Our Sustainability Governance

In 2022, together with the members of our Executive Committee, we established a cross-functional Sustainability Steering Committee, composed of different employees and leaders to ensure appropriate representation from across the entire organization. The Sustainability Steering Committee ensures that environmental, social, and governance considerations, related impact, risks and opportunities, and the development of sustainability-related metrics and targets, are fully integrated into our decision-making and monitoring processes, including those related to our business strategy, key investments, and performance. The Committee consists of senior management members and subject matter experts covering key areas of our operations and sustainability topics, including Compliance, Legal, Finance, Procurement, Human Resources, Site Operations, Investor Relations, and Communications.

The Executive Committee, informed regularly by the Sustainability Steering Committee, oversees and approves the measures and operational structure and progress related to the sustainability program. In addition, our Board of Directors, supported by the Audit Committee, supervises the sustainability oversight structure as well as the strategy for public disclosure with respect to ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) matters in accordance with our Corporate Governance Charter.

As the majority of our sustainability material topics are inherently aligned with our core business, the impacts, risks and related opportunities, as well as controls and procedures to manage these, are embedded in our existing governance infrastructure, as described in the Committees section of our Corporate Governance section.

Furthermore, the members of the Sustainability Steering Committee, Executive Committee, Audit Committee and Board of Directors (resp. our administrative, management, and supervisory bodies) have extensive expertise related to our sustainability material topics. 

This deep integration ensures that sustainability considerations are embedded in our governance and decision-making processes. Additionally, to further enhance our oversight capabilities, we have access to external experts for specific areas, such as carbon accounting, allowing us to supplement our in-house knowledge with specialized insights. This combination of internal expertise and external advisory support enables us to effectively manage our material impacts, risks, and opportunities, ensuring a robust approach to sustainability governance.

In 2024, to support the implementation of our sustainability program and our ambition by 2028, a corporate objective was set up specifically for ESG (see Remuneration Report). This was applicable to the entire organization, including members of the Executive Committee. Specific metrics and targets for the ongoing program are still under development.

Risk Management for ESG Reporting

Our overarching risk management framework is set out in the Risk Management and Internal Control section of this report. Many elements of sustainability risk are already included within that existing framework and are also incorporated into the Enterprise Risk Framework currently in development. As we have been building our ESG program, we have been evolving our existing risk management activities to further incorporate these additional regulatory expectations. This includes setting out the functions who are accountable for the reportable data and ensuring a robust approach to data governance to ensure accurate reporting.  

The governance of our sustainability program through the Sustainability Steering Committee, a sub-group of the Galapagos Management Committee, and regular reporting to the Galapagos Audit Committee ensure that significant risks are highlighted for appropriate resolution.