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.
Materiality process We want to know what sustainability concerns are important to our stakeholders and where we have a particular impact on the environment in which we operate. Only when we know this information will we be able to set the right focal points in our everyday work and sustainability reporting. The topics from the supply chain responsibility field of action are consistently “very highly relevant” to our stakeholders, while sustainability experts indicated that these topics have a “very high impact on the economy, the environment and society”. “Waste & food waste” was also rated as being very important. The hot social debate concerning food waste – also being addressed at the Group – is evident here, just as the matrix also reflects public discussion about packaging. You will find the topics of material importance listed under “Key topics” in our Sustainability Report 2017 where they have been arranged in descending order of relevance. Due to its significance, we have divided the topic of “Sustainable standards in the supply chain” into “Food” and “Non-food”; “More sustainable product-range selection” has also been broken down into product quality and product range. The topics of “Customer communication” and “Customer relations” as well as “Diversity & co-determination” and “Work-life balance” have been respectively combined. The material key topics were prepared in a structured manner: Management approaches, progress and key figures are presented in a clear structure. Opportunities and risks can also be found there. Please use the following links for further information:
Business impacts across our value chain
Our decisions have implications across the entire value chain, which is why we are taking action through our sustainability efforts wherever we can make improvements. Please use the following links for further information: