METRO Group implements sustainability across the whole company cbi:///cms/50038
- Retail group establishes Sustainability Board
- Sustainability as an additional strategic focus
- Carbon footprint: targeted savings of 15% until 2015
- Real and Galeria Kaufhof win bronze award in CSR test
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METRO Group has established a Sustainability Board to develop and implement Group-wide binding standards for sustainable business management. Chaired by Dr. Eckhard Cordes, CEO of METRO Group, the Sustainability Board convened for its first meeting today. The aim of this board is to bundle and control the numerous sustainability activities already existing within the Group, on the one hand. Furthermore, METRO Group considers a leading position in this field to be a competitive advantage. On the other hand, this panel is to firmly implement the subject of sustainability across the whole company.
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"Sustainability is a new strategic pillar of METRO Group", said Cordes. "Our goal is to have a clear profile, a clear structure and a clear responsibility. We are well aware of the fact that creating value requires values". This is also to be reflected in the international rankings and capital market indices. METRO Group is committed to its corporate social responsibility. The company set itself the target of reducing its carbon footprint by 15 percent per square meter of sales floor until 2015. Moreover, METRO Group wants to maintain its extensive commitment in the field of qualification and integration of employees. The company plans to further increase its activities in the field of sustainable fishery and aquaculture as well in the qualification of suppliers in emerging and developing countries.
cbi:///cms/50043With the Sustainability Board, METRO Group is addressing the challenge of implementing sustainability in the daily business of the sales divisions. "We are combining theory and practice – the experts from the corporate departments of the holding company and the experts for procurement or finance from the sales divisions, for example". Hence, in addition to the heads of the central holding functions also each sales division of METRO Group is represented on the Sustainability Board with one member of its Management Board. This way METRO Group ensures that decisions and actions are practicable and oriented along the lines of daily corporate business. "Once they have been taken, the decisions will be consistently implemented across the Group", explained Cordes.
cbi:///cms/50044Four work groups will develop concepts and prepare the decisions of the Sustainability Board. The work groups will focus on the following topic areas: "quality, health and environment", "energy and resource management", "employees and social affairs" as well as "social policies and stakeholder dialogue". In his function as Vice Chairman of the Sustainability Board, Dr. Michael Inacker, Head of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs, will be responsible for coordinating the activities of the board. "For our Group with its different sales divisions this is a new and efficient way of embedding sustainability and corporate social responsibility at all levels", said Inacker.
cbi:///cms/50045METRO Group started integrating employee orientation, environmental protection and corporate social responsibility into its core business early on. For the company, sustainability means securing the future in an economically responsible manner. Sustainability is not contradictory to business success - it is an essential prerequisite for it.
cbi:///cms/50064Example environment: One important aspect is the sparing and efficient use of energy, a field in which the company is already one of the pioneers among its international competitors. METRO Group committed itself to reducing its carbon footprint by 15 percent per square meter of sales floor until the year 2015. One important task of the Sustainability Board will be to realize this target along the value chain, in particular with regard to building new sales locations or remodelling existing ones.
cbi:///cms/50065Example product quality: One important issue for the Sustainability Board in the field of quality assurance, health and environment is the traceability of individual products back to their producer – in the case of vegetables, for example, the traceability to the field where they were grown.
cbi:///cms/50077Example vocational training: Also in the future, METRO Group aims to remain one of the largest training companies in Germany. With about 8,600 vocational trainees in more than 20 professions and a training quota of 8.6 percent, the company, which is engaged in 125 school partnerships, offers excellent opportunities for the successful start of a career.
cbi:///cms/50078Example health management: To promote the health of its employees, METRO Group launched a holistic health management programme. The company plans to further expand its role model and award-winning commitment in future. Already now, METRO Group offers its employees a wide range of advice and counselling services as well as courses at its in-house health centre.
cbi:///cms/50079For the tasks now to be managed by the Sustainability Board, METRO Group can rely on a wealth of experience. The group has already been working for years in many areas belonging to the field of sustainability. And it has done so successfully: The sales divisions Real and Galeria Kaufhof, for example, today received a bronze award in the Corporate Social Responsibility Test organized by the Verbraucher Initiative [German Consumer Initiative].
cbi:///cms/50080Example supplier qualification: One key aspect is the qualification of suppliers – a process by which METRO Group supports local suppliers in producing according to internationally recognised standards. In India, for example, METRO Group has been training fishing crews in modern catching and processing methods in cooperation with external experts since 2003 – thereby contributing to combat overfishing of the oceans and creating awareness among local suppliers for issues like quality and environmental protection.
cbi:///cms/50081Example real estate: In the field of energy consumption METRO Group is setting new standards by using renewable energies for the construction of shopping malls like the Meydan Shopping Square in Istanbul which received a series of awards for its extensive utilization of geothermal energy and its green roof meadows.
cbi:///cms/50082Example integration: METRO Group pursues an active diversity management based on integration and participation. The goal is to use the manifold competencies of the employees – generate an “edge through diversity”. With employees from more than 150 nations, more than 5,500 severely handicapped employees and nearly 30 percent employees aged 50plus, METRO Group is one of the employers with the highest diversity. This diversity is put to practice in the dialogue with customers, for example, with ethnic customer advisors and an intercultural employee integration programme.
cbi:///cms/50083Example corporate citizenship: The company actively supports a large number of additional programmes like the schooling of Turkish girls in Anatolia, for example. In the field of social policy, METRO Group has been one of the main sponsors of the food bank programme for many years already, supporting it with food, funds and professional advice.
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