EU taxonomy

Overview

As part of the European Green Deal, the European Union (EU) aims to enable a sustainable transition of the economy and to reach net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050. In this context, the European Commission developed an action plan on financing sustainable growth aimed at directing investments towards more sustainable projects and activities. A key cornerstone of the action plan is the EU’s Taxonomy Regulation 2020/852, which establishes a classification system of environmentally sustainable economic activities.

Under the EU Taxonomy Regulation, an economic activity is considered Taxonomy-eligible if it can potentially contribute to at least one of the EU’s six climate and environmental objectives in the EU Taxonomy’s delegated acts. An economic activity is considered environmentally sustainable, or Taxonomy-aligned, if it makes a substantial contribution to at least one of the six climate and environmental objectives by meeting certain technical screening criteria, while at the same time not significantly harming any of these objectives and meeting minimum social safeguards.

The six climate and environmental objectives to which an activity can contribute are:

• climate change mitigation,

• climate change adaptation,

• sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources,

• transition to a circular economy,

• pollution prevention and control, and

• protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems.

SIG Group AG (“SIG” or the “Company”, and together with its subsidiaries, “SIG Group”) voluntarily reports taxonomy eligibility for the fourth consecutive year. For information on the SIG Group’s progress towards Taxonomy-alignment, refer to “Our advancement towards Taxonomy alignment”.

The disclosures in our EU Taxonomy report are prepared based on the Taxonomy Regulation article 8 and the related delegated acts. The legal framework of the EU Taxonomy currently consists of the following: the Taxonomy Regulation, the Climate Delegated Act (as amended in June 2023), the Disclosures Delegated Act (as amended in June 2023), the Complementary Climate Delegated Act, and the Environmental Delegated Act. In addition, the EU Taxonomy FAQs and Notices published by the European Commission have been taken into consideration where relevant. The terminology in the Taxonomy Regulation is new and may be subject to ongoing changes and uncertainty in interpretation. Therefore, this document presents our interpretation to date and this year’s reporting may not be applied in the same way in the future.

Eligibility assessment

Our products play a key role by offering customers the lowest carbon packaging solutions in each relevant market segment. Aseptic cartons, bag-in-box and spouted pouches also help reduce carbon emissions by preserving food for long periods without the need for refrigerated delivery or storage. Our cartons are designed to be fully recyclable. The SIG Terra portfolio already includes recycle-ready bag-in-box and spouted pouch solutions, and we are innovating to expand the recycle-ready range. See Climate+, Resource+ and Our sustainable packaging journey for further details.

We began voluntarily disclosing EU Taxonomy eligibility in 2022 on our aseptic carton business and expanded coverage to include our bag-in-box, spouted pouch, and chilled carton businesses in 2023. This included more detailed mapping of our products and services, including packaging materials, filling lines and related equipment, and after-sales services, against Taxonomy activities and relevant Nomenclature of Economic Activities (NACE) codes. Our assessment remained consistent throughout 2024, and the year ended December 31, 2025.

The table below provides an overview of the allocation of our activities to the economic activities listed in the EU Taxonomy. Changes may be made to the classification of economic activities in the future as the rules around the EU Taxonomy evolve.

Activity 3.6 – Manufacture of other low carbon technologies

We consider our aseptic and chilled carton packaging solutions, which are able to substantially reduce GHG emissions for our clients in comparison to other packaging formats, to be Taxonomy-eligible under activity 3.6. With this, we assess the manufacturing and provision of filling lines and aseptic and chilled carton sleeves as one combined technology. Our provision of after-sales services is currently not included in the EU Taxonomy and considered non-eligible. We are continuously monitoring the inclusion of new activities and may re-assess the inclusion of after-sale services in the future.

Activity 1.1 – Manufacture of plastic packaging goods

We consider our manufacturing and sale of bag-in-box and spouted pouch-related products as Taxonomy-eligible under activity 1.1. Activity 1.1 focuses on the manufacturing of plastic packaging goods. Therefore, we have excluded our provision of filling lines and other related equipment in the bag-in-box and spouted pouch businesses. Our provision of after-sales services is currently not included in the EU Taxonomy and considered non-eligible.

Our Taxonomy KPIs and accounting policies

Our Taxonomy disclosures follow the Taxonomy Regulation and relevant delegated acts and publications as listed above. We use a simplified version of the Taxonomy’s reporting template to report on our Taxonomy-eligibility. All key performance indicators (KPIs) disclosed cover the year ended December 31, 2025.

Our progress towards Taxonomy-alignment is described in below.

Turnover KPI

The proportion of Taxonomy-eligible turnover has been calculated as the net turnover (revenue) derived from products associated with Taxonomy-eligible economic activities (numerator) divided by the total net turnover (denominator).

The denominator is net turnover as presented in the SIG Group’s consolidated statement of profit and loss and other comprehensive income under the line item “Revenue”. For further details on our revenue accounting policy, see note 6 of the consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2025.

The numerator is the revenue derived from provision of products associated with Taxonomy-eligible economic activities.

For the year ended December 31, 2025, 92.8% of the SIG Group’s revenue was Taxonomy-eligible under the objectives of climate change mitigation and transition to a circular economy (vs. 92.3% in 2024).

The following table provides an overview of our Taxonomy-eligible turnover.

Capital expenditure (CapEx) KPI

The CapEx KPI is defined as Taxonomy-eligible CapEx (numerator) divided by total CapEx (denominator).

The denominator consists of additions to tangible and intangible assets, before depreciation, amortization and any re-measurements as well as additions to tangible and intangible assets resulting from business combinations (excluding goodwill) as presented in note 12 Property, plant and equipment, note 13 Right-of-use assets and note 14 Intangible assets of the consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2025.

