This report covers the significant environmental and bioethical aspects of our activities. It is targeted at all stakeholder groups wishing to follow our environmental and bioethical performance. We aim to provide information in a form that can be appreciated by a wide audience and welcome feedback and suggestions that can help us improve the report.

Scope of the report
This report covers the environmental performance of all our production facilities worldwide. Data for two of our sites - Suzhou, China, and FeF Chemicals, Denmark - is presented in Site Reports but not included in the corporate totals. The plant in Suzhou is a joint venture in which we hold a 62% share. FeF Chemicals is a wholly-owned subsidiary and a separate business which has its own environmental organization publishing separate mandatory green accounts.

In addition to environmental information the report also covers issues having a wider societal impact and which are of importance to the sustainable development agenda and public perception of the technologies we employ. In this context we include sections on animal welfare, biodiversity, patenting and gene technology. Our understanding of the sustainability agenda is evolving and the development of specific sustainability indicators is still in its infancy.

Data collection
The environmental data presented in the report is based on quarterly data reports from each site which are collected, consolidated and validated centrally. We have adopted a standardized procedure for data collection and we are continually working to refine our data control systems in cooperation with our Group Internal Audit and with Deloitte & Touche. Although we put much effort into ensuring that the information in our report is complete and accurate, there may be some uncertainty related to some of the figures given.