OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE
- The report “360 Degrees – Facts on Sustainability” for 2011 is published to coincide with the Annual General Meeting in Berlin
- Sustainability as an integral component of the internal strategic target system
- Planned reduction in CO2 fleet emissions to 125 g/km by 2016
Berlin, Germany, Apr 13, 2011 – To coincide with today’s Annual General Meeting, Daimler is publishing its new sustainability report for 2011. A key aspect is the “Sustainability Program 2010-2020”, which is presented for the first time. Concrete, measurable targets for the coming years have been established on the basis of a dialog with all of the relevant stakeholders, while corresponding packages of measures have been defined for each of the targets.
“Our new program underlines the importance of sustainability for our company. We are adopting concrete targets and identifying the key target horizons. However, we do not see our sustainability program as a static target system – we are flexible enough to respond to new challenges, too,” commented Dr. Thomas Weber, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and responsible for Group Research & Mercedes-Benz Cars Development and Chairman of the Daimler Sustainability Board.
The Sustainability Program 2010-2020 is broken down into five main areas of action: sustainability management, product responsibility, industrial environmental protection, employees, and the social environment.
In the area of sustainability management, the company has set itself targets for integrity and compliance, data protection, the management of supplier relationships and stakeholder dialog. For example, compliance training for employees will continue on a Group-wide basis until the end of the year and will be expanded to include business partners, while the dialog with stakeholders will have an increasingly international focus.
The product responsibility targets primarily relate to emissions, safety, customer satisfaction and the conservation of resources, with a particular focus on fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. Daimler already intends to reduce the CO2 emissions of its new passenger car fleet in Europe to less than 140 g/km by 2012. Now, the company is going one step further by setting itself a target of cutting emissions to 125 g/km by 2016 – a reduction of 30% compared with 2007. However, CO2 emissions are not the only area in focus: vehicle safety is also given a high priority. In the area of heavy-duty commercial vehicles, Daimler intends to increase the ratio of vehicles equipped with assistance systems; for example, one target is to double the number of vehicles fitted with Active Brake Assist from 10% in 2009 to 20% in 2015.
Industrial environmental protection relates to energy efficiency in production, biodiversity, air pollution control and the conservation of resources. One aim is to reduce specific CO2 emissions in production by 20% between 2007 and 2015, for example.
With regard to employees, the areas in focus are diversity and equal opportunities, employee development, industrial health and safety, and competitive labor costs. Among other things, the company has set itself the target of increasing the proportion of women in leading management positions worldwide to 20% by 2020. Securing young talent is also a high priority. A wide range of activities – such as the Daimler Student Partnership programs, the CAReer trainee program and addressing top talents on a target group-specific basis, particularly in the areas of engineering and IT – are intended to ensure that the required talents are secured and fostered within the Group.
The sustainability program also covers social commitment and human rights. Daimler intends to systematically reinforce both of these areas. For example, risk management will be expanded at Daimler’s 18 production locations in accordance with the requirements of the United Nations Global Compact in order to ensure that potential human rights risks are identified at an early stage.
The company also intends to strengthen its road safety education measures for elementary school pupils in Germany. By the end of 2012, the 10-year “Mobile Kids” program will further be expanded to include online applications and special school days.
The central management committee for sustainability at Daimler is the Sustainability Board, which was formed in 2008 by resolution of the Board of Management. All sustainability-related management processes are bundled in this decision-making body, which is headed by Dr. Thomas Weber.
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