The numerator consists of CapEx that is related to assets or processes that are associated with Taxonomy-eligible economic activities. We allocated the Taxonomy-eligible CapEx based on the percentage of our Taxonomy-eligible turnover by type of packaging solution. By doing this, we also ensured that no double counting of eligible CapEx occurs.

For the year ended December 31, 2025, 92.6% of the SIG Group’s CapEx was Taxonomy-eligible under the objectives of climate change mitigation and transition to a circular economy (vs. 92.7% in 2024).

The following table provides an overview of our Taxonomy-eligible CapEx.

Operating expenditure (OpEx) KPI

The OpEx KPI is defined as Taxonomy-eligible OpEx (numerator) divided by total OpEx (denominator).

The denominator consists of direct non-capitalized costs related to research and development, maintenance and repair costs, expenses for short-term leases and expenses related to day-to-day servicing of property, plant and equipment. Direct costs for training and other human resource needs are not included in the denominator (or the numerator). Research and development costs recognized as an expense are included in note 14 of the consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2025. This amount includes all non-capitalized research and development costs that are directly attributable to research and development activities (and excludes depreciation and amortization expense). Other values of the denominator are derived from internal reporting systems, which are not directly reconcilable with the consolidated financial statements. Short-term leases are not significant (see note 5.5.2 of the consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2025).

The numerator consists of the OpEx related to assets or processes that are associated with Taxonomy-eligible activities. We allocated the Taxonomy-eligible OpEx based on the percentage of our Taxonomy-eligible turnover by type of packaging solution. By doing this, we also ensured that no double counting of eligible OpEx occurs.

For the year ended December 31, 2025, 92.8% of the SIG Group’s OpEx were Taxonomy-eligible under the objectives of climate change mitigation and transition to a circular economy (vs. 92.3% in 2024).

The following table provides an overview of our Taxonomy-eligible OpEx.

Taxonomy-alignment

Given the recent delays and clarifications introduced through the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) Omnibus package, our alignment efforts are being paced to coincide with the expected applicability of CSRD to our reporting obligations – currently anticipated for the 2027 financial year. We believe this phased approach ensures that our reporting is both robust and consistent with regulatory expectations, while allowing us the necessary time to refine our internal processes and data systems to support high-quality disclosures. A summary of the next steps in relation to our substantial contribution, do no significant harm and minimum safeguards is included below.

Further details about our commitments, targets, progress and performance in relation to topics described below are included in the sustainability part of our Annual Reports in the subsections Climate+, Resource+, Nature+ and Responsible culture: Our people and Our suppliers.

Additional information can also be found in our published environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) policies covering various ESG matters (https://www.sig.biz/en/sustainability/esg).

Substantial contribution

We continue to advance the alignment for all eligible activities in our carton business with 3.6 Manufacture of other low carbon technologies under the climate change mitigation objective. Our methodology for quantifying and assessing substantial greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions is being further refined to ensure robust comparison against the best-performing alternatives available on the market. This approach is underpinned by comprehensive life-cycle assessments (LCAs), conducted in accordance with internationally recognized standards such as ISO 14040, and subject to an ongoing program of independent verification.

In relation to Activity 1.1 – Manufacture of plastic packaging goods, we are continuing to research the introduction of circular polymers suitable for food contact, additionally supporting customers in meeting forthcoming regulations regarding recycled content in plastic packaging.

Do no significant harm (DNSH)

In 2025, we automated our data collection system and updated accompanying process documentation at our production facilities to support the assessment and review of compliance with the other five climate and environmental objectives.

Our other efforts so far have included:

• Climate change adaptation: A comprehensive physical climate risk assessment of our owned and leased production sites, with asset-level quantification of climate-related physical risks conducted through scenario analysis and based on Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) scenarios 2.6 and 8.5 by 2030 and 2050. Adaptation measures have either been implemented or are continuing as required (see Appendix: TCFD report: Risk management).

• Sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources: Assessment in line with the recommendations of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), analyzing the requirements regarding water quality preservation (WFD), water stress avoidance and water impact assessment (e.g. environmental impact assessment (EIA) or comparable process). This included our ISO 14001 certification for an environmental management system, using the WWF Water Risk Filter (WWF WRF).

• Transition to a circular economy: Evaluated the degree of fulfillment of the criteria, where relevant, such as the reuse and use of secondary raw materials and/or reused components in our manufactured products, or the durability, recyclability, disassembly, and adaptability of products manufactured.

• Pollution prevention and control: Screening and monitoring processes regarding the production, use or trade of chemical substances listed in certain EU regulations and directives (e.g. EU regulation 2019/1021, 2017/852, EC 1907/2006 Annex XVII and the REACH directive).

• Protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems: Identification of sites in or near biodiversity-sensitive or protected areas in line with the TNFD’s recommendations as well as the principles and methodology of the Science Based Targets Network (SBTN), based on our self-assessment on the WWF Biodiversity Risk Filter (WWF BRF) and ISO 14001 certification.

Building on this foundation, we are now working to formalize the surrounding controls to ensure consistency, traceability, and alignment with each of the other five environmental objectives. Additionally, we will begin developing targeted mitigation measures for the ‘Protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems’ objective in line with our Nature+ goal to establish biodiversity-related targets by 2027.

Minimum safeguards

We have used a structured assessment to document our compliance with the minimum safeguards at group level. The assessment covers the SIG Group and considers the recommendations for the operationalization of the minimum safeguards as set forth in the Final Report on Minimum Safeguards from the EU Platform on Sustainable Finance.

The minimum safeguards are drawn from principles expressed by the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the Fundamental Conventions of the International Labor Organization and the International Bill of Human Rights. Their objective is to ensure that any activity labeled as Taxonomy-aligned meets minimum governance standards and does not violate specific social norms, including human and labor rights.