Ginkgo Bioworks Publishes Inaugural Sustainability Report

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Jul 14, 2022, 07:00 ET

The report, "Caring at Ginkgo," outlines the company's approach to sustainability, internal governance structures, and how its cell engineering platform is deployed

BOSTON, July 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE: DNA), the leading horizontal platform for cell programming, today published its inaugural Sustainability Report. The report highlights the company's vision for and approach to sustainability, includes case studies across its ecosystem, and reports data according to leading environmental, social, and governance ("ESG") frameworks.

"Ginkgo is building a horizontal platform for programming cells across organisms in any market and in the process, we're trying to address some of our most difficult environmental and societal challenges," said Jason Kelly, CEO and co-founder of Ginkgo Bioworks. "Engineers often say that technology is neutral; however, we believe that we cannot remain neutral when it comes to the use of biotechnology. We care how our platform is used and about the impact it has on the world."

Ginkgo's inaugural Sustainability Report shares the company's perspectives across three main sections: "The Impact of Cell Programming", which describes how Ginkgo seeks to prioritize environmental stewardship throughout its operations and programs; "Technology isn't Neutral", which sets out Ginkgo's views on its role in society and in its community; and "Ownership is the First Step in Caring", which outlines Ginkgo's governance structures and commitment to worker ownership. The report was guided by key ESG frameworks and standards, as well as a third-party led materiality assessment informed by stakeholder engagement.

"Making biology easier to engineer requires working on not just the technical aspects of programming DNA, but also on how we build our culture, our governance, and our ecosystem," said Christina Agapakis, Head of the Sociotechnical Studio at Ginkgo Bioworks. "This is our first sustainability report as a public company, bringing together the environmental impact, social context, and governance of synthetic biology under our framework for caring how our platform is used. We look forward to sharing our progress and continuing the conversation about the impacts and implications of synthetic biology, because a future where we can grow everything requires care, transparency, and many voices."

One core focus of Ginkgo's ESG framework involves the use of its cell programming platform to positively impact the environment. In recent years, companies have increasingly looked to synthetic biology to reduce emissions and reliance on limited natural resources. Ginkgo's platform has supported a variety of companies and initiatives involved in the development of climate tech, including:

Genomatica, which is seeking to accelerate the world's transformation to sustainable materials by replacing fossil fuel sources with plants;
Joyn Bio and Bayer, which are developing engineered microbes to provide nitrogen for crops to significantly reduce the need for synthetic fertilizer;
Motif Foodworks, which is developing proteins and molecules that make plant-based protein more delicious and contribute to more sustainable food systems; and
Allonnia, which is developing enzymes that degrade harmful plastics and other environmental toxins.

Moving forward, Ginkgo plans to regularly assess its own sustainability impact, working alongside third parties to facilitate the development and availability of evaluation tools useful for the broader bioeconomy ecosystem.

About Ginkgo Bioworks
Ginkgo is building a platform to enable customers to program cells as easily as we can program computers. The company's platform is enabling biotechnology applications across diverse markets, from food and agriculture to industrial chemicals to pharmaceuticals. Ginkgo has also actively supported a number of COVID-19 response efforts, including K-12 pooled testing, vaccine manufacturing optimization and therapeutics discovery. For more information, visit www.ginkgobioworks.com.

Forward-Looking Statements of Ginkgo Bioworks
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including statements regarding the potential success of Ginkgo's cell programming platform and its planned development of sustainability impact evaluation tools. These forward-looking statements generally are identified by the words "believe," "can," "project," "potential," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "strategy," "future," "opportunity," "plan," "may," "should," "will," "would," "will be," "will continue," "will likely result," and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are predictions, projections and other statements about future events that are based on current expectations and assumptions and, as a result, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause actual future events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this press release, including but not limited to: (i) the effect of Ginkgo's business combination with Soaring Eagle Acquisition Corp. ("Soaring Eagle") on Ginkgo's business relationships, performance, and business generally, (ii) risks that the business combination disrupts current plans of Ginkgo and potential difficulties in Ginkgo's employee retention, (iii) the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against Ginkgo related to its business combination with Soaring Eagle, (iv) volatility in the price of Ginkgo's securities now that it is a public company due to a variety of factors, including changes in the competitive and highly regulated industries in which Ginkgo operates and plans to operate, variations in performance across competitors, changes in laws and regulations affecting Ginkgo's business and changes in the combined capital structure, (v) the ability to implement business plans, forecasts, and other expectations after the completion of the business combination, and identify and realize additional opportunities, (vi) the risk of downturns in demand for products using synthetic biology, (vii) the unpredictability of the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and the demand for COVID-19 testing and the commercial viability of our COVID-19 testing business, and (viii) changes to the biosecurity industry, including due to advancements in technology, emerging competition and evolution in industry demands, standards and regulations. The foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. You should carefully consider the foregoing factors and the other risks and uncertainties described in the "Risk Factors" section of Ginkgo's quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on May 16, 2022 and other documents filed by Ginkgo from time to time with the SEC. These filings identify and address other important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and Ginkgo assumes no obligation and does not intend to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Ginkgo does not give any assurance that it will achieve its expectations.

GINKGO BIOWORKS INVESTOR CONTACT:
[email protected]

GINKGO BIOWORKS MEDIA CONTACT:
[email protected]

SOURCE Ginkgo Bioworks