Responsibility in the supply chain

As part of our Group policies, we are committed to respecting and promoting human rights and protecting the environment throughout global supply chains. This commitment has shaped how we do business for more than three decades and is a core part of our corporate culture.

We work with more than 20,000 direct suppliers in over 150 countries. Through defined environmental and social requirements, established risk management, including regular supplier reviews, and close, collaborative dialogue, we actively engage our suppliers. We support them in meeting our requirements and to make progress together in implementing them:

• The requirements for our suppliers are set out in our Supplier Code of Conduct, which forms an integral part of our supplier contracts. Our Supplier Code of Conduct defines ethical, social and environmental standards and includes our requirements regarding respect for human rights - in line with the requirements of the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG).
• We analyze potential risks and human rights violations that may arise from our suppliers or be caused by our business activities throughout the supply chain. By developing targeted measures, we help reduce adverse impacts and promote compliance with sustainable standards.
• We also consider sustainability in our procurement processes. We take human rights and environmental requirements into account when selecting our suppliers.
• We regularly review human rights and environmental conditions at our suppliers’ production sites. The insights we gain feed into our established risk management and provide the basis for developing and implementing appropriate measures to reduce human rights and environmental risks.

Through these measures, we are further developing our processes for assessing and addressing human rights and environmental risks.