This report covers our nancial year 1. July 2023 to 31. June 2024, with a format covering HORN Business Group ApS. Note that during the nancial year, there has been a division of the business group with the result, that Denwood Aps and Ejendomsselskabet Farvervej 40 ApS, was sold to Acupanels International Holding ApS valid from 31/12-23 and 31/3-24 respectively. Please note that our current 1/5 ownership of the development company Hyphen-- ApS is excluded from the report, but will be mentioned as part of our overall sustainability strategy.
1. PERFORMANCE HIGH LIGHTS
294
Direct emissions (scope 1)
48.619 Nm3 Fuels (Gas)
91
Indirect emissions (scope 2)
8.684 VC emissions (scope 3)
867 MWh Electricity 88.236 Liter Fuels (Diesel) 14,3 % Women in management 5,2 % Employeed on special terms 56,7% Production 97 Employees 43,3% Officials
REPORTING STANDARD
Working towards implementing the upcoming requirements from the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) further de ned by the European Social Reporting Standard (ESRS), the report format is still undergoing development in relation to both the expected reporting topics, methods etc. and our own ability to implement a more data driven approach. The current format is inspired by double materiality principles encompassing both the social and environmental impact of and on our business, and ensuring consideration of context, completeness and balance. The data preparation is guided by ESRS regarding reporting principles to determine the content and quality of the report in terms of materiality, stakeholder inclusiveness, sustainability context, completeness, balance, comparability, accuracy, timeliness, clarity and reliability.
This report also represents our statutory statement on social responsibility, underrepresented gender and diversity in accordance with section 99a. As a supplement to the Annual Sustainability Report, we prepare an ESG data overview of key performance indicators.
Previous years’ reports are available at our UN Global Compact membership site.
“ We grow strong together and not least we become smarter, when we are open to diversity and partnerships.
2. STATEMENT FROM OUR CEO
In the current low industry conjuncture, we have managed to keep our sales at an acceptable index due to continuous growth among both new and existing customers. I am convinced that their continuous choice of HORN as their supplier, is down to recent years focus on producing products responsible, in the right quality, with a long warranty and lifetime and not least with delivery safety. We are, and must be, a strong and reliable partner to the kitchen industry – And I am immensely proud of our continued commitment to uphold this position, as I know it is based on priorisation from all our colleagues. In other words, a strong team that understands the seriousness of the situation and has worked together to minimise how hard we, compared to other players in the market,, have been hit by the general industry downturn.
Future potential
Nonetheless, we are in a situation where our investment in production expansions, to secure our future potential, without secret have meant, that we have had to cut our business into the bone, as a necessity for our survival. It has had a consequence for a number of projects and not least layoffs of high skilled and good colleagues, with a remaining team that is working hard to secure continuity within our strategic focus areas and ongoing customer care. Though times are hard, I have no doubt that HORN is still in the right direction, and while we have room for further improvements in multiple areas, steady work towards becoming both more digital, responsible and having a modern production site, is forming a strong platform that enables us to act on possibilities.
Emphasize on cooperation
Throughout the years we have always mentioned, how important collaboration is – We grow strong together and not least we become smarter, when we are open to diversity and partnerships.
This year we can only emphasize the importance, and as a SME I believe it is even more relevant, as the trend of rapidly shifting market conjunctures will result in a consolidation, to ensure stronger foundations. Throughout the report, we will showcase multiple partnerships that are enabling our strategic focus, to exemplify how we prepare for the future.
In regards to our work with environmental and social responsibility, our focus is still to ensure development that is interesting, attractive, and needed for our strategic stakeholders:
• You, the customer
• The people involved in the manufacturing process
• The environment
On behalf of HORN, I would like to thank you for the interest you are showing in this report and thereby our organization.
Jakob Bressendorf CEO - HORN
3. BACKGROUND
Hard work & heart-felt passion
Based on gumption and not least a heart-felt passion to succeed, Karl Nielsen and Ove Jørgensen founded HORN in 1992. Through hard work, they managed to embed HORN as an unconventional manufacturer of some of the markets best countertops -With the widest range of design and creative solutions.
Their enthusiasm and strong technological investments made the company grow steadily over the years, and HORN evolved from being a traditional Danish, family owned production company, to an international countertopspecialist, delivering some of the markets best solutions to leading European retailers.
Development
With growth comes increased responsibility in terms of production methods and employee welfare. To stay among the leading suppliers of quality countertops, Jakob Bressendorf joined the development as CEO in 2015, with a strong ambition to position the future HORN as the ”green” solution, to a market known for being mostly cost focused.
Today the commitment to act responsible and challenge our social, environmental and economical quality is therefore key elements of HORN as a brand and business partner.
We have endeavoured to create the necessary structures and determination to create new opportunities –And not least made Corporate Social Responsibility an elementary part of our future vision and mission. However, while our internal focus on social-, environmental– and economical responsibility have increased, we nd a need to invest further in business development to be prepared to address future challenges, and continuously evolve as a sustainable business.
Developing and incorporating various digital solutions will help us stay among the top quality countertop suppliers and implementing corporate social responsibility through all business layers.
Transparency
We know, that our success is based on well quali ed employees, their expertise and comprehensive material know how –Ranging from solid wood, granite, quartz, ceramic, solid surface, steel, laminate incl. compact laminate and linoleum. So when we communicate actively and public that; ”Our vision is completely green!” We are well aware, that it is an ambitious statement, and that the process towards becoming ‘completely green’ requires ongoing commitment and internal enthusiasm from everyone in the organisation – Both board members, who actively supports our corporate sustainability strategy; The management team, who communicate our incentives with internal and external stakeholders and not least throughout our organisational departments, where engagement is found through all layers.
We perceive this Communication on Progress a valuable, internal method to increase transparency on efforts taken to implement the ten principles. We intent to advance the principles within our in uence, and engage further in collaborative projects, to ensure a comprehensive organisational understanding of the principles, at all organisational levels.
It is therefore with great pleasure that HORN, with this, our seventh Communication on Progress, con rms its dedication and promotion of the UN Global Compact, which constitutes a good foundation for our future work and focus on responsible business practices.
WHAT WE DO?
Countertops
What a nice simple answer, you may think? Well, we do not live in a simple world. Quite the contrary. We all have expectations - To our self, to others, to our workplace and colleagues, to the things we do and the things we buy, not least we have high expectations to the world we live in, and the world we want to pass on to future generations.
High expectations can be a curse and a blessing. Going from being a traditional manufacturer of, what we would like to think of as; ‘High quality countertops’, produced using traditional methods with ‘traditional’ materials, is not going to live up to neither ours nor our customers and end-users expectations. In that way expectations may challenge us, to rede ne the term and expectation for ‘high quality products’.
Rethink quality
Quality − All the way, has always been a main focal point for HORN. But, what do we de ne as ”HORN quality” and what do we mean when we say ”all the way”?
