Saint-Gobain // Universal Registration Document 2021

Strategy The Group’s environment

1.1.2

Environment and use of natural

Saint-Gobain, through its unique position in the value chain, contributes to meeting the decarbonization challenge by offering its industrial and construction customers options that actively contribute to this objective (see chapter 3, section 2.1.4). The solutions sold by the Group in one year allow to reduce (1) CO 2 emissions a total of nearly 1,300 million tons over their entire life cycle (thus exceeding by far the Group's own carbon footprint), by improving the energy efficiency of buildings and by avoiding emissions through light construction techniques. Saint-Gobain also plays a key role by helping to mobilize the entire building value chain towards a common goal of decarbonization. The Group is also working to reduce the impact of its own operations in terms of GHG emissions, in particular by constantly improving the efficiency of its processes.

resources The pressure on natural resources is increasing markedly, and yet their extraction continues to grow. The “day of exceedance” is the date on which humanity’s annual demands on nature (ecological footprint) exceeds the Earth’s capacity to regenerate natural resources over the entire year (biocapacity). If this benchmark day – calculated by the NGO Global Footprint Network (2) – was at the beginning of November in 1980, in 2021 it was July 29, indicating that it would take 1.75 planet Earths to meet the current global consumption of resources without exceeding the capacity of natural regeneration. However, economic crises prove that specific actions have tangible results: as the WWF notes, “The measures taken to deal with the pandemic have in fact pushed back the date by three weeks: the lockdown led to a reduction of the global carbon footprint of 14.5% (3) ”.

2

Number of planet Earths required to meet resource consumption (4)

2.0

1.5

1.0

0.5

0

1968

1966

1961

2013

1963

1970

1965

1967

1969

1962

1971

1972

1974

1973

1976

1975

2004

2003

2010

2005

2002

2012

2006

2008

1977

2011

2007

2009

2017

2014

2001

1983

2016

1978

2000

2015

1982

1984

1989

1979

1986

1988

1980

1985

1987

1999

1994

1997

1981

1993

1996

1998

1990

1995

1991

1992

1964

This indicator, useful because it is symbolic, in fact only agriculture, industry and energy production, since 2000 represents part of the subject of human use of natural the Earth’s fresh water has been decreasing by one resources on the planet’s surface: it does not take into centimeter per year (6) . According to the latest WMO account the gradual depletion of fossil resources report, more than five billion people will suffer from extracted, and in particular hydrocarbons. At the same insufficient access to water by 2050, i.e. more than half of time, it is estimated that the consumption of natural the world’s population (7) . Here too, buildings play an resources has tripled over the last 50 years (5) . Fresh water, essential role, accounting for 40% of energy consumption an essential and scarce resource (only 0.5% of the earth’s and also 12% of drinking water consumption, 38% of water is usable and available for consumption) is a greenhouse gas emissions and 40% of solid waste representative example of this trend: necessary for cities, production (8) . (1) Evaluated in 2019. (2) Calculated by the NGO Global Footprint Network on the basis of data from sources such as the International Energy Agency or the Carbon Project. The calculation methodology is explained here: https://www.overshootday.org/2021-calculation/ and here: https://www.overshootday.org/about-earth-overshoot-day/ (3) Worldwide Fund for Nature, https://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/overshoot-day (4) National Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts, 2021 Edition. http://data.footprintnetwork.org (5) Krausmann Fridolin et al., 2018. (6) Fresh water being defined as errestrial water storage, i.e. the summation of all water on the land surface and in the subsurface, including soil moisture, snow and ice. (7) World Meteorological Organization (WMO): The State of Climate Services 2021: Water – https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/wake-looming-water-crisis-report-warns (8) United Nations Environment Program-Sustainable Buildings and Climate Initiatives (UNEP-SBCI): “Building Design and Construction: Forging Resource Efficiency and Sustainable Development”.

SAINT-GOBAIN UNIVERSAL REGISTRATION DOCUMENT 2021 41