Responsibly meeting energy demands and maintaining sustainability standards

Lead recycling has played a crucial role in meeting the growing global demand for energy. This process has allowed us to deliver essential resources while minimizing our environmental footprint. Remarkably, 70% of the world's rechargeable battery energy storage capacity is provided by lead batteries, and 99% of the materials used in lead batteries can be recycled or re-used.

In fact, lead batteries are the most recycled consumer product on the planet. However, even this impressive recycling rate is not enough to fully meet the increasing sustainability standards globally. Therefore, Green Volta is committed to demonstrating that end-of-life lead-acid batteries can be reused one more time before disposal. By implementing this innovative reuse process, we can reduce the need for recycling itself.

Dr. Andy Bush, Managing Director of the International Lead Association, emphasizes that lead batteries are "a truly green energy storage solution."

To be released in early 2026.

Please read below to learn more about how we manage our social, environmental and economic commitments.

Social

Stakeholder Engagement

Green Volta operates with the consent of the stakeholders. We recognize the importance of their goodwill and the responsibility we have to operate safely, economically, soundly and in an environmentally sustainable manner. Our stakeholders expect us to be a fair and responsible stakeholder member. When we honor our commitments, we build trust with our stakeholders.

Employment

The Green Volta Company’s values affirm our organization’s culture and commitment to sound and ethical business practices.

This starts with how we treat our employees and applicants. Our goal is to attract and retain the best employees in order to help us achieve our goals, so it is important that we strive to respect and invest in our people and consider workforce and industry best practices. We do this by paying our employees overall higher-than-average local wages and providing affordable health benefits.

Our approach to employment and workers follows the principles of equal employment opportunity and affirmative action in all employment policies and practices, including our recruiting, hiring, compensation, benefits, transfers, training, promotions, company-sponsored events, and other employment activities. Specifically, we comply with all applicable laws governing the rights of workers, including those to form, join or organize unions of their choice, and the rights of workers to refrain from any or all such activities. We do not engage in and abhor child labor, coerced labor and human trafficking. We respect the rights of all peoples and comply with all applicable national, state, and local labor and employment laws.

We also provide employees with training and development opportunities, which are important to help employees perform their best, build new skills and enable the company to thrive. We believe this approach fosters greater employee satisfaction, so that they stay with us, become great at what they do and help others become so, too.

Our employee handbook outlines our business code of conduct, hiring practices, time and attendance policies, anti-harassment policies, compensation and pay practices, benefit and leave policies, and much more for employees. We provide helpful resources, such as an employee helpline, which allows employees to report anything that might be illegal or unethical, or violations of company policy. We introduce all new employees to these materials during orientation, and regularly review them with employees when and if changes are made to a policy, or if a need is identified.

We support a culture of respect, continuous improvement and safety by identifying competencies that are aligned directly to our values and have built them into our talent management practices. We assess and review talent for our critical positions companywide on an annual basis and offer tools for learning to plan for succession and prepare our workforce for future success. We recognize and respect that every employee has a voice and opinion that matters. Diversity in experience, thought and ideas is encouraged.

Building a culture of respect and investment in our people is a strategic priority, but it’s increasingly important as the entire recycling and reuse industry faces a growing demand for talent to replace retiring employees. How we attract, build and retain top talent will directly impact our long-term success as a company and an industry. That is why we aim to be viewed as a preferred employer by promoting a culture of safety and environmental compliance, teamwork and collaboration, fairness and consistency, oversight and standardization, communication and advocacy.

Health and Safety

We depend on one another to operate safely and to protect each other, the community and the environment. We share updates internally on a monthly basis, report incidents according to regulatory requirements and share our annual results in this Sustainability Report.

Green Volta’s approach to employee health and safety includes continual training and protective standards that meet or exceed industry and regulatory standards. Training is critical to helping us keep our employees safe and is required to meet certain compliance and regulatory guidelines, as well as to cover essential work-related skills, techniques and knowledge. We ensure that our employees possess the right skills to help our business succeed, and conduct refreshers to address changes in guidelines, technology, processes, etc.

We track our training hours for each employee, along with course titles and dates of completion. This data is collected by the training facilitator/subject matter expert, verified and entered into our training database. Supervisors are responsible for confirming that all employees receive required trainings, as well as annual refreshers and/or continuing education as needed.

Green Volta also tracks and reports on key health and safety metrics on a monthly and annual basis to identify opportunities for improvement. We track our exposed workforce’s blood-lead levels (the trace amount of lead the body may absorb through exposure), accidents and incident rates. Monthly reports are shared all the way up through the executive level.

