With our Sustainability Strategy 2025, we are striving to further improve sustainability performance within our company and our value-added chains, as well as through our business relationships with our customers. We have set ourselves the goal of making major progress in key areas by 2025. They include: CO2 footprint, renewable energy, employee engagement and training, diversity, occupational safety, social commitment, partnerships, sustainability in the supply chain, and sustainability-related services and solutions.

In stakeholder communications, DEKRA is open about its commitment to sustainability. Therefore, it makes reports in accordance with the German Sustainability Code (Deutsche Nachhaltigkeitskodex – DNK) and regularly publishes a Sustainability Magazine. DEKRA is committed to dialog with all stakeholders. Along with employees and customers, this also includes suppliers, professional associations, political stakeholders, and NGOs.

DEKRA is reducing its emissions within the framework of our sustainability strategy. The aim is to reduce our CO² footprint by 50 percent by 2025 in comparison with 2018. To achieve this, DEKRA is using solutions such as virtual meetings, carpools, public transport, and train journeys instead of rental cars and air travel. As a result, our CO² emissions per employee resulting from business travel have already reduced by 16 percent from 2018 to 2019 in Germany. DEKRA is increasingly relying on environmentally friendly drive technologies in its vehicle fleet. This should reduce the CO² emissions from company cars. Since 2020, 100 percent of DEKRA’s electricity consumption in Germany has come from renewable energy sources. This has made it possible for us to save 7,750 metric tons of CO² each year. By 2025, 100 percent of electricity consumption across the Group should come from renewable energy sources.

Preserving resources includes the materials required for tasks in offices and laboratories, in addition to our use of energy, water, and land. With services for air pollution control, soil and ground water protection, pollutant and waste management, energy efficiency, and environmental management system certification, DEKRA is also influencing its customers when it comes to the use of resources. In Global Purchasing, too, DEKRA prioritizes sustainable alternatives over conventional products as far as possible.

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DEKRA expects its suppliers to follow the company’s sustainability code of conduct. This includes the areas “Sustainability management & ethical business”, “Environmental and climate protection”, “Social standards and human rights”, and “Sustainability in supply chain management.”

In 2020, DEKRA conducted detailed sustainability audits at major national and international suppliers. By 2024, 100 percent of the major suppliers for whom Global Purchasing is responsible should have been checked. In addition, DEKRA regularly trains sales personnel on sustainability in the supply chain.

DEKRA’s own value-added chain is just as important as the supply chain. DEKRA has a wide sustainability portfolio across its eight Service Divisions. DEKRA experts champion sustainability with expertise and neutrality, whether that’s when consulting, carrying out audits, or providing other services.

DEKRA wants to support the various interest groups to the best of its ability with the major social challenges and trends, including digitalization, connectivity, and climate change. This means keeping CO2 emissions as low as possible when providing services, and providing sustainability-oriented services, such as verifying greenhouse gas accounting.

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Employee health and safety are DEKRA’s highest priorities. The global occupational health and safety management team is working across the Group to continually improve occupational safety. The aim is to reduce the accident rate by 30 percent by 2025 in comparison with 2018. Furthermore, the coronavirus pandemic has shown how important health protection at all levels is. DEKRA has been putting measures in place to prevent infection with COVID-19 since January 2020.

The subjects of diversity and equality of opportunities are also important to us. The diverse perspectives and backgrounds among our employees, whether in terms of nationality, culture, gender, age, or educational background, enrich DEKRA and help us to remain innovative. DEKRA does not permit any form of discrimination or disadvantage. In 2020, the Financial Times named DEKRA a “Diversity Leader.”

Commitment to human rights also forms part of the company’s duty of care toward its employees. DEKRA acknowledges the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR) and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). DEKRA’s Social Standards embody our policy on respect for labor and human rights, and set forth the relevant processes for adhering to it.

Read more in the Sustainability Magazine