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Strategy & Targets

With our Sustainability Strategy 2025, we strive to further improve sustainability performance within our company and our value chains as well as for our customers through our business activities.

Around the world, we are witnessing dramatic consequences of human-induced climate change. The rise in global temperatures and increasingly unpredictable weather patterns are having devastating consequences on biodiversity and human societies.

Merely complying with regulations is no longer enough. For companies, it is a moral as well as business imperative to be part of the solution. DEKRA is aware of its responsibility and has placed sustainability, in all its aspects, at the core of our Vision 2025: we will be the global partner for a safe, secure, and sustainable world!

That means that we are working tirelessly to improve our own internal sustainability performance, and sustainability performance of our supply chain. And we are supporting our customers with deep expertise and innovative services on their journeys towards their environmental, social and governance goals.

With our Sustainability Strategy, our objective is to achieve by 2025 major progress in our four fields of action “climate & environment”, “employees & society”, “supply & value chain”, and “management & governance”. This includes continuously reducing our carbon footprint, expanding our use of renewable energy, increasing employee training and engagement, promoting diversity and inclusion, improving occupational health and safety, promoting sustainability in the supply chain, and expanding the range of sustainability-related services we offer.

As part of our Sustainability Strategy, we strive to support our customers on their sustainability journeys. The DEKRA Corporate Focus Area (CFA) Sustainability Services was created for this reason and involves the expansion of our service portfolio in the three key areas “energy transition”, “ESG” (Environment, Social, Governance), and “circular economy”.

In our Sustainability Magazine, we are delighted to introduce our Sustainability Strategy 2025, to share examples of innovative sustainability services we offer and to present internal measures we have taken. In this way, we would like you to be part of our journey towards a more sustainable future.

We aim to continuously improve our sustainability performance over the long term and to make a positive contribution to sustainable development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). By 2025 we aim to be a sustainability leader. This includes continuing our economic success and implementing and living our vision of becoming the global partner for a safer world. In accordance with our Sustainability Strategy 2025, we pursue the following overarching goals:

To optimize our contribution to climate protection and resource conservation through our systematic environmental management.
To continue to be an attractive employer, to live diversity and to expand our social commitment to sustainability.
To ensure the Group-wide organizational integration of sustainability management, reliable and transparent reporting and successful external sustainability ratings.
To integrate sustainability holistically in our supply chain and to further expand our services and solutions in the area of sustainability.

Our concrete sustainability goals for 2025 are part of this:

100 % renewable electricity
Reduce total and relative greenhouse gas emissions and progress in our decarbonization journey (emission reductions aligned with our SBTi target path and DEKRA Climate Impact approach*)
Increase revenue with DEKRA sustainability services
Check 100 % of our suppliers with respect to sustainability
Increase our sustainability-related social engagement, partnerships and initiatives
Increase employee engagement by 20%
Increase gender diversity in management by >15% female managers
Increase of average annual training days per employee to >5 days
Increase work safety and reduce employee accident rate by 30% (vs. 2018)

*With our DEKRA Climate Impact approach, we have the target the contribute to climate change mitigation: Not limited to the impact on our corporate carbon balance sheet, we aspire to support internal and external climate contribution projects, with a material impact and/or potential for climate change mitigation and climate change impact adaptation. Our internal climate target path is oriented to science-based targets (according the SBTi). Based on the remaining emissions, which will be subject to an internal carbon price, internal decarbonization projects and external climate impact initiatives will be financed. This approach is an update and is replacing our offsetting-based carbon neutrality on the balance sheet target.

Responsible Corporate Management

Our aim is to secure our company’s long-term success, taking account of our corporate and environmental responsibility. We live out fair competition and do not tolerate any form of corruption. We safeguard the data of our customers, business partners and employees. The integrity, reliability and neutrality of all our employees are of decisive importance. With the DEKRA Compliance Guidelines, we have issued a set of guidelines and policies that are binding worldwide and require ethical behavior that is compliant with the law from all DEKRA employees and managers.

Value Chain

We assume responsibility for our entire value chain, from procurement through to internal processes and on to customer relationships. We expect socially and ecologically responsible behavior from our suppliers. Within the company, we have an unconditional aspiration of ensuring the quality of our services. Through the expertise and skill of our employees, this contributes to a sustainable development. We work on sustainable solutions for customers, and gear our corporate mission statement to customer orientation.

Innovation & Future Viability

Innovation and sustainability enjoy a high priority with us. We consistently develop our expertise and are ready and available for technologies of the future. DEKRA promotes innovations in the company, not only through its internal innovation and idea management but also through cooperation with external partners. Our aspiration here is to be a global partner for a safe world.

Employees

The expertise and reliability of our employees are our most important resource. This is why we aspire to making attractive jobs available. The health and safety of our employees are accorded the highest priority. Our aim is to avoid accidents at work as well as to eliminate possible sources of danger. Team work, mutual trust and loyalty are the foundations of our work together. We value the diversity of our workforce, stand for equal opportunities and support the development of our employees.

Environment

The protection of the environment and its resources is one of DEKRA’s primary objectives. The company’s understanding of safety includes protecting the environment: on one hand, through our internal environment management, and on the other through our services and expertise that make an important contribution to environmental protection. A group-wide network of environment management officers bear global responsibility for improving environmental protection and resource efficiency at DEKRA. Our services in the domain of environment and energy management help to ensure environmental protection outside the company as well.

Safety & Society

Safety is the centerpiece of our corporate strategy. We promote safety in all walks of life all over the world, also through our commitment to society. We work on safety issues together with partners in society and actively bring our expertise to bear on public and political debate. Our global contribution to increasing safety in environment, business community and society is our most important contribution to a sustainable future.

Our four fields of action