Introduction by the Chief Executive Officer

Sustainability has been deeply rooted in the values and actions of Schaeffler for many years. At the same time, the perception of the public on the importance of sustainability has significantly increased. We have reviewed and relaunched our sustainability strategy in the current financial year on this basis. I am pleased to present our Sustainability Report 2019 on behalf of my colleagues of the Executive Board. The report should give you an insight of our understanding of sustainability at Schaeffler, how we make it measurable, and what targets we have set ourselves.

Based on the requirements of our relevant stakeholders obtained from a worldwide stakeholder survey, we have restructured our sustainability management. Additionally, we have reconsidered our own standards for a viable sustainability management, and – where necessary – have developed it self-critically, open-minded, and future-oriented. This includes the establishment of a Sustainability Committee consisting of the members of the Executive Board and selected leaders of the first-level management. The committee has met once a quarter since mid-2019 to decide on sustainability topics.

One of the most important decisions made by the Sustainability Committee concerned the realignment of our goals. We have replaced targets that are not coherent with this realignment with new targets for energy efficiency, renewable energies, accident prevention, and sustainable supply chain. As an example, we will implement measures to increase cumulated annual energy efficiency by 100 gigawatt hours until 2024 and to obtain 100% purchased power from renewable sources. We have also set ourselves the goal of reducing the number of accidents involving lost time by an average of 10 percent per year by 2024.

The taken measures are already having an impact. This is reflected in the improvement in our sustainability ratings. One example is the CDP climate rating, where we have significantly improved our score from “D” to a solid “B-”. For 2021, we have set ourselves the goal of achieving a score of A-.

Sustainability has highest priority at Schaeffler. Sustainability targets were integrated into the variable remuneration of upper management for the first time in 2020. This is an important step towards anchoring the issue of sustainability even more firmly and encouraging our senior executives to make sustainability a natural part of their management work and the corporate culture at Schaeffler. My colleagues on the Executive Board and I are firmly convinced that we are on the right track with the realignment of our sustainability strategy in 2019. We will continue along this path consistently. We would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all employees who are committed to this path, as well as to all partners who contribute to it. I hope you find reading our Sustainability Report 2019 informative and interesting.

Klaus Rosenfeld
Chief Executive Officer