Over the past years, we have firmly embedded the sustainable transformation in our business processes and structures by means of various measures such as voluntary commitments, guidelines, and memberships:

• Code of Conduct
  In our Group-wide Code of Conduct, we define clear rules for all our staff, especially with regard to human rights, to corruption prevention, and our day-to-day dealings with one another as well as with our business partners and other stakeholders.
• Supplier Code of Conduct
  We make clear demands of our suppliers via our Supplier Code of Conduct, which is an integral part of our agreements with suppliers. It requires them to observe the ILO’s core labor standards and other human rights and environmental conventions. The Supplier Code of Conduct is also the basis for our supply chain measures in line with the requirements of the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (“Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz” – LkSG).
• Values, policies, and guidelines
  Sustainability is one of our seven core values. We take great care to ensure that our values are also reflected in our policies and guidelines. One such example is our Business Initiatives Guideline, in which sustainability criteria have been systematically integrated into the development of business initiatives, i.e. all significant, strategic measures and projects that lead to changes in the procurement, manufacture, or marketing of our products and services.
• Medium- to long-term targets
  In our Sustainability Statement, we committed ourselves in 2019 to concrete, ambitious targets for our main business activities over the next five to ten years. We regularly report on the progress made in achieving these targets.
• Processes for management, data, and reporting
  We have implemented a sustainability management system and the relevant sustainability software throughout the Group, which keeps us informed about the status of key non-financial performance indicators at our operating divisions and at Group level in the form of regular data campaigns, for which employees have been appointed in each operating and corporate division. We are currently in the process of refining the underlying management and reporting system based on the requirements of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and, in particular, integrating it more closely in our management systems for key financial performance indicators.
• Involvement in associations and initiatives
  We are involved in various associations and initiatives which deal specifically with sustainability issues. For example, we are a member of the Sustainability Committee of the German Brands Association (“Markenverband”), the Administrative Council of the German Central Packaging Registry (“Stiftung Zentrale Stelle Verpackungsregister”), the German Environmental Management Association (“B.A.U.M. e.V.”) and its corporate advisory board, the Consumer Education Alliance (“Bündnis für Verbraucherbildung”), the German Working Group on Packaging and the Environment (“Arbeitsgemeinschaft Verpackung und Umwelt AGVU”), the German Coffee Association (“Deutscher Kaffeeverband e.V.”), and the Global Coffee Platform (GCP).

What we achieved in 2022

• Enhanced our Group-wide risk management system with regard to sustainability risks
• Implemented 23 Group-wide projects under the leadership of Corporate Communication and Sustainability for the holistic integration of sustainability into our processes and value chains
• Created and implemented launch of strategic roadmaps for the operating divisions and corporate divisions to integrate sustainability into departmental strategies
• Developed dashboards to monitor focus projects in all operating divisions and corporate divisions
• Expanded our participation in various committees, associations, and working groups
• Considerable progress made in the implementation of individual roadmaps in the operating divisions, especially regarding the further development of products and packaging, use of resources, and CSR

What we are currently working on

• Further integration of the dimensions Regenerative Value Creation, Work Culture, and Social Business into our strategies and processes
• Further development of the controlling, data and reporting management system, also in connection with the requirements of CSRD and other legal sources
• Intensification of cooperation with organizations of the coffee sector, especially German Coffee Association (“Deutscher Kaffeeverband e.V.”), and the Global Coffee Platform (GCP)