Within the industry, quality were usually de ned as: Price, delivery time and having a wide product range. These are still important factors, but we ask ourselves: Can’t we do more than that?
We both can, will and have to, to ensure our products live
“
up to a ‘high quality’ de nition in the future. And choose to look at it as a great blessing, that we, as a manufacturer, have the opportunity, right now, to rede ne and rethink our self and our market offer.
Extending our market offer
Countertops – Surfaces is our core product. But one gets shaky with just one leg to rest upon.
Our vision is to be a completely sustainable company. The innovation challenges in this regard therefore stems in the need to nd solutions to methods of producing, maintaining and not least recycle. We solve the challenges by increasingly incorporating digital solutions, to keep track of both our products, processes and customers, and not least by developing various sustainable solutions around the core products, such as service, supplementary products from spare material and not least by offering knowledge sharing regarding s ustainability and general product education.
Therefore we exist because we can make high quality countertops – But it is just one of our future market offering. Delivering digital- and sustainable solutions are the two pillars that justi es our basis of existence. And honestly, one could no longer be without the other.
Delivering digital- and sustainable solutions are the two pillars that justi es our basis of existence.
COMMITMENT
We are dedicated and rethink the de nition of quality every day.
TRUSTWORTHINESS
We are honest, loyal, data driven and stand up for what we believe in.
RESPECT
We recognize and acknowledge all individuals and respect their differences.
COOPERATION
We are cooperating on reaching our mutual goal of being standard setting in the market.
DEVELOPMENT
We work actively with sustainable and responsible development as well as increased transparency in the market.
STRONG VALUES
When life give you lemons
Our current consumption is unsustainable and we produce far too much waste. For many years we saw this negative trend clearly in our countertop production facilities, as we would send our employees home with nice ’ replace wood’. While that may have been a cosy arrangement, it de nitely weren’t sustainable in the long run, as most of our ‘waste’ is genuine, high quality material of high value. So to change our focus and start encouraging a positive attitude towards our waste, we started looking into how we would be able to turn waste into something desirable.
What we also do
Our interior line were founded in 2016 as a Social Enterprise called ‘Denwood’ to start upcycling all waste material from our countertop production facilities and design new home accessories from materials that used to be thrown out. In 2020 we made Denwood an integrated part HORN and our daily work, and changed the name to ‘Denwood by HORN’, to ensure a clear market focus, but also to improve our material ow, which in time will enable us to ensure a closed, circular loop and a potential take-back system.
To be honest, Denwood by HORN were quite good at what they do – Why they throughout the years also started working with materials from our sister company Fog & Venø. While this was a clear example on the actual potential of
Denwoods work, it also meant a degration of the clear focus. As a consequence the production site of Denwood was sold to Fog & Venø during December 2023, with a company divi-
sion being, materials related to Fog & Venø’s strategy would continue at the site, under the name Denlab, and materials related to our product portfolio should be merged into our existing facilities at a separate production line, still operated under the name Denwood by HORN. We are certain that this will increase the future potential of what Denwood by HORN was actually established to do minimize waste, and furthermore increase the possibility of increasing our diversity and offer more possibilities to employees being employed on special terms.
Stronger together
Besides recycling residual products and waste, we are very much aware of the social responsible potential that lies at Denwood by HORN. Right from the beginning we therefore started hiring people who, for various reasons, have a reduced working capacity, to get their daily working life back on track. We always did this in cooperation with municipalities and jobcentres, and nd that the solution is not only valuable for the people of concern, but actually to our company as a whole, as the action unite our mutual values and interests of showing respect and commitment.
As part of ensuring that we maintain our social efforts in the future, we initiated the project “Aulum Milen” in 2024, where we, in collaboration with other local companies, go the extra mile to help vulnerable young people in the local community into the labor market.
HORN BUSINESS GROUP
4. REPORTING ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES
Sustainability.
What does that word mean to you - how do you de ne it? You may end up even more confused, if you try googling it. Sustainability is personal and dependent on expectations and beliefs. But we do know it is something about not meeting our current needs on behalf of future needs. To sustain an ability.
To HORN it gets personal the moment we risk having a negative impact on something valuable to us. We value the environment for serving us with natural resources, raw materials, to our products. We value all people involved in the manufacturing process as they enable us to make beautiful products from these raw materials. And we value you, our customer, for having an interest in our products and therefore enable us to keep doing what we do.
We want to sustain the ability to serve what is valuable to us with quality. Sustainability to us is thereby de ned and developed within the frame of what is quality to the environment – quality to the people involved and quality to you, our customer.
4.1
QUALITY FOR OUR CUSTOMER
We will continue certifying and third party testing our products, to rethink and challenge the future quality countertops.
REPORTING - CUSTOMER
CERTIFIED SUSTAINABILITY
In 2015 HORN started the development of the market’s rst certi ed countertop collection, which were to be known as GREEN Collection. GREEN Collection included selected low-price and high-end products, and were certi ed to ensure a healthier indoor climate and an improved production method along the value chain. The collection was also tested against harmful substances, complied with strict environmental requirements and were produced using a limited energy consumption. It still is. But today GREEN Collection is HORN Collection.
HORN deliver countertops to multiple kitchen– and furniture manufacturers - Ranging from high end, cost focused, trendy and traditional. To us your choice of style and cost does not matter, as we aim to have a sustainable option for everyone. The important aspect is therefore the choices we choose to incorporate into the nal product - Whether it being high end, cost focused or in between.
We have come so far, that today we can assure you will nd improved aspects no matter which product line you look intoAnd most importantly we have a plan, to continuously be increasing the overall sustainability of each product. What de ned our initial GREEN Collection were our choice to ensure you, that the sustainable elements were not just something we had made up. We therefore began an extensive process of third part testing our products within relevant certi cation bodies.
Today all our laminate surfaces, linoleum, solid wood and many of our stone materials are tested and secured against emission of various substances with the risk of being endocrine disrupters, to protect the general welfare amongst our customers - You and your family, and actively make an effort to prevent e.g. cancer and lung diseases, which is greatly in uenced by such emission.
2025 STRATEGY - QUALITY FOR OUR CUSTOMER
Quality assurance Implementing transparent quality process
Certi ed products
Knowledge sharing & design development
Nordic Swan Ecolabel extension on stone based materials
Introduction counterop take-back solution
Introducing upcycled countertop
Nordic Swan Ecolabel recerti cation
Introducing customer service offerings through Scandinavian markets
Nordic Swan Ecolabel extension all laminat thicknesses
Quality improvement analysis & prove of concepts
FSC® certi cation Denwood by HORN
Nordic Swan Ecolabel extension All laminate colours
Commercial introduction of new countertop design solution
Introducing new design cooperation
Introducing ‘MÅLBAR’ product impact screening
Quality assurance - No goals for this year has been set.
Certi ed products This year we reached our goal of having our Nordic Swan Ecolabel assortment recerti ed within their updated requirements, we are happy about this, as it means that we have managed to keep our products up to date with growing requirements. However, we have not yet reached the goal of extending the assortment with a Nordic Swan Ecolabelled stone range, due to changes in projects this year, and therefore the goal has been postpone to 2024/2025. On a positive note, we instead had LCAs (Life Cycle Analysis) prepared for our solid wood, laminate, compact laminate and not least stone based materials; Ceramics and composites and furthermore obtained the SBTi (Science Based Target initiative) certi cation for our CO2 minimization strategy.
Knowledge sharing & design development The goal for this ambition has been changed due to strategic prioritization. The initial goal was to introduce direct customer service offerings, the ambition is now to focus on our B2B markets, and offer service solutions through all Scandinavian markets. This year we are introducing a service solution on the Norwegian market.
CERTIFICATIONS
Ensuring the entire Value Chain
We work with different certi cations, as they serve different aspects in ensuring our value chain. The FSC® certi cation ensures that our wood based raw materials come from responsible managed forests. The Nordic Swan Ecolabel indicates that our products are among the least environmentally damaging of its kind, by controlling our productions methods and choice of raw materials and chemicals. The Indoor Air certi cation ensures our products deduce even less than strict market requirements, when they are put to use by our end consumers.
Our LCA (lifecycle analysis) serve as a valuable method to, among other, report on the CO2 emissions from our products, and not least extend our knowledge of our products.
Early 2023 we extended our line of product certi cations with the company certi cation: B Corp (Bene t Corporations, to ensure we, among others, are establishing the right working conditions for our employees along the entire value chain. In late 2023 we furthermore received the SBTi (Science Based Target initiative) certi cate, which ensures that our CO2 minimization targets are in line with the Paris Agreement.
PRODUCT CERTIFICATIONS
FSC® - Forest Stewardship Council
To ensure that our wood-based materials is manufactured under conditions, that respects both the environment, wild life and people along the supply chain, all our solid wood and chipboard procurement, and to the extent possible laminate surfaces, are FSC® certi ed while our waste streams to Denwood by HORN have also been certi ed to establish full transparency.
FSC® is an international organization that sets standards for responsible forest management, supported by a broad range of stakeholders. The certi cation protects indigenous people, maintain community relation and enhance the rights of forest workers, through strict rules for chain of custody and an overall perspective of maintaining both the community and biological systems.
As an extension of our FSC® certi cation, HORN is furthermore a membership organization while our CEO, Jakob Bressendorf, for many years were part of the FSC® board in Denmark, as we wish to work holistic with sustainability, support the promotion of the mark, and contribute to a broad anchoring of sustainable wood procurement throughout our markets of in uence.
The Nordic Swan Ecolabel
The Nordic Swan Ecolabel certi cation ensures that
• Wood complies with strict environmental requirements, is produced using a limited energy consumption
• Quality and properties are documented
• The products come from sustainable forestry
• The products ful l chemical and emission requirements that contribute to a healthier indoor climate.
The certi cation was established in 1989 by the Nordic Council of Ministers as a voluntary ecolabelling scheme for the Nordic countries; Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. As we perceive the Scandinavian countries to be our ‘homemarket’, we nd this of cial ecolabel of the Nordic Countries to be the most effective tool to improve our sustainable solutions – and thereby enable consumers and professional buyers to choose the environmentally best goods and services.
Working with the Nordic Swan Ecolabel have been an important part of HORNs development towards becoming more sustainable and implementing a holistic agenda, as it certi es the entire product’s life cycle and the environmental problems that may arise along the way.
The Indoor Air Comfort
The Indoor Air Comfort – Gold certi cate ensures the enduser that our certi ed countertop solutions, deduce even less than the strict market speci cation requires.
The certi cation method is applicable to the European market as a total, which in other words, guarantee that the collection complies with all current standards, laws and requirements in the European market.
As a further mark of quality to the Indoor Air Comfort certi cate, we opted for the ‘Gold’ edition, meaning that all certi ed solutions have went through a Factory Production Control, guaranteeing that the countertops is produced from the highest internal standards.
Thereby our Indoor Air Comfort - Gold certi ed products comply with requirements to VOC emission from among others; BREEAM, BREEAM-NOR, LEED, M1 including criterias from private certi cation labels, such as the European Ecolabel; ”The ower” and the international, German; ”Blaue Engel”.
It is our ambition to ensure that all our products hold an indoor air certi cation to protect our end-users from any potential harmful chemicals.
LCA
This year we have nalised our LCA calculations on our main materials for the project market, corresponding to approximately 56% of our material categories, but based on sales a much larger share. A LCA (Life Cycle Assesment) is a method for assessing the potential environmental impacts of products and services, the calculation aims to identify the points where a material has the most/least environmental impact, and thereby shows, where it may be a good idea to look for alternative solutions. While a LCA cannot be used to compare materials directly between different suppliers, it can indicate which material group has the least impact.
QUALITY
Quality that lasts
Our objective is to prolong the lifetime of our good, valuable, certi ed products while promoting optimum resource utilisation and improved consumption patterns. Okay, you may think - What’s in it for me?
The full explanation includes a long story of total cost of ownership. The short version is, that we make products that are made to last - Our stone and solid wood assortment can last more than 100 years, our core based products, such as laminate and linoleum, more than 50 years. Lasting power is not our concern, trend based consumption is. We always wanted to give you the immediate bene t of higher quality products in general, but we furthermore aim to nd solutions, that will ensure your choice of end-product have the ability to stay up-to-date in both design and lasting power.
EXTERNAL QUALITY
We continue a positive quality journey, improving our internal and external quality. Unfortunately, we have had a slight increase in errors from suppliers, which negatively affects our overall result.
In Q4, 2024 and Q1, 2025, several projects are running to improve quality throughout the supply chain, as well as administration and production.
*Note that data for the previous years has been aligned to the nancial year, why the overview has changed from last years report.
It is extremely important to improve our current rate for two reasons.
First of all more than 70% of our complaints leads to a scrapped product equalling an increased use of raw material. This do not t our focus of being socially responsible, trying to minimize waste, why we always inspect the faulty products, to detect whether or not a replacement is needed, or we might be able to repair the product on site (if we nd a repair equals a result as good as a replacement).
Last but not least, a faulty product equals two disappointed customers - Our direct B2B customers who advocate for our products, and the end user, who will experience product delays.
*Note: The external quality rate is posted to the time of delivery, why minor changes might occur in the overview, if complaints are incoming.
DELIVERY
ON TIME DELIVERY (OTD)
SUPPLIER CAUSED DELAYS
On time delivery
For our B2B customers our vision is, that they spend time on the end user, not us as their supplier. Therefore we have made some improvements in our internal supply chain, which is why we can see that the number of delays has decreased. We are in the process of making additional demands on suppliers to improve our OTD, but in general we see a positive development both internal and external, though it has been a year with reorganisation throughout our company, due to the market decline and overall layoffs.
