Educational support and knowledge transfer are important tools for preventing poverty and actively promoting prosperity. By implementing a number of our own initiatives and supporting projects outside the company, we intend to contribute to the positive development of society in Germany as well as in emerging and developing countries. cbi:///cms/190173

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About 1,500 children took part in Metro Cash & Carry's nationwide education campaign in China. The campaign focused on food safety and a healthy diet. cbi:///cms/190175

Last year in the Chinese city of Shenyang, Metro Cash & Carry launched an educational campaign called "Safe Food - Happy Life" that reached across China. Together with different Chinese institutions, we want to raise school-age children’s awareness of the importance of food safety and a healthy diet at an early stage in their lives. A healthy lifestyle was also the focus of the European day of action "Healthy Food and Cooking", an EU initiative promoting healthy, balanced diets for children that took place in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia in 2010. For the initiative, Metro Cash & Carry provided fresh food to all participants.  cbi:///cms/190177

As one of the world’s largest food-retailing companies, METRO GROUP ensures that people in need regularly receive healthy food. For many years now, we have been supporting the work of the German "Tafelbewegung", a non-profit aid organisation that provides food to people in need. Outside Germany, we have also stepped up our support of national food banks. cbi:///cms/190180

As part of its Care & Share Programme, Metro Cash & Carry organises drives providing food and household goods to people in need - currently in 21 countries where the sales division does business. For example, in the Vietnamese province of Binh Dinh, Metro Cash & Carry distributed 4,500 food packages to needy families throughout Vietnam on the occasion of the Vietnamese New Year. In the neighbouring country of China, the sales division provided 100,000 bottles of drinking water to children in Yunnan during spring last year. At the time, the region of Yunnan in southwest China was experiencing its worst drought in more than 100 years. Additional international donation drives were held for the flood victims in Pakistan and those impacted by the forest fires in Russia as well as for needy people in Serbia and Hungary. cbi:///cms/190181

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In October 2010, the Real "familymanager" fundraising campaign crossed the one-million euro threshold. More than 1,000 times, representatives of local stores were able to hand out a €1,000 cheque to a children's nursery. cbi:///cms/190183

The shifts in the structure of the population resulting from demographic change have far-reaching consequences for society, subsequently impacting retail trade. METRO GROUP has joined the current debate about demographic change as an initiator of regular events and as a member of The Demographic Network (Das Demographie Netzwerk - ddn). In March 2010, our efforts to actively shape demographic change were honoured by Dr Kristina Schröder, Federal Minister for Family, and Josef Sanktjohanser, President of the German Retail Federation. Within this context, the Galeria Kaufhof store at Alexanderplatz in Berlin was the first retail business to receive the quality certificate "Generation-Friendly Shopping". The quality certificate is awarded to stores that make shopping as convenient and barrier-free as possible for people of all ages and people with disabilities. By the end of 2010, about 30 Galeria Kaufhof stores had received this honour. cbi:///cms/190190

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Dr Eckhard Cordes, Chairman of the Management Board and CEO of METRO AG, at the opening of the company's representative office in Berlin in January 2010. cbi:///cms/190188

A central component of our sustainability strategy is our dialogue with government and society. With the Group’s representative office in Berlin, opened in January 2010, we have created a platform from which we can join the debates on today’s most pressing issues and continue to expand our involvement in German society. METRO GROUP has already initiated a number of successful partnerships with political leaders and other stakeholders. cbi:///cms/190193

An important contribution to this open dialogue is the "Wednesday Society of the Retail Industry", a series of events held in cooperation with the German Retail Association that brings together representatives from politics, business and society to discuss issues currently facing the industry, examine different perspectives and gain new insights. cbi:///cms/190194

We also continue to expand the dialogue with our customers, whose expectations and needs form the central focus of our business activities. In addition to designing our assortment in an environmentally friendly and socially responsible way, we regularly inform our customers about the possibilities of making private consumption more sustainable. In advertising brochures as well as on our sales divisions’ websites, we provide our customers with information about sustainable fishing, regionally grown fresh produce and the fair trade of cocoa and coffee. In addition, our sales divisions conduct campaigns addressing different areas of sustainable consumption. For example, Media-Saturn promotes the purchase of energy-efficient appliances through coupons and special offers. In autumn 2010, Galeria Kaufhof was recognised by the German consumer association "VERBRAUCHER INITIATIVE e.V." with the Sustainable Retail Business Award in the categories of stationery and toys. And Real joined forces with an international beverage company to conduct a campaign in Poland on the responsible consumption of alcohol. cbi:///cms/190195

With the cookbook "Eat good food" (Das Gute essen) published at the end of 2010, and as a partner of the online health portal EatSmarter!, METRO GROUP also wants to underscore the importance of a healthy diet and demonstrate how retailers can help promote healthy eating habits. cbi:///cms/190196