Report of the Chairman
of the Board of Trustees

With the end of the 2021 financial year, we now have put yet another challenging year of the coronavirus pandemic behind us. While the threat is not entirely behind us yet in this crisis, people have already found themselves in a new exceptional situation: the war in Ukraine has changed the world order, and has also appalled me personally. But the conflict has also impacted the global economy and capital markets. The Board of Trustees addressed the situation straight away. The investments of the RAG-Stiftung are currently only minimally affected. The Board of Trustees will continue to closely follow the developments which cannot be predicted today.

Fortunately in the 2021 financial year, the RAG-Stiftung was once again able to accomplish its objectives in full: foundation assets amounted to some 21 billion euros at the end of 2021. The net annual profit of 665 million euros was carried over to the provisions for financing the perpetual obligations. Another 27 million euros were earmarked for support projects in the areas of education, science and culture. So we have once again demonstrated that you can count on the RAG-Stiftung.

In 2021, the 14 members of the Board of Trustees discussed the situation and the concerns of the foundation in the meetings on 10 May and 29 November in depth. After telephone and videoconferences due to COVID-19, it was a welcome development that the November meeting could once again be held in person.

The Board of Executives informed the Board of Trustees about all of the current topics, and all of the required resolutions were adopted by the Board of Trustees. These concerned, among other matters, the Annual Report and the annual financial statements, the discharge of the Board of Executives for 2020 and the agreement of goals for the Board of Executives, which included ESG targets for the first time. The economic plan for 2022 was also approved. In this regard, I would like to highlight the approval of a special budget for the victims of the catastrophic floods in 2021. The Board of Trustees expressed its appreciation for the fact that, in the old tradition of coal mining, the RAG-Stiftung made a donation of one million euros to help in these extraordinary circumstances.

The Board of Executives of the foundation informed the Board of Trustees about all developments related to the RAG-Stiftung during meetings as well as via quarterly reports. One focus of the reporting was the diversified investments and the continued progress of the assets. Another focus was the strategic holdings – above all Evonik Industries AG, which, among other things, made an important contribution to fighting the pandemic by supplying the necessary lipids for the BioNTech vaccine. The reports also addressed RAG AG, with a focus on the withdrawal processes, the approval situation regarding water rights and its contribution to the generational project for the renaturation of the Emscher river. Furthermore, the Board of Executives reported on the very successful development of Vivawest GmbH as well as RSBG SE and its new management. At its annual meeting, the finance committee of the Board of Trustees took an in-depth and detailed look at the diversified investments, investment strategy and risk management of the foundation.

Additionally, the Board of Executives presented the impressive record of success of the many support projects in the areas of education, science and culture to the Board of Trustees as well as provided information on issues related to corporate governance and compliance structures in the Foundation Group. Beyond that, I also engaged in regular dialogue with the Board of Executives between the meetings.

The Board of Trustees welcomed three ex officio members over the course of the year: Minister President Hendrik Wüst, Federal Minister of Finance Christian Lindner and Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Dr Robert Habeck. I would like to thank the three former members Armin Laschet, Olaf Scholz and Peter Altmaier for their many years of successful work on the Board of Trustees of the foundation and I look forward to working with the board in its new constellation. Moreover, I would like to thank Barbara Schlüter, who resigned from the Board of Trustees at the end of the year.

On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I would also like to once again extend my gratitude to the Board of Executives as well as all employees of the RAG-Stiftung for their dedication and successful work.

In the spirit of the traditional German miners’ greeting ‘Glück auf!’ (‘good luck’), I wish you the best of luck!

Sincerely,

Dr Jürgen Großmann
Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the RAG-Stiftung