Supplier caused delays
Due to the increased demand during the pandemic, we experienced for a period of time some supplier caused delays, which were in uencing our On Time Delivery expectancy. These delays have now been minimized by over 45%, partly due to the general market decline, with lower demand helping to stabilize the situation, but it is nonetheless a major focus to secure supplier agreements, to ensure future minimizations, also with future increases in demand.
QUALITY FOR THE PEOPLE INVOLVED 4.2
Implementing a data driven approach to our sustainable agenda is a key focus, but we know that working with the social element of our sustainable and responsible development, we also need to just listen & learn from experiences.
REPORTING: EMPLOYEES
CERTIFIED BETTER CORPORATION
To support local community activity, we have made an active choice to keep our business facilities in the small Danish village; Aulum. We therefore naturally comply with Danish legislation, which ful ls international conventions. Furthermore our certi ed products in general set high standards to the entire value chain regarding both environment, labour- & human rights. Our starting point is alright, but we are very much aware of our social responsibility and know that our success is based on our employees and their individual expertise and craftsmanship, and therefore we have to strive to advance their employment terms. In other words, we have a responsibility to ensure that our plans and ambitions to ensure quality for the people involved in our productions processes is implemented.
In 2023 we obtained the B-Corp (Better Corporation) certi cation, which measure our entire social and environmental impact and set goals for its members to meet high standards of veri ed performance, accountability, and transparency in its work with employees and their bene ts. The certi cation help us draw a holistic overview of where to improve our actions, to establish the best working environment for our colleagues both internally and throughout our value chain.
HUMAN GOALS FOR 2025
Health, safety & satisfaction Transparency and cooperation with working environment authoriy Working environment revitalisation
Certi cation & strategy Implementing strategy for diversity & inclusion
Value chain control Value chain improvement initiatives Implementation value chain control strategy Finalizing value chain risk analysis
2025 Strategy implementation & anchoring
Finalizing 360o company certi cation
Introducing sustainable stone program
Initalization 360o company certi cation
Responsible stone production WCM inilalization (HORN, World class manufactoring)
Health, safety & satisfaction The goal for this ambition has been changed due to strategic prioritization. However, we have been working closely with the working environment authority on multiple projects throughout the year and have a clear ambition of upholding full transparency in our actions.
Certi cation & strategy No goals for this year has been set.
Value chain control Unfortunately this goal have been postponed to due to organizational changes in our purchase department. As per 1/9-24 our new Strategic Purchase Manager have been employed, and will restart the process
B CORP CERTIFIED
The B Corp movement is a holistic company certi cation, not exclusively focused on a single social or environmental issue, but more holistic designated to ensuring that companies meet high standards og veri ed performance, accountability and transparency on factors ranging from employee bene ts to supply chain management and environmental focus. The process to achieve and maintain certi cation is rigorous and requires engagement across the company. In order to achieve certi cation a company must demonstrate high social and environmental performance, make a legal commitment by changing their corporate governance structure to be accountable to all stakeholders and exhibit transparency.
We chose to apply for the B Corp certi cation because we believe it build trust among both our customers, suppliers, investors and not least employees, that we mean what we say, when we state we want to be a completely sustainable company working with transparent and responsible business practices.
We actually managed to obtain the B Corp certi cation with an initial score of 94,9 (80 being the passing level). B Corps are recerti ed every 3 years, to con rm that standards continuously are being met and developed to demonstrate continuous improvement.
Highligting our potential for further development
Governance:
Our primary development focus will be an increased focused on ethics and transparency which is very much aligned with our strategic awareness.
Workers:
To ensure a continuous development of ensuring high a high satisfaction and engagement among our employees our self assessment, show that we increasingly should be looking into ensuring career development initiatives, but also nancial security where we are currently following industry standards.
Environment:
Regarding our score at the Environmental assessment we were missing some elements in our CO2 emission calculations and development of related CO2 minimization policy, therefore we hope to improve the assessment within the auditing process.
In regards to our score in the Water management category, we believe it will be a much more prominent focus of ours, by insourcing our stone production which requires an extensive water reusing system.
Customers:
To improve our Customer management focus our primary initiatives will be a continued focus on education at our HORN Academy system, while improving our ability to perform customer satisfaction surveys to stay on track on our performance.
Community:
The assessment show that our primary concern for ensuring future recerti cation should be an increased community engagement, being our current lowest scoring focus. Especially our Supply Chain focus should be increased, where a further elaboration can be found on the following page.
When choosing to work with sustainable initiatives we nd it important to choose factors that are of relevant for the speci c business model. Therefore we choose to place great focus towards our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies and practices as we know we lack impact in this regard but also have a rather big potential of succeeding even more with our work at Denwood by HORN if we were a more diverse and inclusive organisation.
HEALTH & SAFETY
Our goal is to ensure zero cases of incidents with absence. In this light our numbers are too high, however we see an improvement on all recorded factors, which is positive to the overall plan. SAFETY REPORT
The satisfaction score is on a 6 point scale. Our employee satisfaction is measured as a total score between those who were either satis ed or very satis ed. This year we see a slight decrease ind our satisfaction rate. We will strive to improve this, but are aware that the overall layoffs and related extra pressure on remaining employee, may have in uenced this year’s lower score.
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PEOPLE & ORGANISATION
EMPLOYEES AT HORN
2023-24 has been characterized by a market under pressure from commodity prizes and higher interest rates, which, especially in the project market, has meant postponements of projects, but also in the private market, interest rate speculations have been causing the customers to await their renovations. In short, the market is under pressure, and unfortunately we have, similar to our colleagues in the market been, had to lay off good employees.
Note: The number and distribution of employees has been recalculated due to the divestment of Denwood, which was previously included in the total overview.
Employees at HORN*
Women
* Gender division: In general we have seen no changes in the composition of neither our mangerial team nor board members through the years. We are aware that this calls for an evaluation of our ability to attract women to leadership positions.
** Members of the management: In 2023-24 1 out of 7 members of our management team were a woman. The current management team was set primo 2023, and has had a stable composition since then.
*** Members of board: In 2023-24 1 out of 6 members of HORN board were a woman.
No changes has been made in the composition, which is primarily due to a stable composition in the board group.
JOB CATEGORI
Productions workers
AGE PROPORTION AT HORN*
cals
SENIORITY AT HORN**
*We nd that the age distribution among our employees is becoming more and more equalized, where we previously would attract an older employee group. Our experience is that our sustainability and digitalization initiatives are attracting different age groups - including younger employees.
** During the reporting period, we have celebrated 9x 10-year anniversaries. We are proud of our colleagues effort and engagement, on the journey we are on – This year especially, as we know it has required an extra effort on everyone.