Our reuse activities have the potential for employees to be exposed to airborne lead particles. Green Volta employees are trained in proper lead handling and personal hygiene processes to reduce their exposure. Personal protective equipment is worn in areas of exposure, and employees who work in certain areas are required to wash thoroughly and change clothes and shoes before eating or going home each day. Green Volta’s standards for workforce exposure to lead are more stringent than government requirements, and progress is measured to the microgram, or one millionth of a gram. The lead industry voluntarily self-monitors and self-reports on employees’ blood-lead concentrations in micrograms of lead per deciliter of whole blood (μg/dL). Doe Run reports this information in our Sustainability Report. In addition, on a monthly basis, we track and monitor internally those employees whose blood-lead levels are 15-19 μg/dL and employees whose levels are greater than 19 μg/dL. Doe Run counsels employees who cross a certain threshold to identify particular areas of exposure, and work on individualized plans to address those areas. Employees whose levels exceed 25 μg/dL are temporarily reassigned to a job area with reduced exposure. By comparison, the adjusted OSHA standard for medical reassignment of an employee is 53 μg/dL.

We use a variety of tools to assist in identifying safety improvement opportunities, and we involve employees to develop solutions to address them. Some examples of routine safety steps employees take include pre-shift equipment inspections and daily inspections of their work areas to identify any potential hazards, and reporting near misses – situations that could have resulted in an accident but did not – to help prevent potential injuries.

Environmental

Emissions

We will report on our environmental performance each year for the sake of transparency regarding potential environmental impacts and to inform our neighbors and other stakeholders about our efforts to minimize such impacts.

Green Volta’s reengineering activities involve permitted emissions into the environment, which is why we have robust management systems in place to mitigate any potential impact to the environment and maintain permit compliance. Such emissions are monitored and reported, as appropriate, to regulatory bodies, including the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

We have a few measures in place to minimize, treat and prevent emissions in order to ensure a safe work environment and to meet regulatory requirements with respect to water and air. Water released from our property must meet limits established in facility-specific operating permits. Air emissions also must meet standards. Green Volta will use baghouses, scrubbers, ventilation systems and enclosures, among other methods, to manage these emissions. Our air emissions are regularly monitored and reported, and ambient conditions are evaluated by air monitors designed to measure concentrations on-site as well as beyond our property line. We also use a system that enables us to monitor air emissions continuously.

To further monitor and improve in this area, we will maintain International Environmental standards.

Energy

Energy consumption constitutes one of our largest operating costs for reengineering the end-of-life batteries. The electricity we use is purchased from our local utilities, which generate the majority of their electricity from fossil fuels, but Green Volta plans to replace the electricity source to the solar energy by installing the solar panels on the factory roof or the area near the factory. Energy usage and costs are tracked monthly for each of the operations.

Economic

Compliance

Our activities are subject to a wide range of laws and regulations governing worker health and safety, land use, environmental protections, and many other areas. Compliance in this regulatory environment is crucial to our business and our reputation. By operating a responsible business, we are able to continue to protect our shared environment, employ our people, support our local economy, and provide necessary minerals and metals to a global society.

Our commitment to conduct business in a manner that adheres to all applicable laws and regulations is stated in our employee handbooks and Standards of Business Conduct. We also participate in key voluntary compliance and reporting programs to demonstrate our commitment to transparency and good governance. We prepare to hold International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certifications at our facilities to help us maintain environmental (ISO 14001) and product (ISO 9001) quality standards. These sites undergo third-party certification to ensure ISO standards are met.

Green Volta will get the Environmental Management System (EMS) and it will follow ISO standards to help Green Volta ensure that measures are properly implemented to meet environmental regulations. Within this program is the Environmental Task Management System (ETMS), which integrates our environmental tasks into a calendar system with reminders that allows us to track the completion of reoccurring tasks, such as sampling events.

In addition to internal efforts to verify performance, regulators closely monitor our activities. Sites are frequently inspected by state and federal government agencies that review our operational, health and safety, and environmental performance. Our facilities are subject to regulation by, among others, the Mine Safety and Health Administration, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the United States Environmental Protection Agency. These agencies conduct inspections on a regular basis.

Leadership Team

As a disruptive creator of the battery reuse market, Green Volta is guided by a 2 executive team and the board of directors. We call them a leadership team. The executive team will keep small for the first 2 years because of the big support from the board of directors who are highly experienced in the certain areas like financing, marketing and energy industry. Their compensation is determined using market-based data and standard industry practices.

