MUNICH, GERMANY – Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) has published its second report for the United Nations Global Compact, documenting its commitment in the areas of human rights, labor standards, environmental protection, and anti-corruption. Progress toward sustainability is evident in the company's dialog with stakeholders, its updated Code of Conduct, and the Corporate Volunteering Program for G&D employees. What is more, G&D has set targets for cutting its CO2 emissions.
The UN Global Compact is a voluntary business initiative of the United Nations that aims to make globalization fairer in social, ecological and economic terms. G&D's second progress report for the UN Global Compact focused in particular on the company's dialog with its stakeholders. Communicating directly with them, G&D examined, systematized and prioritized its CSR (corporate social responsibility) activities.
Further highlights of the company's progress last year included the following:
The Group published a revised Code of Conduct that takes into account the social and ecological principles of the UN Global Compact, the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Fundamental Principles of the International Labour Organization (ILO) as well as other standards.
In 2011, G&D for the first time calculated the carbon footprint of its largest production sites. As from this year, the footprint can even be calculated for selected products. The goal is to achieve a ten-percent reduction in the production sites' CO2 emissions by 2016, taking the emissions level of 2010 as a baseline.
Thanks to an intensive dialog with its customers and suppliers on the subject of supply chain sustainability, G&D was able to learn more about their requirements. In addition, G&D discussed its proposed solutions for dealing with demographic change with independent experts and found out how other companies are tackling this problem.
In early 2012, G&D inaugurated a Corporate Volunteering Program in order to encourage social commitment on the part of its employees. Initial projects – such as an excursion with refugee families – have already been successfully implemented.
The UN Global Compact report also introduces G&D's new initiative "Identity – Talk in the Tower," the goal of which is to support the social debate on "identity" in the real world and in virtual environments in the long term. The Group intends to invite an interdisciplinary and international group of high-profile representatives from the business and academic worlds as well as from international organizations to attend an annual meeting. This will be complemented by workshops at more regular intervals throughout the year at which a group of experts will examine different aspects of the concept of identity. Their findings will be presented on the website: www.identity-tower.com .
"As one of the world's technology leaders and a family-owned enterprise, G&D views social responsibility as a fundamental aspect of its everyday work. The responsible use of natural resources and a forward-looking human resources policy are central to remaining competitive," explains Dr. Karsten Ottenberg, Chairman of the Management Board and CEO of G&D.