EMPLOYEES EMPLOYED ON SPECIAL CONTRACT
6,7% 22/23
16,8% 22/23
5,2%
Flex, §56 employments
15,5%
Flex, §56, reduced hours & trainees/apprentices
When we established Denwood we had a strong focus to ensure, it was a place where people who required employment on special contracts felt welcome, and were given the opportunity to grow on their premises. With the divestment of the Denwood unit and transition to own production of “Denwood by HORN” products, we have unfortunately seen a decrease in the number of employees on special terms. Although the number is stable, compared to the year’s general redundancies, it remains a strategic goal for us, to be able to accommodate employees with special contract, why we, among others, have initiated “Aulum Milen”, which is a project in collaboration with other local companies, where we go the extra mile to help vulnerable young people, in the local community, into the labor market. Since the project launch, medio 2024, we have already been lucky enough to work with two young colleagues, who have joined us for a few hours a week.
QUALITY FOR THE ENVIRONMENT 4.3
When establishing quality for the environment, we simply need to start taking action. There is no time for discussion on best practice, but there is steep learning curve, and we constantly need to readjust and improve our actions.
REPORTING - THE ENVIRONMENT
Commitment to CO2 minimization
Implementing a data-driven decision making process to our CO2 action plans, have given us 4 years of overview about our emissions. We now know that we have several milestones on the road to reach our vision, of becoming a climate positive manufacturer – But we also have a clear strategy and plan on how to remove our CO2 emissions, which we in 2023 committed to the SBTi (Science Based Target initiative), to demonstrate our ambitions.
Precautionary approach to environmental challenges
In relation to our product certi cation processes, we are in ongoing dialogue with our suppliers on environmental challenges. When choosing future partners we will be looking further into their overall environmental focus and whether they in general promote responsible environmental management, -policies and –procedures, such as developing sustainable product and process alternatives.
Initiatives to promote environmental responsibility
HORN has initiated several product development processes to increase product and process sustainability and improve and/or exchange input material, and engage deeply in network focused in establishing on how we can prolong product lifetime.
Development and diffusion of environmental friendly technologies
We have nalized our Lifecycle Analysis of our materials, and now have a comprehensive overview of where we have the biggest potential for developing environmental friendly technologies.
ENVIRONMENT GOALS FOR 2025
2024/20252023/20242022/20232021/2022
Data driven decision making process
Introducing climate neutral strategy.
Improved sourcing practices
Introducing countertop take-back solution.
Material ow is 100% recycled /reused Denwood by HORN.
Data driven decision making processes
CO2 impact measurement - order level.
Introducing dynamic EPD.
Initiation energy management analysis.
CO2 impact measurement - company.
Introducing new core material.
Extending service solutions to prolong product lifetime.
CO2 impact measurement - Material level.
Initiation product redesign to minimize CO2 & enable take-back solution.
This year we aimed to nish our work of ensuring CO2 impact measurements through a dynamic CO2 methodology. While we in March obtained our LCAs (lifecycle analysis) on our products, to ensure the external approved CO2 data, we are still working on incorporating these data into our ERP system, to ensure the dynamic element on an order level.
Upcycled waste at denwood by HORN No goals for this year has been set. We will continue the work of Denwood by HORN as a production line, which will open op to more waste streams than solid wood as well.
CO2 EMISSION
1
SCOPE 2
Indirect emissions
SCOPE
3
Indirect emissions
2. Waste generated in operations
1. Purchased goodsUpstream transportation and distribution
Illustrations of scope 1-3 measured cf. GHGP*.
Due to the divestment of Denwood, this year we have had a strong focus on recalculating our previous years’ CO2 emissions, and not least our baseline year, as it affects our general CO2 minimisation strategy and not least our registration for SBTi.
Scope 1:
Scope 1 includes the emissions that come directly from our own operations, such as the combustion of gas and fuel for various means of transport & heating of our facilities. In the nancial year 2023/24 we have emitted 294 tCO2e in scope 1 (equivalent to 76,% of our total scope 1 and 2 emissions, and 3,2% of the total emissions), the majority of which comes from our production heating and truck fuel. The emissions are a decrease of approximately 8% from last years 320 tCO2e, which is primarily explained by the general market decline.
We see a percentage rise in the use of gas, which is expected as we have increased our facilities with approximately +40% total building stock (4350 sqm. stone factory, expansion of our administration and a new logistic department). We have optimised our heat pump system, which means we use more electricity.
Furthermore we see a percentage rise, of the impact on our emissions from cars, which off course is negative, however in the period we have increased the number of sales persons, whom have all been offered electric cars, why the expected decrease still awaits the overall shift from diesel engines to electric, which follows the leasing period. All external sales representatives and the management team have nonetheless started their transition to electric cars in accordance with our depreciation strategy.
1
Scope 2:
Scope 2 contains our indirect emissions that currently only originate from purchased electricity, calculated according to the location-based method. In 2023/24 we have emitted 91 tCO2e in scope 2 (equivalent to 24% of our total scope 1 and 2 emissions, and 1% of the total emissions). The emissions are an decrease from last years 188 tCO2e, which primarily is to the general market decrease, resulting in a temporary shutdown of our night shifts.
Our total scope 1 and 2 emissions for the nancial year 2023/24 are distributed as follows:
Scope 3:
Our climate accounts show that 95,8% of our CO2 emissions come from scope 3, equaling 8.684 tCO2e. Most of the scope 3 emissions come from procurement, so we can reduce our carbon footprint by choosing the right suppliers of raw materials, which the work with LCA calculations will support. There is increasingly good data from suppliers in this regard, which makes it easier to nd solutions to reduce emissions in the future.
Buying machinery
Chipboard
Steel and iron
Corian & Getacore
CO2 BASELINE REPORTED TO SBTI
HORN Baseline: Equivalent to 459,23 tCO2e
CO2 minimization targets
HORN’s CO2 minimization targets are consistent with Science Based Targets if they are considered to help meet the Paris Agreement goal: To limit global warming to below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C.
According to Science Based Targets, HORN, as an SME, must reduce baseline emissions by 42% by 2030 to help limit global warming.
HORN CO2 Baseline - Scope 1&2
*Due to production expansion in 2022/23 we are waiting to see the effects of our initiatives. Cf. the above, the ambition is to meet the requirement in connection with the nancial year 2027/28.
1 Emissions are not percentage in terms of growth. If HORN grows, emissions must not increase compared to our baseline year.
2 The total minimization is a theoretical calculation based on the percentage of emissions in the base year. See scope 2 section for description of transition associated with electri cation.
3 GREAT NEWS
1. SBTI
Our SBTi (Science Based Targets Initiative) application have been approved and our targets are published!
The SBTi provide a clearly de ned pathway for companies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, to help prevent impacts of climate change and future proof business growth. With our submission we are committed to reduce our GHG emissions – To a level well below our registered baseline year (no matter any potential growth). We are proud of this commitment and look forward to continuously track progress on our CO2 minimization strategy, to ensure that we perform in line with the Paris Climate Accord.
The commitment is an important mile stone to HORN, as it is a strategic focus for us to ensure that our sustainable claims are supported by third part institutions.
Note: Due to the divestment of Denwood our initial CO2 minimization strategy, have been recalculated. Our ambition is still Net Zero in 2030.