The leadership team is responsible for setting the business strategy and organizational structure of Green Volta, as well as the company’s economic, social, and environmental policies, and its goals and performance. The leadership team regularly consults with stakeholders, including employees, customers, legislators, regulators and shareholders, to understand their needs and potential business impacts.

The leadership team is actively involved in reviewing each division’s production, workforce, environmental, health and safety performance, as well as broader economic performance by division and for the company and its subsidiaries. These topics are reviewed by the team at least weekly.

Executives receive base and variable compensation. Base compensation is based on years of experience, competitive market analysis and areas of responsibility. Variable or performance-based compensation is based on performance against established metrics that are set at the start of each fiscal year.

As a part of our annual profit planning process, the leadership team sets company goals and identifies projects, including those that further implement sustainability in the company’s operations. Company projects must align to company goals and have specific metrics. Company projects are reviewed continually. Many of the projects are reported on in the Sustainability Report, which is prepared by a team of employees across all divisions, as assigned by the leadership team. Sustainability and its governance are set by the leadership team who reviews and approves Green Volta’s Sustainability Report.

Policies, Procedures and Practices

Green Volta’s board of directors expects management to keep pace with best practices in corporate governance. To accomplish this goal, Green Volta utilizes a stringent set of corporate governance policies, procedures and practices to ensure that the business is properly directed, administered and controlled.

Green Volta follows rigorous procedures for our internal control systems. These procedures include conscientious design of systems, with a focus on segregation of duties wherever practicable, and proper documentation and annual testing of the operations of these systems. Green Volta also undergoes external audits, including testing of internal controls, by an independent accounting firm, which is required to adhere to Generally Accepted Auditing Standards (GAAS) as established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Green Volta has written procedures and policies in place to ensure the accuracy and completeness of our financial records and the effectiveness of our internal control systems, particularly in such areas as accounting, inventory, purchasing and sales transactions. In addition, the legal department reviews contracts for legal risks to the business, and our standard vendor setup packet identifies any personal relationships to Green Volta employees that could pose a conflict of interest. The decision to take these steps is consistent with our desire to conduct business ethically and responsibly.

Green Volta adheres to the requirements of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). In doing so, Green Volta will develop annual affirmative action plans, which support the principles of equal employment opportunity and affirmative action in all of our vendor agreements, as well as employment policies and practices, including recruiting, hiring, compensation, benefits, transfers, training, promotions, social recreation programs, company-sponsored events, and in other terms and conditions of employment.

Green Volta strives to maintain open communication with important audiences both inside and outside the company. As described within the Reporting Process, Green Volta holds regular meetings with employees and engages in ongoing conversations with external stakeholders. We also periodically survey employees and community stakeholders. When we receive community concerns, we investigate the source of the concern and take appropriate measures to address those concerns as promptly as possible.

As part of the company’s employee handbooks, which cover company policies, procedures and practices, Green Volta also provides Standards of Business Conduct. These handbooks include our ethics policy, practices to help avoid and address conflicts of interest and bribery, including our compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and how to report suspicious activities, among other information. These policies are reviewed at onboarding, and employees acknowledge their receipt of the handbooks on an annual basis.

In addition to providing on-site HR support, we will provide our employees with a mechanism by which they can anonymously share issues or concerns via a hotline system managed by an outside third party. Once an employee makes a report, the third-party firm notifies human resources and legal department leadership. Timely investigations are conducted for all reports made to the hotline. Any necessary communication between the reporter and the company is handled through the third-party system, unless an employee elects otherwise, to resolve issues as discreetly as possible.

Those interested in employment or advancement can begin learning about the company’s expectations, values and sustainability policy from our website, recruitment ads, new hire orientation and leadership development programs. In addition, the company’s Standards of Business Conduct and Company Values, Vision, Mission and Business Strategy are reviewed formally during the onboarding process and throughout our leadership development programs. Employees receive updated versions of the employee handbooks and Standards of Business Conduct as revisions are made, and also can access these documents online.

Green Volta is committed to providing good-paying jobs in our communities. All salaried positions are periodically reviewed for total compensation for competitive purposes. Compensation equity is reviewed as a part of that analysis and also reviewed with promotions. Benefits are reviewed annually.

This report contains Standard Disclosures from the Global Reporting Initiative(GRI) Sustainability Reporting Guidelines. A list of the reported Standard Disclosures is listed below. All information is fully disclosed, unless otherwise indicated.

All the disclosures will be provided from 2025 January.