1. Strategic Analysis and Action

The company declares whether or not it pursues a sustainability strategy. It explains what concrete measures it is undertaking to operate in compliance with key recognised sector-specific, national and international standards.

As an independent expert organization, with safety as our corporate mission laid down in our statutes, it is particularly important for DEKRA to earn the trust the public places in us through the integrity of our conduct. Opportunities and risks are considered in the context of the sustainable development of all areas of business and analyzed by way of comprehensive processes. The Corporate Sustainability Division supports all areas of the company in the analysis of opportunities and risks along the entire value chain and reports directly to the Group’s Chief Executive Officer. Through the direct contact with the Group’s management, potential risks can be dealt with accordingly and opportunities exploited. Every year a group wide survey and analysis of risk investigates and assesses the business risks for DEKRA, also in terms of fair business practices, as well as the challenges arising from the environment and society. The central units of the company analyze internal and external opportunities and risks on a continuous basis to ensure DEKRA’s sustainable development. These topics are addressed in the DEKRA Financial Report. In addition to the internal analysis, DEKRA also sources important information on sustainability-related opportunities and risks through dialoging regularly with the company’s internal and external stakeholders, such as customers, associations, NGOs and employees. In order to guarantee responsible management and the observance of internationally recognized standards, DEKRA operates its own individual Compliance Management anchored in its culture and values. We place the utmost emphasis on our managers setting an example every day in the way they practice compliance. The DEKRA Compliance Guidelines as well as our sustainability principles and our General Terms and Conditions of Purchase lay down binding minimum standards and, at the same time, serve as guidance for our employees and business partners with a view to facilitating their compliance with the law, legal standards and ethical principles on each and every continent.

2. Materiality

The company discloses the aspects of its business operations that have a significant impact on sustainability issues and what material impact sustainability issues have on its operations. It analyses the positive and negative effects and provides information as to how these insights are integrated into the company’s processes.

Sustainability plays an important role in DEKRA’s business activities. On the one hand, DEKRA as a company benefits from the sustainable development of the economy, the environment and society, while on the other, the focus of our activities is closely intertwined with sustainability. Our aspiration is to make a contribution to sustainable development through our services: We promote safety in all areas of life and offer expert services, among others in the areas of transport, occupational health and safety, training and further education, as well as in environment and energy management. Across six central action areas concerning sustainability (Responsible Corporate Governance, Value Creation, Innovation & Future Viability, Employees, Environment, as well as Society & Safety), DEKRA works systematically on making a contribution to sustainable development that encompasses our entire value chain. We attach great importance to economic as well as to social and ecological sustainability aspects. The most important influence here, however, emanates from the aspect of safety that is becoming increasingly significant in an economy and a society characterized by ever rising interconnectivity, networking and complexity. Safety is therefore the centerpiece of our corporate strategy.    
 

3. Objectives

The company discloses what qualitative and/or quantitative as well as temporally defined sustainability goals have been set and operationalised and how their level of achievement is monitored.

DEKRA endeavors to achieve long term economic success and to be the global partner for a safe world. We defined this goal in our strategic “Vision 2025” program. Achieving successful business development also requires us to continuously improve our sustainability performance. This is why we work on further developing our sustainability management step by step. Our objective is to prevent work-related accidents, to further improve occupational safety and to exclude hazard potential, as well as to optimize our energy consumption and our CO2 footprint. Through a process launched to establish and develop group wide data collection for the purpose of obtaining sustainability-related performance indicators, we can monitor our progress and incrementally realize our objectives. With regard to stakeholder communication, we strive to expand dialog systematically and to initiate an innovative exchange on the challenges and opportunities in the areas of sustainability and safety.    
 

4. Depth of the Value Chain

The company states what significance aspects of sustainability have for added value and how deep in the value chain the sustainability criteria are verified.

Sustainability plays a key role along the entire value chain of DEKRA. We know the ecological and social impact of our business activities and address them through the corresponding specialist departments, such as EHS (Environment, Health and Safety), Compliance, Sustainability, Quality Management, Procurement, Personnel and Sales. Sustainability plays an important role, from procurement and internal processes right through to our customer relations. DEKRA is an expert service provider for safety and belongs to the TIC sector (Testing, Inspection, Certification). The specialist knowledge of our experts that is aligned to cutting-edge technology and safety through ongoing education and further training is positioned at the beginning of the value chain. Providing our services entails procuring products and materials which enable our work, such as office and testing equipment. We provide our services from our own locations and on-site at customer locations. In our procurement policy, we require our suppliers and theirs in turn to comply with minimum sustainability standards. This is laid down in DEKRA’s General Terms and Conditions of Purchase. DEKRA expects socially and ecologically responsible behavior from its suppliers. DEKRA reviews its direct suppliers through its procurement conditions, suppliers’ self assessment as well as by way of requirement-related and risk-oriented audits. All areas of the company work continuously on improving internal processes with regard to sustainability, with the support of central functions such as Quality Management, as well EHS (Environment, Health, Safety), Compliance and Sustainability. In developing services and creating new ones, we are naturally concerned to make a positive contribution to sustainable development and create sustainable added value for our customers through our services. Sustainable and fair customer relations form part of the foundations of our business success. For us this means remaining in constant dialog with customers and working permanently on ensuring customer satisfaction.
 

Key Performance Indicators to criteria 1 to 4