Sustainability

Corporate responsibility has been one of Beiersdorf’s core values ever since the Company was founded. Our responsibility extends beyond our employees and our economic success. Our actions are also determined by our active approach to environmental protection and occupational safety, and by our commitment to society. Economic, ecological, and social responsibility are therefore always on an equal footing at Beiersdorf.

Consumer

The Sustainability Advisory Board (SAB) – a special steering committee which was initiated by the Executive Board – ensures the global coordination of all sustainability activities in the consumer segment. This committee compiled our new Sustainability Guidelines that were formally adopted in 2008. These include our economic, ecological, and social responsibility, and serve as a basis for a worldwide uniform understanding of responsible conduct at Beiersdorf.

One important aspect for us when aligning our sustainability activities is an in-depth and continuous dialog with our stakeholders – employees, consumers, business partners, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), capital markets, and representatives of academia, politics, and the media. In order to achieve the greatest level of transparency we publish our sustainability activities on an annual basis. The latest Sustainability Report, “Our Responsibility”, is available on the Internet at www.Beiersdorf.com/Sustainability. As in the previous year, this publication is oriented on the international “Global Reporting Initiative” guidelines, and presents all of the activities relating to products, environmental protection and occupational safety, employees, society, and the economy in detail. It also gives an outlook on future sustainability activities.

Environmental Protection and Occupational Safety

Our consumers expect a sustainable approach from us. Our products in particular should be well tolerated – by people and the environment alike. To retain their trust in our brands we satisfy this aim every day. With this awareness, we are working systematically to reduce the use of resources and to cut waste volumes and disposal costs in production. At the same time, we arrange an ongoing global exchange of experience to guarantee an internationally uniform and high standard. Twenty-five environmental protection and occupational safety experts from 13 Beiersdorf production affiliates met at the second international CEOS conference (Corporate Environmental Protection, Occupational Safety and Security) in 2008 to develop a uniform understanding of, and consistent goals for, sustainable action in the areas of environmental protection and occupational safety.

Our proven, trusted three-tier environmental protection and occupational safety concept is integrated in all business processes from product development through production to environmentally friendly disposal management. It complies with the principles of the international “Responsible Care” initiative and is the basis for implementing our vision of “zero accidents". A program to prevent behavior-related accidents at work was launched in 2008 at our location in Hamburg. Under the concept, all employees use a standard checklist when inspecting their areas of work, thus improving their behavior in regard to the safety, orderliness, and cleanliness of their workplaces.

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