1. Completion of acquisition of Tiriac Operating Leasing

One of last year’s projects of strategic importance to Autonom was the acquisition of Țiriac Operating Lease (Premium Leasing SRL), agreed with Țiriac Group, a business with annual revenues of over RON 90 million, assets of over RON 200 million and a fleet of over 2600 cars. The takeover was an exemplary performance of our Company’s team, a renewed proof of our ability to effectively integrate other companies into our business model. The strategic importance of this project is pointed out because, as a result of this acquisition, Autonom has consolidated its market position in the top three players.

2. Eur 15 million in funding from the European Investment Bank (EIB) as part of the green fleet transition program

Autonom has announced a new strategic financing partner, i.e. the European Investment Bank, with which it will speed up the transition to a green fleet. The funding amounts to Eur 15 million and aims at increasing the use of electric vehicles and of vehicles with reduced carbon footprint by Romanian companies.

In the mobility sector, where Autonom operates, green investments are key to the Company’s sustainable development.

3. Management of the crisis in Ukraine and Help initiative

The outbreak of the war in Ukraine took us by surprise because we did not consider it a real risk, but we adapted quickly to the circumstances and our Help platform - which we developed and used during the pandemic - was up and running in less than 24 hours. More than 100 requests came through the Help initiative, and we managed to get involved at the national level, by doing more than just providing transport. We acted as a link, thus once again showing our commitment to doing whatever it takes to support the community when we are needed. We provided vehicles to journalists in order for them to get to the war zone to keep the public updated on the front line of the war.

We got over 100 requests in less than 24 hours after the outbreak of the war and we managed to get involved at the national level. We rented cars to journalists because it was very difficult for them to get to the war zone.

4. Community involvement projects

This year marked an important milestone milestone for us and for Autonom Foundation as we celebrated 10 years of involvement in the community, 10 years in which we carried out more than 840 projects with an impact on education.

In 2022, we carried out a total of 202 different education projects, with over 300 Autonom volunteers, for 4500 beneficiaries, in over 88 localities. We are also proud to mention that Devino AutonOM Program included over 450 children from all over the country. A novelty of this program was the development of a sustainability topic.

5. Development of Autonom as a brand and supported events in 2022

An important objective pursued last year was the development of Autonom as a brand, by defining the positioning, the universe of the brand and the main directions of communication. Together with an external consultant, we outlined Autonom’s brand strategy for the coming years.

A well-defined brand strategy helps to build a coherent and memorable image in the minds of consumers, achieve brand awareness and loyalty, and increase brand value in the market. By promoting our values through the Company’s messages and marketing activities, brand strategy contributes to the creation of an emotional connection and long-lasting relations with customers, which can lead to long-term business success.

Also, a priority for us in 2022 was to increase the visibility of Autonom brand through existing channels, but also through new long-term partnerships to back us in our mission to support local entrepreneurship, culture and sports. Here are some of the initiatives we got involved in last year:

• Business events: in May, we resumed the series of events for entrepreneurs from all over the country, Autonom Business Elite, aiming at strengthening entrepreneurial communities. We successfully organized six editions in Brașov, Constanța, Iași, Cluj, Timișoara and Craiova.
• Cultural events: Vast&Curious, George Enescu Festival, Sonoro, Sunscreen.
• Sports events: Bucharest Half Marathon and Marathon, Transmarathon, Galați Ultramarathon, Hope Run race, Casa Bună Cup, Transfier, Haiduci si Domnițe and more.

6. Awards in 2022

We are proud of the numerous awards and accolades we earned for our efforts in 2022. Here are some examples:

• Capital Market Innovation Award from Bucharest Stock Exchange for our sustainability-linked bond issue.
• Gold Level Recognition as part of Romania CSR Index 2022 ranking for our performance in terms of sustainability governance, economic, environmental and social impact, as well as for our transparency in disclosing information in our 2021 Sustainability Report.
• Mobility in New Markets Award from Profit.ro in recognition of our vision of business integration, expansion into new markets and spectacular growth of our business.
• Last but not least, as a result of the feedback from our current and former co-workers, Autonom was included in the Top 100 Best Employers ranked by Undelucram.ro, the largest online community dedicated to employees in Romania.

Key events in terms of ESG in 2022

7. Publication of the first Sustainability Report

In April, we published our first Sustainability Report, on a voluntary basis, in which we transparently shared our progress on the objectives set in our Sustainability Strategy. In 2022, we made good progress in reducing our carbon footprint, and the fact that the integration of the Premium Leasing fleet delayed our plan to meet the objectives for the current year pushed us even more to step up our efforts to meet our long-term commitments.

8. Joining UN Global Compact and Commitment to the Environment

We joined the UN Global Compact, committing to contribute to the achievement of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and to support its ten principles concerning human rights, environment, labor and anti-corruption.

Autonom also joined the Commitment to the Environment, the first initiative which has brought together the business community in Romania in assuming a sustainable future and which has attracted over 50 signatories so far.

9. Electric car education and awareness projects

Two projects we got involved in to raise awareness of the benefits of hybrid and electric cars were Cars & Roads and RoCharge, projects organized by Autocritica, in which the latest hybrid and electric cars were tested for 9 days by journalists from the automotive press and during which we discussed for the first time about the Business Green solutions provided by Autonom.

10. Planting events

One of our community involvement areas in 2022 was the environment, because choosing a responsible lifestyle comes with awareness of our actions and of their long-term impact. We participated in 3 planting actions organized by the NGOs Act for Tomorrow and Viitor Plus, in Prahova (Brazi) and Dolj (Breasta) respectively, aiming at expanding the wooded areas in Romania. The desire to contribute to a greener future brought together more than 90 colleagues from several cities, and we spent a total of 17 hours interacting with the other volunteers, while also learning about the environment.