How Benson Hill Thinks About ESG Reporting: A Conversation

Written by Anthony Kingsley , Senior Director of Sustainability, ESG & Stakeholder Engagement at Benson Hill ?

Last month Benson Hill unveiled its first ESG report and held a companywide fireside chat to preview it. I sat down with our CEO Matt Crisp to unpack the basics of ESG reporting with our team members to help them better understand our ESG opportunities and engage in a conversation about how reporting can help companies improve performance, deepen relationships with crucial stakeholders and guide future decision making. Here are a few excerpts:?

Matt Crisp: Let’s start from the beginning. What is ESG? What does it mean? What does it stand for? What does it represent??

Anthony Kingsley: The acronym ESG stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance. The way I like to think about ESG is being able to understand the non-financial indicators that impact the business. As a society, we have built a process around how we evaluate a company’s financial success. We have GAAP standards. We have balance sheets. We have income statements. But there are many other factors and activities that happen within a business every day that are not always captured in the finances. And so, the world of ESG is really this broad universe of everything that does not necessarily show up (or is valued in) that financial reporting process. ?

For example, if we think about the E for environmental, we need to consider how we value and ensure the longevity of the natural resources upon which our company relies. We need to determine if we emit pollution from our operations, or if other industry pollution affects our business, especially when it comes to growing crops. The availability of water is a growing concern, so we need to assess our use and access to fresh water. And when it comes to biodiversity’s impact on our business, we need to quantify the loss or enrichment of biodiversity, whether that be insects, animals, or plants.?

We then think about the S, social and human capital. We look at how we impact the community around us, how our business contributes to the economic viability of our communities, and how we are creating products that meet consumer demand. Our human resources team has been very involved in this process from the lens of cultivating a company culture where our team members can thrive. ?

And then the G is for governance. It’s about how we create a business infrastructure that helps people work within it and be successful. We ensure there are checks and balances. At Benson Hill, we have a board of directors and a variety of committees ensuring dedicated time to have the right conversations, bringing in different perspectives, and running a business that we know can last over the long term.

MC: Benson Hill is a pure play ESG company and fundamentally that means we can do all these things at the foundational level, right??

AK: The most compelling and unique benefit of operating our business is that as we succeed from a commercial perspective, we inherently increase our environmental and social value to society. More sales and revenue equate to a favorable set of outcomes because the products we are creating have less of an environmental footprint. Broadly, much of the current public discourse on ESG is focused on mitigating risk to the business – and this is certainly an area of focus for us – but Benson Hill’s true value is bringing products to market that environmentally and socially generate positive impact for society.?

Another way to think about the ESG pure play piece is that Benson Hill products are helping the community, our customers, and consumers meet their own environmental or social goals.

MC: So, as we look at ESG we have three letters, three meanings, three buckets of opportunity. People tend to default to environmental sustainability and focus on terms like greenhouse gases, water usage or even dive into the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. How should we be thinking about the weight of each of these three things??

AK: The reality is, it is a journey. When people hear ESG or sustainability, I believe they think of the E, and this isn’t different at Benson Hill. My hypothesis on why is simply because benchmarks related to our impact on the environment don’t have a home and are often driven by the ESG or sustainability function. For many metrics that fit within the S, we have a human resources department. We have a legal department and board of directors for a Governance structure. The weighting of individual issues is continuously evolving for all companies depending on current events, the latest science, or customer needs. There is a lot within the universe of ESG, so our role as a team is to evaluate this universe and help our organization prioritize based on our internal and external stakeholder needs. After we prioritize, we identify gaps, socialize internally and agree on goals and a plan forward.?

MC: When I get asked about ESG, particularly around the S and the G components, I like to point out that as a technology company we are engaged in the agri-food value chain and uniquely positioned to make an impact on the S. Can you outline how with our work with farming communities and focus on health and nutrition play a role to create a positive impact on society???

AK: We hear often about our “social license to operate.” It’s this idea that we are not only here to be in business and to make money, but to your point, especially as a food company, we are here to help provide products that deliver more nutritious and more accessible food options. Our customers and community react to that positively, and they understand Benson Hill is not a typical food company. Benson Hill has the capability to start with the consumer to identify their needs, then leverage technology to grow more nutritious foods through an integrated closed-loop supply chain. We can have a positive impact on our community through those strong lines of direct dialogue. ?

MC: Let’s toggle to Benson Hill. Can you share some of the work that has been done over the last many months by you and your team??

AK: ESG reporting and the path to get there does not happen in a silo. The ESG report we created is not just the work that our ESG team has done but reflects the work the entire organization has completed. The team’s role is engaging our cross-functional colleagues to collect data and relevant information and frame it in a way that is meaningful to our key partners and stakeholders. For example, we completed an initial GHG (greenhouse gas) inventory of our 2021 operations, calculating total scope 1 and scope 2 emissions. We highlighted areas of best practice for governance on our board of directors and pulled together our Sustainable Food Advisory Council to advise and showcase our checks-and-balance structure. The report is representative of everyone’s work every single day.?

The report also focuses on our connection with farmers and our combined work to address soil health and conservation practices. The report also highlights the life cycle assessment (LCA) of our soy ingredient portfolio showcasing reductions in carbon and water usage. That LCA information is helpful to our customers. The ESG report also demonstrates the management of our workplace health and safety, and our commitment to the well-being of our team members.

The report truly links food science, data science, and plant science as we drive our mission to set the pace of food innovation. ???????????????????????????????????????????????

If you are interested in learning more about Benson Hill’s?first Environmental, Social and Governance Report, please reach out to me to have a conversation. ??

Thank you for being on this journey with us, ?

Anthony

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