2. PARTNERSHIPS IN TAKE BACK MODELS (DAARBAK)
Last year we wrote about the challenge to create take-back models, that are bene cial in terms of logistics and amounts, and with a dilemma being, that the recycled materials cannot be 100% known, as the consumers, while using the product, have treated the material with both surface treatments and cleansers. However, this year we initiated a cooperation with Daarbak on refurbished of ce desks, and while the project is still in its de ning stage, the initial feedback and interest on the solutions have been much higher than expected. The refurbished solutions are designed, with a prospect on ensuring that as much as possible of the existing solutions are reused, to minimize waste, however with designs that are divided into standard solutions, that enables us to take in as many plates as possible. While the project does not offer a solution to our primary market, kitchen worktops, we consider it to be a good initial exercise, to explore market opportunities and not least our ability to upcycle larger products, both in terms of logistics and our production solutions.
3. AULUM MILE
As a joint project, we initiated and entered into a collaboration with fellow local companies: Aubo Production A/S, Nettoline A/S, Midtjysk Albyg A/S, Aulum Fritidscenter and Green Box A/S, to establish and secure jobs for young people who, for various reasons, have dif culty nding a foothold in their working life.
The aim is to give young people the opportunity to test their abilities and to support them with security and proper support, so that they can be integrated into the workplace in the best possible way. The company community can ensure that the young people get the best experience of working life, create a network of sparring partners and, not least, give them the opportunity to choose between different organisations according to their skills and interests.
Working with socially vulnerable people is nothing new, but it is new for most companies, that their work needs to be categorised and reported in accordance with ESG reporting requirements. The companies in Aulum have shown themselves to be particularly strong in this area over a number of years, with good and strong examples of using labour on special terms. The Aulum Mile was created to go the extra mile for young people aged 18-25 from the local area. In the start-up phase, the project will primarily focus on young people living in Aulum, but with the expectation of a positive development, that over time will open up to young people in the outlying areas of the municipality, but also with the possibility of expanding the concept to other cities.
THREE GREAT NEWS
THREE CHALLENGES
3 GREAT CHALLENGES
1. THE MARKET SITUATION
The market situation in the kitchen and furniture industry is under pressure from high interest rates, material prices which have not fallen suf ciently after the Covid-19 increases and, not least, general uncertainty and shifting messages about what can be expected in terms of falling interest rates, house prices, etc.
2 1
This has been a challenge for many in the market, with several reporting of sales declines between 15-30%, and some areas as much as 40%.
It has a natural impact on everyone in the industry, when the various marketplayers are challenged. While HORN have been lucky to maintain a market index of approximately 95%, we are also in a situation, where we have been gearing up for growth in previous years, with both new buildings and machinery. Therefore, it is extra costly to keep our production going, unfortunately with the necessary outcome that we have had to say goodbye to many good colleagues throughout the year.
2. THE MERGE OF DENWOOD BY HORN
Since 1 January 2024, we have been working to unite our former subsidiary, Denwood by HORN, into our own production unit. While the decision was made based on several strategic considerations and enables future potentials for better utilisation of residual materials and, not least, offers improved upskilling programmes for colleagues employed on special terms, it has also been a process to ensure a solid anchoring in our current setup.
In addition, we have a rather big task ahead of us in the recruitment of colleagues on special terms, which has de nitely been one of Denwood’s strongest parameters. While it has always been a focal point at HORN, we are very aware, that we will see a decrease in the percentage of how many colleagues that have employment on special terms.
3. OPTIMIZING PROCESSES AND DATA QUALITY
Achieving success in ESG reporting depends heavily on developing ef cient internal processes and improving data quality. This involves a thorough approach to data collection, processing and reporting. We know that by ensuring that data collection is accurate and reporting processes are robust, we can produce more accurate and reliable ESG reports, but the high reporting demand on new data also requires new resources, both in terms of time, nances and manpower, which for us as an SME can be hard to nd and will require upskilling of existing employees to handle ESG data collection as an additional focus point in their daily work.
5. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
We are aware of the massive effort required from both countries, companies and citizens to reach the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, and choose to incorporate relevant targets in our quality standards and goals, to show our active support. We have chosen to focus on 7 targets, and will throughout the following pages indicate where they have their relevancy.
3. Good Health and well-being
Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.
3.4 Promote mental health
3.9: Reduce the number of deaths and illnesses from hazardous chemicals and air, water and soil pollution
7. Affordable and clean energy
Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
7.2 Increase global percentage of renewable energy.
7.2 By 2030 the goal is to increase the share of renewable energy and promote an increased insight into companies CO2 impact on Scope 1 and 2. In 2021 HORN prepared 2020 as our baseline for future insights into our progress. We will continue to measure our yearly impact in both Scope 1, 2 and 3, and our goal is to be CO2 neutral in 2030. We will be measuring our impact up against the Science Based Targets.
8. Decent work & economic growth
3.4 In 2020 we initiated our monotoring of our employees job satisfaction. We will continue this process while looking into how our supplied data for our B Corp certi cation can set the standard for our ongoing examination of the satisfaction status.
3.9 We have been working with the Indoor Air Comfort certication since 2016, to ensure that our products deduce even less than strict environmental requirements from various building certi cations methods. Our Indoor Air certi ed products enable our customers to choose products with a minimum of hazardous chemicals which is further justi ed by our Nordic Swan Ecolabel certi cation, which have further requirements to ensure that neither our employees are being impacted by such chemicals.
Our stone manufacturing have implemented solutions for effective water recycling systems.
Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.
8.2 Diversify, innovate & upgrade for economic productivity.
8.4 Improve resource ef ciency in consumption & production.
8.7 End modern slavery, traf cking & child labour.
8.8 Protect labour rights & promote safe working environments.
8.2 It is our goal to stay a Danish manufacturer, we know our Danish employees is more expensive, but we also know they are the primary source of our success. We neither can nor will compromise that. Therefore we are looking into various technological upgrades in our production facilities, and are simultaneously developing competence descriptions on all our employees to ensure they have the right knowledge and training to handle our new technologies.
8.4 By 2030, global resource ef ciency in consumption and production must be continuously improved and efforts must be made to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation. To ensure that our growth plans doesn’t equal an increase in Co2 we are measuring our actions up against SBTi.
The share of renawable energy must be increased. Therefore HORN is looking into stepvise plan of being self-suf cient when it comes to our energy consumption. Our rst step is to ensure we transform our gas heating into renewable source.
8.5 Our focus is to ensure that all, also persons with mental and/or physical handicaps receive a fair pay for their work and to push the agenda that ensures work to people with either a handicap or challenge in some way.
8.6 For many years it weren’t the most popular as a young person to go into the craftmanship profession. But we need good, engaged young craftmans in our production. Therefore we are cooperating with the educational institutes, to secure our future work capacity and to increase the interest for the craftmanship profession.
