor environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) risks in its supply chain in order to meet the requirements under the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz) and the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). This measure is set to use a specific piece of software and will have a positive impact on the company's EcoVadis rating.

However, EcoVadis is introducing a new rating methodology in 2024. This means that, from 1 January 2024 onwards, only the top 35% of companies (65th percentile or higher) will get a bronze medal, with silver reserved for the best 15% (85th percentile or higher). Thus, even retaining the silver status that A.S. Création achieved in 2023 will require a marked improvement in its rating in 2024. Jumping at least seven percentiles to 85th or higher from its current position of 78th is a challenging target, although one that A.S. Création is happy to set itself for 2024.

3. Current progress with sustainability activities in the main areas of action

Chapter 2.1 outlined the five key areas of action in A.S. Création's sustainability strategy. The first four areas of action are specified below, which includes details of current progress made in these areas. The fifth area, "Financial success", is covered extensively in the 2023 annual report and is therefore not addressed again in this sustainability report.

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3.1. Area of action - Product safety

As wallpaper products are used indoors, A.S. Création's are not only designed to convey a positive living feeling to the consumer - they must also be harmless from a health point of view. The company achieves this objective by according a high priority to the continued development of its input materials as well as to certification processes, inspections and measurements.

3.1.1. Research and development

Wallpaper is a fashionable product that is influenced by constantly changing trends. Accordingly, a large part of the product development process at A.S. Création is devoted to coming up with new designs and new surface structures and, in this sense, is mainly a creative process.

In addition, A.S. Création engages in a wide range of R&D activities, which are coordinated by the company's own laboratory. As well as developing new formulations for the inks and plastisols used, new input materials available on the market are tested for their suitability for wallpaper production. The company also partners with external companies in order to develop new input materials or improve existing ones, with the main thrust of these R&D activities dependent on the raw material under consideration. However, there are three primary areas of focus: improving a product's quality, increasing its contribution to healthy living, and shrinking its carbon footprint.

A project was launched in 2023 to conduct a structured review of whether the additives used in the production process could be replaced by biobased, recycled, lower-pollutant and/or lower- carbon alternatives. As well as continuing to work with existing suppliers, the aim is also to focus on identifying new ones that are innovative (in terms of sustainability). Another project is set to get under way in 2024 to study whether sustainable bioplastics are suitable for use as packaging or even for making the wallpaper products themselves.

3.1.2. Input materials used and certificates obtained

The safety of all raw materials and chemicals used is of paramount importance at A.S. Création. We comply with the legal regulations for indoor products and even go beyond them in many areas. Rigorous compliance with these standards is monitored by an internal control system geared towards quality-checking incoming raw materials, especially chemicals. To this end, our laboratory inspects every single delivery of chemicals that could have an impact on compliance with the legal requirements for any deviations from the agreed quality specifications. Spot checks of other raw materials (such as chalk) are carried out at irregular intervals or as events dictate. Suppliers are incorporated into this control system.

In addition, new standards are screened continually in respect of the raw materials used by A.S. Création so that any new sets of regulations that affect the company are identified early on.

Alongside the upstream internal checks of the input materials used, the end products that are manufactured also undergo close scrutiny. The manufacture of all A.S. Création's wallpaper products is based on the corresponding valid EN or DIN standards. For example, all of A.S. Création's wallpaper products bear a qualified CE mark in accordance with EN 15102, indicating that they can be shown to meet EU criteria, including fire protection requirements in accordance

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with EN 13501-1. Another important requirement, especially at the Belarusian production facility, is the GOST mark, which defines the criteria for wallpaper products in the Russian economic area. In addition, the product-specific levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted into the ambient air by all A.S. Création wallpaper products meet the criteria for the lowest emission class (A+) under the relevant French regulations.

In order to provide consumers with a degree of safety that goes beyond the legal requirements, A.S. Création is committed to meeting the strict technical, health and environmental requirements of Gütegemeinschaft Tapete e. V., which are documented in RAL-GZ-479.2

In addition, all wallpaper products made by A.S. Création in Germany are certified with the FSC seal, which guarantees the use of wood and paper products from responsibly managed forests. With its work, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) contributes to the maintenance of the forest ecosystem and thus also protects animal and plant species threatened with extinction. A.S. Création passed its regular recertification audit in 2023, entitling it to continue using the FSC seal. The FSC stopped certifying forests, dealers and wood processing industries in Russia and Belarus in March 2022, up to which point the company's Belarusian production facility had likewise been FSC-certified, and the wallpaper products made there bore the FSC seal.

A.S. Création's quality management team monitors compliance with the relevant standards and specifications to ensure that these high quality standards are met at all times. The ISO 9001:2015 quality management system implemented at both the German and Belarusian production sites is thus of material importance for A.S. Création.

3.1.3. "d'eco" quality label for extra-sustainable wallpaper products from A.S. Création

The importance of sustainability criteria in the assessment of products has increased significantly in recent years, and wallpaper is no exception. Expanding the proportion of sustainable wallpaper products in its overall range is therefore a key component of A.S. Création's sustainability strategy and the reason why the "d'eco"

quality label was developed in 2022. This sets certain wallpaper products apart from the rest of the range by imposing clearly defined sustainability criteria for them to meet. d'eco is a sustainability label that is unique to A.S. Création.

• Gütegemeinschaft Tapete e. V. has devised quality and inspection specifications for wall coverings that, alongside technical quality requirements, stipulate additional, more extensive criteria and inspections regarding their safety to health and the environment (source: https://www.tapeten.de/media/tapete_ral- gz_479_ausgabe_06.14_01_1.pdf).

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