6/7/2016

Sustainability Review 2015

Today, Beiersdorf published its Sustainability Review 2015, which reports on the company’s progress with its “We care.” sustainability strategy.

The strategy complements Beiersdorf’s business goals and ensures that the company targets the areas where Beiersdorf and its brands have the greatest possible impact.

The strategy comprises three areas: 'Products', 'Planet', and 'People'. In 2015, we intensified our efforts in 'Stakeholder Engagement', enabling us to find more targeted ways of involving our various interest groups such as employees, suppliers, consumers, and NGOs.
Inken Hollmann-Peters, Vice President Corporate Communications & Sustainability

Products – 18% of sales now from products with a significantly reduced environmental impact

This year’s success in the area of “Products” is an important step on the way to achieve our 2020 target, which is to generate 50% of sales from products with a significantly reduced environmental impact. Beiersdorf also made good progress in the procurement of palm oil-based raw materials. We have persuaded major suppliers to switch to RSPO-certified sources (mass balance palm oil) and prepared our own production centers accordingly. In 2016, more than 25% of the palm base in our raw materials will come from certified sources – a key milestone in our sustainability strategy.

Products: Less Waste - Same Quality

Beiersdorf is a global manufacturer of high-quality skin care products with over 130 years of research expertise. This depth of know-how remains the main driver of our success today. Our objective is to continue providing high-quality, safe and reliable products that are sourced responsibly. Through ongoing product development we aim to progressively decrease the environmental impact throughout the entire life-cycle of our products.

Planet – CO2 emissions per product sold reduced by 46%

With this result, we again exceeded our “Planet” commitment for 2020, which set out a reduction target of 30%. This was thanks in part to the various energy efficiency measures implemented in our global production facilities and offices. We are currently working with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in Germany on a new 2020 target. In 2015, we achieved our goal of “Zero waste to landfill” at all our European production centers – a further contribution to the “Planet” action area.

Planet: Achieving more with less

As a globally operating business, Beiersdorf is affected by the global decline in natural resources and the simultaneous acceleration of climate change. These factors motivate us even more strongly to use resources responsibly in our daily operations throughout the entire supply chain. We work closely with our internal and external supply-chain partners to improve our resource efficiency.

People – 425,837 families supported so far

We again made good progress with our “People” commitment in 2015. We aim to reach and improve the lives of one million people by 2020. Our "NIVEA cares for family" social commitment and other brand initiatives reached 181,026 families. A total of 425,837 families have already been supported since 2013, representing almost 50% of the target for 2020. We are also currently expanding our work in humanitarian aid. This includes aid for refugees and people in countries hit by natural disasters. In addition, we will be placing greater focus on product donations as a further means of helping socially disadvantaged families around the world.

People: Actively Taking Responsibility

The well-being of our employees is fundamental to our business success and is a top priority for us. We are committed to ensuring fair working conditions and transparent, respectful collaboration with everyone involved throughout our entire value chain. We recognize that it is vital to take responsibility for supporting our communities as well as disadvantaged families, in response to local needs.

Comprehensive information on Beiersdorf’s commitment to sustainability in 2015

The latest Sustainability Report, containing all key figures, further information and initiatives in the areas of “Products,” “Planet,” and “People,” is available in the Sustainability section of our corporate website. The separate GRI Index 2015 prepared in line with the “core” guidelines is also available for download from the site. This summarizes important indicators and information for us and our stakeholders in table form for maximum transparency. Our GRI index is published once a year, usually in March.

Press Contact

Corporate Communications
Beiersdorf AG
Unnastrasse 48
20245 Hamburg, Germany

Phone: +49 (0) 40 - 4909 2001

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Sustainability Review 2015