Environment and Sustainability

There was indeed a key event which awakened my interest in this topic. The first Club of Rome report in 1972, ‘The Limits to Growth’, really shook me up at the time. The report showed very clearly that our way of managing business did not take into account the finiteness of our resources. In some of its forecasts, the report may have overshot its mark, from today's perspective. But the principle is correct.

Environmental protection and social responsibility have been integral components of our corporate strategy since the mid-1980s, since it has always been my concern to run my business in such a way that following generations would not suffer any disadvantage from it. Economic growth can indeed be aligned with the scarcity of natural resources and contribute to social progress at the same time However, it requires long-term strategies

When I anchored environmental protection as a corporate goal, several of my colleagues called me a utopian eco-hippie. Today, the topics of environmental protection and social responsibility are ones many companies ascribe to, and many actually live them, too.

The increasing divide between poor and rich countries, overfishing of the world's oceans, over-exploitation of natural resources and climate change. Especially in the fight against CO2 emissions, we have to speed up. Global climate change is a reality and will, if we continue to delay action, pose great challenges very soon. Without decisive countermeasures, the temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere will increase by up to 4.5° Celsius. The risks for coexistence on our planet will then no longer be calculable. Landscapes will turn into steppes, and there will be mass migrations and wars over water. Business and politics must face this problem.
As part of ‘2° - German Business Leaders for Climate Protection’ which was created in March 2007 on my initiative, we are therefore supporting the German Federal Government on a national and international level in its successful policies for protecting the world’s climate. Its defined goal is to limit global warming to 2° Celsius, compared to the pre-industrial level.

There are companies which still confuse sustainable business activity with pure charity. They finance environmental and social projects from profits which they have generated under less sustainable aspects. For these companies, the topic may be an image factor. For me, however, sustainability stands for responsible corporate management. It is a ‘must’ for companies who are serious about taking responsibility for their business activities. All companies that genuinely address this topic increase in their credibility, which also automatically improves their public reputation.

1. Implementing our ambitious Climate Protection Strategy 
2. Implementing our social standards among suppliers in at-risk countries
3. Expanding our range of sustainable products
4. Looking for solutions for social problems as part of our business activity, in the form of helping people to help themselves.

Sustainable business activity doesn’t just cost money, it also helps to save it. The best example is energy costs, because energy supply and energy efficiency are definitely in the economic interest of companies. We pay particular attention to the sparing use of natural resources such as water, wood and energy – from the supply chain, through to buildings and logistics.

Fundamentally: capacity-orientated planning. We also need to slow down freight transportation. This can only be done with the support of consumers. I also think that shifting transportation towards trains and ships, as well as investing in fuel-efficient commercial vehicles and using alternative drive concepts are sensible ideas.