8.7 Our FSC® certi cation and 100% policy supports the eradication of forced- and child labour for our wood procurement.
8.8 All employees at HORN have equal rights and receive contractual salary, as well as a safe and stable working environment. We believe in and already experience the value of giving chances to employees who have had a dif cult time due to mental and/or physical challenges, why our work at Denwood by HORN and the cooperation with jobcentres and municipalities is of outmost importance to us.
Being a Danish manufacturer, our employees is to a high degree well protected by national laws, to ensure that we develop our business practices even further than national regulations we are applying for a B Corp certi cation. We are monitoring our work-related incidents to stay updated on potential risks in the production facilities and be able to prevent those.
12. Responsible consumption and good health and well-being
Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
12.2 Sustainable management and use of natural resources.
12.4 Responsible Management of chemicals & waste.
12.5 Substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse.
12.6 Encourage companies to adopt sustainable practices and integrate sustainable information into their reporting cycle.
12.7 Promote public procurement practices that are sustainable, in accordance with national policies and priorities.
12.8 Promote universal understanding of sustainable lifestyles.
12.2 Our FSC® certi cation and 100% policy regarding procurement of wood based boards is a tool to promote sustainable management and use of natural resources as the FSC® certi cation system offers and opportunity for businesses to source from well-managed forests.
We are looking into more sustainable buying practices regarding our procurement of stone based materials, as a consequence of our struggle to locate well managed quarries outside of Europe.
We are looking into how we can substitute our current core material with a lighter, more resource effective material.
12.4 Our work with the Nordic Swan Ecolabel ensures that we keep a more responsible approach to working with both chemicals and waste. We will continue to expand our assortment of certi ed products.
We are increasingly merging Denwood by HORN into our HORN structures, as we see a great potential for both companies in cooperating on multiple managerial decisions.
12.5 Since 2016 we have proactively been trying to educate ourself within upcycling of our waste materials and develop solutions to minimize our waste through our work at Denwood by HORN.
Recycling: We are working with partners on materials that we cannot upcycle at Denwood by HORN, including as an example our waste of laminate with a chipboard core.
Reuse: We are reusing and upcycling waste materials at Denwood by HORN.
12.6 Since 2016 we have reported our own progress within sustainable progress through the UN Global Compact Communication on Progress. We continue this practice to ensure transparency.
Through our work with certi cations such as The Nordic Swan Ecolabel and FSC® we have had to make some adjustments to our products, in this process it has been important for us to hold on to good partnerships with our suppliers rather than changing partners for a more rapid process. For many of our partners we have therefore entered a dialogue on improvement processes for both raw materials and business practices to ensure we grow stronger together.
12.7 We have chosen to work with the Nordic Swan Ecolabel as it is the standard setting certi cation in Scandinavian building certi cation systems – Both public and private. Furthermore our Indoor Air Comfort certi cation ensures that our products meets the requirements from both national, Scandinavian and international systems such as DGNB, BREEAM, LEED, M1 etc.
12.8 We are incorporating our sustainable initiatives into our standard HORN Academy material, to ensure that our external sales consultants have the right knowledge to inform endconsumers about more sustainable alternatives.
15. Life on land
Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat deserti cation, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.
15.2 End deforestation and restore degraded forests. 15.B Mobilize nance and incentive sustainability forest management.
15.2 Our FSC certi cation contributes to goal 15 by providing a system for responsible forrest management of forests worldwide and aims to combat the loss of biodiversity through a balanced extraction of forest products. The FSC system ensures the protection of valuable natural forest areas and species, ghts illegal logging, and supports the implementation of integrated landscape management policies –Including reforestation and forest restoration programs.
We therefore believe that our 100% FSC policy at HORN is a great start to ensure we are promoting the implementation of sustainable management of forests, halt deforestation and restore degraded forest. To increase afforestation and reforestation we will be looking into how we can ensure a longer lifetime for our wood based materials through improved maintenance guidance and service solutions including take-back options. In addition the FSC management standards require forest managers to prevent deforestation, avoid forest degradation and maintain biodiversity to obtain their FSC certi cation.
15.B. To ensure the adequate incentives to ensure sustainable forest management the FSC certi cation aims to encourage and enhance the economic potential of certi cate holders, by encouraging the creation of multi-functional forests – In the industry, we aim to educate within the bene ts of FSC® and have in 2022 been granted the FSC certi cation at Denwood by HORN, to apply the chain of custody standards to their upcycled waste products as well.
16. Peace justice & strong institutions
Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.
16.5 Substantially reduce corruption and bribery
16.7 Ensure responsive, inclusive and representative decision-making
16.5 Our goal is to be a responsibility company. Therefore we cannot rely solely on being a Danish/Europan based company guided by strict governmental rules, we want to do more and are aware that we have to initiate a more structured approach to ensuring that our partners are guided by the same moral compass. In 2021 we therefore revisited our Code of Conduct and divided it into a version for our business partners and our internal employees to ensure an improved understanding of our guidelines.
We have proactively initiated a whistleblower system to encourage our employees and partners to report on any experience of attempts on corruption or bribery, and ensure that there is handled anonymous and documented safely.
16.7 The goal is to ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory, and representative decision making at all levels. We are aware that we historically have been challenged to be inclusive enough in both our management positions and in our production facilities as well. This may previously have been excused by dif culties in attracting a divers employee composition, but we have an responsibility to change this tendency and are challenging ourself to do more by applying for the B Corp certi cation.
17. Partnerships for the goals
Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.
17.16 Enhance the global partnerships for sustainable development.
17.17 Encourage effective partnerships.
17.16 + 17.17. We are dependent on multi-stakeholder partnerships that share knowledge, expertise, technology and nancial resources. Our list of knowledge and cooperative partners both within and outside of our industries is therefore growing, to ensure that we stay informed and in front of the development.
7. PERFORMANCE DATA
In 2021, we began working on our business strategy for 2025, to ensure continued business growth in years where we will be faced with increasing demands from the outside world, in many areas regarding both our core business and related quality, development and service, but especially also within digitalization and responsibility. That’s why our business strategy today is based on these three pillars, because none of them can stand alone anymore.
Photo credit: AUBO
ENVIRONMENTAL
NOTE E1-1 // Transition plan for Climate Change Mitigation
Gas: All gas must be phased out and replaced by CO2 neutral replacement by nancial year 2027/28.
Passenger cars: All passenger cars must switch to electricity no later than the period 2025-26, with a clear expectation that both driving needs, infrastructure and battery technology will match. The transition to electricity will be initiated in 2023 for new purchases and with a transition based on the expiration of leases. Policy: Only electric and diesel cars are leased. Hybrid is not offered as an option.
Transportation of goods: All vans must be switched to CO2 saving solutions, no later than the period 2026-27, trucks is switched to CO2 saving solution no later than the period 2028-29.
NOTE E1-2 // Policies related to the climate change mitigation and adaption
Gas: The optimal transition solution is being monitored, there is however a preference for switching to district heating if this becomes possible in the production area. The reasoning is, that switching to district heating, would have an immediate effect on our emissions, as gas has a higher emission than district heating. Furthermore, cf. ”Climate status and projection, 2023”, there is an expectation of a decrease of 99% CO2 emissions from district heating towards 2030. Last but not least, economically, there is an expectation of cheaper supply due to a.m.ba. and the local community will be bene ted collectively by the transition to district heating.
