AIXTRON : SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2021.PDF

Sustainability Report

supplementing the 2021 Annual Report

ÖKOSTROM

with

2021 at a glance

56.7 %

EU taxonomy-aligned revenues

39.2 %

EU taxonomy-aligned capital expenditure (CapEx)*

75.6 %

EU taxonomy-aligned operating expenses (OpEx)*

B	A
CDP score	MSCI score
Previous year: D	Previous year: BBB

2021: voluntary report on EU taxonomy alignment

2021: first complete climate balance sheet

1,021

suppliers worldwide

Previous year: 1,102

90

newly hired employees

Previous year: 95

23 %

women's share of new employees

Previous year: 24 %

13.3

hours of training per employee

Previous year: 8.4

9,822

hours of training total

Previous year: 6,273

42

nationalities Previous year: 35

83 % Europe · 16 % America · 1 % Asia

regional distribution of purchasing volumes

Previous year: 83 % · 16 % · 1 %

* As defined in the EU Taxonomy Regulation

Content

Content..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................	1
Foreword................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................	3
About this Report..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................	5
Sustainability Management and Strategy...........................................................................................................................................................................................	11
Environment........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................	18
Technology and climate protection......................................................................................................................................................................................................................	19
EU Taxonomy..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................	21
Innovations as key competitive factor................................................................................................................................................................................................................	28
Climate balance sheet...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................	29
Energy management and consumption key figures..........................................................................................................................................................................................	31
Waste management..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................	35
Mobility....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................	36
Social....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................	38
Occupational health and safety............................................................................................................................................................................................................................	40
Diversity and equal opportunities........................................................................................................................................................................................................................	43
Flexible work routine, employee recruitment & retention...............................................................................................................................................................................	44
Personnel development, training and education...............................................................................................................................................................................................	50
Innovation management.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................	52
Regional and social commitment........................................................................................................................................................................................................................	53
Governance..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................	56
Legal conformity, compliance and information security...................................................................................................................................................................................	58
Quality management and product safety...........................................................................................................................................................................................................	62
Key figures on supplier relationships...................................................................................................................................................................................................................	63
Associations and initiatives...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................	65
Overview of Non-Financial Key Figures.............................................................................................................................................................................................	68
GRI Content Index................................................................................................................................................................................................................................	73
Independent Auditor's Report.............................................................................................................................................................................................................	76

AIXTRON | SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2021

Dr. Jochen Linck, Dr. Felix Grawert and Dr. Christian Danninger · Executive Board of AIXTRON SE

"Our technologies facilitate the manufacture

of energy-efficient products, such as LEDs, lasers, and power semiconductors. These make a key contribution to cutting global CO2 emissions."

Foreword

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Content

2021 was a great year for AIXTRON, and by no means just in financial terms. We also made further major advances in our Sustainability & ESG ­(Environmental, Social, Governance) activities.

We report, for example, on the taxonomy alignment of our business activities in line with the EU's new Taxonomy Regulation already for 2021 on a voluntary basis. With taxonomy-aligned revenues of EUR 243 million (56.7 %), most of our business is today already environmentally sustainable according to the definition of the Taxonomy Regulation.

In our core business of equipment technologies for compound semiconductors we are continuing to invest considerable sums in research and development. This way, we intend to completely renew our equipment portfolio and, by significantly differentiating our products, maintain our strong market position in future as well, and extend this even further in some segments. At AIXTRON, operating expenses (OpEx)* as defined in the EU Taxonomy Regulation correspond to the company's R&D expenses. It is particularly pleasing to note the very high level of taxonomy-aligned operating expenses (OpEx)*, which stood at EUR 43 million (75.6 %). We were also able to report a high share of taxonomy-aligned capital expenditures (CapEx)*, in this case EUR 8 million (39.2 %). These high figures for the two key figures of OpEx* and CapEx*, which are especially relevant for the future development of the company, provide very impressive evidence for the sustainability of our investment strategy, particularly in the field of research and development. They give us grounds to expect a further rise in our environmentally sustainable revenues in the years ahead once the new technologies reach broad application.

These technologies relate in particular to wide band gap (WBG) power semiconductors based on gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide (SiC), which are a key to energy-efficient power electronics of the future, as well as to Micro LEDs for next generation displays, laser diodes for data communications as a key technology to digitalize our world, and further exciting technologies in ­renewable energies (e. g. solar cells) and the promising field of quantum tech- nology.

All these technologies have one thing in common: Compared with the technologies currently available on the market, they are far more energy efficient and thus make a substantial contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Alongside numerous further benefits resulting from their specific applications, these technologies play a considerable role in helping to mitigate climate change.

We have also become ever more successful in communicating the advances we have made in our ESG performance to the outside world. In fiscal year 2021, we managed to significantly improve our ESG ratings. Our CDP rating rose from D to B, while MSCI raised our rating from BBB to A.

We are also making continuous efforts to further reduce those CO2 emissions we can directly influence. We achieved climate neutrality in fiscal year 2019. In fiscal year 2021, we were able to compile a complete climate balance sheet for the first time. This means we are even better able to identify further potential for reducing CO2 emissions throughout the value chain.

Foreword

About this Report

Sustainability Management and Strategy

Environment

Social

Governance

Overview of Non-Financial

Key Figures

GRI Content Index

Independent

Auditor's Report

*As defined in the EU Taxonomy Regulation

AIXTRON | SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2021	GRI
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