FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

News Release

Wilmar Recognised as Top Scorer and Global Leader for

Protection of Children's Rights

Singapore, 3 December 2021 - Wilmar International Limited (Wilmar) has been recognised by the Global Child Forum, a Swedish non-profit foundation, as the highest achiever globally across all industries for championing the protection of children's rights by integrating it into its operations. In an independent report published by Global Child Forum, 'The State of Children's Rights and Business 2021'1, which looked at 832 companies globally, Wilmar scored an impressive 9.8 out of 10, exceeding the private sector average score of 5.4.

Jeremy Goon, Chief Sustainability Officer for Wilmar said, "We are honoured to be recognised for our endeavours and further encouraged to lead the industry towards championing children's rights and ensuring that the private sector is free from labour, exploitation or abuse involving children. We take great pride in our efforts to keep children living in plantations with their families, safe from potential risks and harm.

He added, "These efforts persevered despite the challenges brought upon by the Covid-19 pandemic. It is a constant and conscious effort made to ensure children have the facilities and instruments that will allow them to thrive."

As stable and reliable internet connection can be a challenge in rural areas where plantations are located, efforts were made to print school materials for the children attending schools in Wilmar plantations. Other efforts included 'homework postal systems', with plantation workers actively collecting and delivering school work, as well as utilizing radio or television to broadcast educational programmes.

Wilmar provides access to free, quality education to over 10,800 children of school-going age as it firmly believes that education is the key to addressing poverty and improving lives. Wilmar also operates 145 crèches across its plantations to care for over 3,300 children of its employees.

"Wilmar's position in our benchmark reflects their commitment in integrating a children's rights perspective across all operations and their continued efforts to develop a better understanding of how their operations impact children. Our benchmark shows what's achievable for business - as well as society - when companies integrate a child-first approach," said Cajsa Wiking, Secretary- General of Global Child Forum.

1https://www.globalchildforum.org/internal-report/global-benchmark-report-2021/

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Given its previous recognitions234 by Global Child Forum, Wilmar was among the few companies featured by them in a case study detailing its journey, challenges and milestones in integrating children's rights across Wilmar and its suppliers' operations.5

In 2020, Wilmar and Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) developed the 'Child Protection and Safeguarding Implementation Manual'6, in collaboration with major consumer goods companies. The manual aims to equip upstream oil palm operations, which include Wilmar's third-party suppliers, with the understanding and capacity to protect children's rights. In June 2021, Wilmar and BSR moved to the next phase by piloting the manual in selected plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia.

Wilmar first launched its Child Protection Policy7 in 2017 to further strengthen its efforts to safeguard children living in its plantations with their families. The health and wellbeing of children are also among the main pillars of Wilmar's Women's Charter 8.

Wilmar was recently included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) World Index9 in the Food, Beverage and Tobacco industry grouping for its environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance, after having previously been included in the DJSI Asia Pacific Index in 2020.

Wilmar was also recently ranked number one in the 2021 assessment by the Sustainable Palm Oil Transparency Toolkit (SPOTT)10 , with a total score of over 91 per cent for its transparency and public disclosure on its policies and efforts related to ESG matters.

  1. https://www.wilmar-international.com/docs/default-source/default-document-library/sustainability/resource/global-child-forum---wilmar-press-release-8nov2018.pdf
  2. https://www.wilmar-international.com/docs/default-source/default-document-library/highlights/sgx-announcements/2019/wil_news_release-wilmar_among_top_achievers_in_protecting_childrens_rights- global_child_forum_2019.pdf?sfvrsn=b3b0632_0
  3. https://ir-media.wilmar-

international.com/app/uploads/2021/03/WIL_News_Release_Global_Child_Forum_Report_16Mar2021.pdf

  1. https://www.globalchildforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/GCF-SEA-BM-2020-Wilmar-case-study.pdf
  2. https://www.wilmar-international.com/docs/default-source/default-document-library/sustainability/wilmar-child-protection-policy---implementation-manual-(2020).pdf?sfvrsn=77bfd66_2
  3. https://www.wilmar-international.com/sustainability/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Child-Protection-Policy.pdf
  4. https://www.wilmar-international.com/docs/default-source/default-document-library/sustainability/policies/women's- charter.pdf
  5. https://www.wilmar-international.com/docs/default-source/default-document-library/sustainability/pr---wilmar-makes-its-mark-in-the-dow-jones-sustainability-indices-world-index.pdf?sfvrsn=29b73588_2
  6. https://www.wilmar-international.com/docs/default-source/default-document-library/sustainability/pr---top-ranks-for-wilmar-in-2021-spott-assessment.pdf?sfvrsn=6c5a2b41_2

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ABOUT WILMAR'S SUSTAINABILITY

As a leading agribusiness group, Wilmar recognises that we have a fundamental role to play in developing quality products required by the world while ensuring we have a responsible and sustainable manner of production. We adopt a holistic approach to sustainability that is fully integrated with our business model.

Guided by the philosophy that our business must enhance stakeholder value while minimizing our environmental footprint, our business practices are aligned with universally acceptable social and environmental standards. Wilmar's No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation11 (NDPE) Policy and NDPE Sugar Policy12, introduced in 2013 and 2021 respectively, underpin our aspiration to make a positive impact and drive transformation across the palm oil and sugar sectors.

For more information, please visitwww.wilmar-international.com/sustainability.

MEDIA CONTACT

Vathani Panirchellvum

Sustainability Communications

vathani.panirchellvum@my.wilmar-intl.com

  1. http://www.wilmar-international.com/sustainability/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/No-Deforestation-No-Peat-No-Exploitation- Policy.pdf
  2. https://www.wilmar-international.com/docs/default-source/default-document-library/sustainability/policies/ndpe-sugar- policy.pdf?sfvrsn=9367bb03_2

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Wilmar International Limited published this content on 03 December 2021 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 03 December 2021 08:51:12 UTC.