Passenger cars: Only electric and diesel cars are leased. Hybrid is not offered as an option.
Transportation of goods: The optimal technology (electricity, hydrogen, etc.) is examined towards the transition phase to ensure that driving needs, infrastructure and technology must match.
NOTE E1-3 // Actions and resources to climate change policies
Gas: Part of the phasing out will take place through electri cation of the heating through connected heat pumps. In 2023, 3 new halls (4350 square metres, corresponding to +40% total building mass) were added, which initially are connected to existing gas systems. The expected savings from connecting heat pumps before expansion was -15% of the existing gas consumption. The increase associated with the expansion will be monitored and efforts will be made to nd areas of savings, for example: PTG heat injection for increased ef ciency of heating systems. There is also an expectation of a transition to district heating in the area - the possibility of this is continuously monitored and is considered relevant both nancially and in terms of ensuring sustainable development in the area.
Passenger cars: No new fossil fueled engines have been leased since reporting year 2021/22, all new leases are electric.
NOTE E1-4 // Targets related to climate change mitigation and adaption
HORN’s CO2 minimization targets are consistent with Science Based Targets, with an ambition of reducing baseline emissions by minimum 42% by 2030 to help limit global warming. Cf. the reported baseline and strategy reported to SBTi, the ambition is to meet the requirement in connection with the nancial year 2027/28.
NOTE E1-7 // GHG removals and GHG mitigation projects nanced through carbon credits
Our policy is to ensure that our CO2 minimisation strategy and plan continuously meets our goal of minimising relevant CO2 emitting faktors. Therefore, we do not invest in CO2 credits.
NOTE E1-8 // Internal carbon pricing
Our strategy and ambition is to have a sustainable solution on all materials, therefore our certi ed products do not come with an extra charge for our customers, neither will we be applying a carbon cost towards our customers. However, we will communicate actively on the CO2 emissions on all materials.
SOCIALS
S1-14 Health & Safety indicators
S1-15 Work-Life balance indicators
NOTE S1-1 // Policies related to own workforce
Labour rights policy - In line with UN Global Compact
Recognition of freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining. The Danish legislation makes us subject to the Confederation of Danish Employers (DA). The confederation adds a comprehensive focus on employment policy, occupational health and labour law including a strong focus on wage and security. We aim to set new standards to improve our employees working conditions even further.
Elimination of forced, compulsory, child and discriminative labour. As a method for continuous supplier assessment, we need to develop improved monitoring processes, to ensure that in the event, that certain conditions do not comply, we have the ability to detect the severity and perform active risk management.
NOTE S1-10 // Adequate wages
Provided entitlements through parental leave HORN follows Danish employer legislation that ensures that all employees are paid above the minimum wage.
NOTE S1-15 // Work-Life balance indicators
Disclosure on whether all employees are paid an adequate wage HORN follows current parental leave legislation, applicable to both maternity and parental leave.
NOTE S2 // Policies related to value chain workers
Labour rights policy - In line with UN Global Compact
HORN supports and respects the protection of internationally declared human rights, and have adopted it as a committed element in our Business Partner Code of Conduct. It is our ambition to incorporate risk management and increased value chain control to ensure continuous improvements in the area.
G
GOVERNANCE
G1 Governance bodies
G1-1 Corporate culture & business conduct policies
Mechanisms
G1-2 Management of relationships with suppliers
Social
G1-3, G1-4 Prevention and detection of corruption or bribery
G1-6 Payment and TAX practices
NOTE G1 // Organisation & Management
Organisationally, our work with sustainable development and responsibility has previously been anchored with the person responsible for Business Development & CSR, reporting directly to our CEO to ensure ongoing implementation of various initiatives. However, in connection with our strategy process, we decided that the area should be distributed across several departments to ensure broad anchoring and joint ownership of the development.
Today, day-to-day responsibility is therefore shared between the following departments:
• Head of Business Development & Brand is responsible for the initial studies of future responsible development within the expansion of product and company certi cations and ensuring a general overview of market developments.
• Head of Customer Experience & Quality is responsible for the operation of product and company certi cations as well as working environment and environmental technical development.
• The operation of our ESG work is to be implemented in our nance department, with the CFO as overall responsible. The current implementation of ESG actions is handled by Head of Business Development & Brand and the CFO.
NOTE G1-1 // Corporate Culture
We have been a member of UN Global Compact since 2016, which is also where we initiated our general sustainability strategy and efforts obtaining our various product certi cates. To ensure our future efforts HORN Business Group A/S obtained the B-Corp certi cation primo 2023, with the intention of establishing and measuring our entire social impact internally and externally, and not least exhibit transparency regarding our actions and progress.
NOTE G1-2 // Management of Relationships with Suppliers
Our Business Partner Code of Conduct is to be revisited during 2024/25, however in general our strategy is to ensure we are in line with our product- og company certi cation schemes, when choosing suppliers and raw materials.
NOTE G1-3, G1-2, G1-3 // Prevention and detection of corruption and bribery
Our customers and business partners must be able to trust us, and have con dence in our integrity at all times. Therefore, we have zero tolerance for bribery and corruption throughout our value chain. We source our materials from many parts of the world, however, the majority of our suppliers are European-based, with a large proportion controlled through Danish companies. Therefore, the risk of corruption and bribery cases is generally considered low, however with a need for further control in the future. Should suspicions of corruption or bribery arise, we have a whistleblower programme to ensure that cases can come to light. Since its implementation in 2022, no cases have been registered, but the scheme enables employees to report suspected illegalities and serious matters.
Anti-corruption principle - In line with UN Global Compact
HORN is strongly opposed to, do not accept and have zero tolerance for corruption, extortion or bribery in any form. This is our current principle –And will be in the future as well. When it comes to application of our Code of Conduct in general we nd that education and cooperation is the key to success. We know the focus will be increasingly important as our customer and supplier groups expands, therefore we continue our work to stay up to date on movements within sustainable development.
NOTE G1-5 // Political in uence and lobbying
HORN does not engage in lobbying and does not donate money to political parties or causes. Political gures are regularly invited to visit our production facilities, without political prioritisation. Through the Confederation of Danish Industry and various sector collaborations, we try to in uence the sustainable development within the furniture industry, and interact as a sparring partner for general dialogue on production conditions. Should suspicions of corruption or bribery arise, we have a whistleblower programme to ensure that cases can come to light. Since its implementation in 2022, no cases have been registered, but the scheme enables employees to report suspected illegalities and serious matters.
NOTE G1-6 // Payment practices & Tax
policy
We emphasise having a correct tax policy, handling all matters relating to tax in accordance with the relevant legislation. We follow applicable transfer pricing regulation. Tax evasion is not allowed.
