Our Environmental Policy covers resource outflows, stating that we strive to minimize generation of waste from our business by including circularity principles, such as durability, repairability, recyclability and ease-of-disassembly, into the design of our products. The policy also states that in terms of management of products in-market or at end-of-life, we strive to recover or maintain value through services and partnerships that support reuse, refurbishment or recycling of products or components through enabling remanufacturing, refurbishment, repair, out-of-warranty takeback schemes and as-a-service leasing models. This policy is approved by our Board of Directors, and Executive Management is accountable for implementation.

For video, audio and gaming products, based on the data inputs used, it was concluded that legal warranty period is the most appropriate data type for estimating products’ durability. We estimate that product durability for these products is equal to the warranty period at a minimum. In practice the products will often last longer than the minimum warranty period. The warranty period for these products differs, ranging from 1 to 5 years. Gaming and consumer products typically have 1-2 years warranty, video products typically have 2 years warranty, while selected Biz, BlueParrott and Engage headsets typically have 3 years warranty. Extended warranty services can increase warranty up to 5 years for selected products. For hearing aids, we design our products to minimum 5-year durability, which takes origin in the initial requirements for the minimum storage time for documentation in the Medical Device Directive. GN is therefore required to ensure safe and effective use of its products for at least 5 years, which is documented in our submissions to authorities as part of product approval. Comparing to industry average is not possible, as these are not available and with this being the first year in which CSRD is in place, we cannot calculate an average based on other companies in CSRD’s scope within our industries either. We therefore limit the disclosure to the estimated durability of our products.

GN has established an internal repairability index which assesses the ease of repairing a product. Based on the repairability index calculation, products are divided into five categories: highly repairable, very repairable, medium repairable, low repairable and not repairable. For new audio, video and gaming products, product repairability is assessed in the early product development phase to provide input to the project team on how to improve product design for repair. In 2024, GN conducted repairability assessment for 19 enterprise and gaming products. The analysis conducted shows that 60% to 70% of the assessed products are highly repairable (5 out of 5 on our repairability index) or very repairable (4 out of 5 on our repairability index). Hearing products were not included in the formal assessment process, but returned in-warranty hearing devices are remanufactured at our site in Malaysia and returned to the market as replacement devices. The remanufacturing rate of 48% demonstrates the repairability of these products.

The rate of recyclable content across GN products in 2024 was 67%, while recyclable content of packaging was 81%. Materials considered to be recyclable, such as plastics, metals and cables, accounted for approximately 36%, 17% and 5% of total product weight, respectively.

The rate of recyclable content across GN products in 2024 was 67%, while recyclable content of packaging was 81%. Materials considered to be recyclable, such as plastics, metals and cables, accounted for approximately 36%, 17% and 5% of total product weight, respectively.

All resource inflows metrics are estimated using our product lifecycle assessments (LCAs), as these contain verified component-level data, including material composition and measured weight. The LCAs we have available are allocated at the item level across the product portfolio. All LCAs are third-party verified according to ISO 14067. For products currently lacking an LCA, a reference LCA is allocated. Professional judgement is applied in the selection of a reference that will best represent the product or part. An uplift is conducted for items that cannot be represented by an LCA, based on the calculated average per unit volume purchased or produced. For Enterprise, Gaming & Consumer products, one unit packaging per unit product has been assumed.

All resource inflows metrics are estimated using our product lifecycle assessments (LCAs), as these contain verified component-level data, including material composition and measured weight. The LCAs we have available are allocated at the item level across the product portfolio. All LCAs are third-party verified according to ISO 14067. For products currently lacking an LCA, a reference LCA is allocated. Professional judgement is applied in the selection of a reference that will best represent the product or part. An uplift is conducted for items that cannot be represented by an LCA, based on the calculated average per unit volume purchased or produced. For Enterprise, Gaming & Consumer products, one unit packaging per unit product has been assumed.

Our Environmental Policy also covers resource outflows, stating that we strive to minimize generation of waste from our business by including circularity principles, such as durability, repairability, recyclability and ease-of-disassembly, into the design of our products. The policy also states that in terms of management of products in-market or at end-of-life, we strive to recover or maintain value through services and partnerships that support reuse, refurbishment or recycling of products or components through enabling remanufacturing, refurbishment, repair, out-of-warranty takeback schemes and as-a-service leasing models. This policy is approved by our Board of Directors, and Executive Management is accountable for implementation. Our policy commitments also include ongoing work to ensure compliance with product recycling legislation, where we finance recycling infrastructure according to the EU WEEE directive in EU markets. In the U.S. states, where some of our products are covered by extended producer responsibility legislation, in 2024 we established partnerships to enable end-users to send their products in for recycling.