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METRO GROUP : ANNUAL REPORT 2010 : BUSINESS
→ GROUP MANAGEMENT REPORT : 7. SUSTAINABILIT y MANAGEMENT
system certified by the Cologne-based certification body
“ZER-QMS, Zertifizierungsstelle, Qualitäts- und Umweltgutachter
Gmbh”.
Climate protection activities convince investors
Thanks to the successful expansion of its activities in the area
of energy- and resource-conserving business practices in
2010, we have closed in on our goal of reducing the specific
environmental impact by 15 percent per square metre of selling
space from 2006 to 2015. we will publish detailed information
on the development of energy consumption, greenhouse
gas emissions and other relevant environmental figures in
our yearly progress report on sustainability released at the
Annual General Meeting on 6 May 2011. The financial market
has also rewarded our extensive commitment to climate protection:
in October 2010, METRO AG was added to the CdP
Germany 200 Carbon disclosure Leadership Index, an index
that only lists companies with a deep understanding of the
challenges posed by climate change and its implications for
business models. The Carbon disclosure Project (CdP)
encompasses 534 institutional investors and each year analyses
the environmental data of the 500 largest companies in
the world. The index includes the top 30 of the 200 German
companies that were analysed.
Employees and social affairs
A company that places the customer at the centre of all its
activities needs dedicated and qualified employees who can
turn this commitment into an everyday reality. This is why our
commitment to our own employees is a central focus of our
sustainability management. As a result of demographic
change, the working-age population in many countries will
continue to decline. Consequently, it is of great importance to
us to ensure the long-term supply of employees, particularly
qualified workers and managers, through forward-looking
and innovative personnel concepts. This includes, amongst
other things, pursuing active diversity management, which
means the specific encouragement of diversity across the
Company. For example, it goes without saying that older and
disabled employees are essential parts of the labour force.
Reinforced investments in training and
further education
To cover our future need for capable and dedicated employees
amid demographic change we are systematically invest-
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ing in training and further education programmes. In the
reporting year, we provided vocational training positions to
2,371 school-leavers in Germany, helping them begin their
working careers. with a share of 8.4 percent, METRO GROUP
once again assumed a leading position among the companies
in Germany that provide vocational training.
For us, a forward-looking and sustainable personnel policy
includes systematically leveraging the skills of our highly
qualified and more experienced employees. In 2010, we
newly employed 1,859 workers aged 50 and older worldwide.
To promote the strengths of its diverse labour force, we
intend to considerably expand qualification and advancement
programmes and create age-appropriate working
conditions, including preventative measures. women are to
be more strongly included in executive development and
succession planning in future.
Social policies and stakeholder dialogue
As a retail and wholesale company, METRO GROUP is a part
of the daily lives of many people. The Company comes into
direct contact with customers, employees, suppliers, investors,
government representatives, the media and nongovernmental
organisations on a daily basis. To achieve success
over the long term, METRO GROUP must not only
succeed in the marketplace of products, but also in the marketplace
of opinions. This means METRO GROUP must be
completely familiar with the expectations of relevant stakeholders
of the Company. To get to know and better address
the manifold expectations of stakeholders, we fosters regular
dialogue. A key component of the sustainability strategy
“Go sustainable 2012” is to intensify and professionalise its
dialogue with key stakeholders on various topics involving
sustainability. By doing so, METRO GROUP aims to create a
stable foundation for long-term, trusting relationships.
Platform for dialogue in Berlin
with the Group’s representative office in Berlin, which was
opened at the start of 2010, we have created a platform for
an ongoing, open and transparent dialogue with the government,
parliament, associations and relevant interest groups.
In this way, METRO GROUP creates the basis for responsibility
partnerships with political decision-makers – at a national
and international level. In the process, we make use of new
formats of cooperative policymaking. The most visible example
of this is the “wednesday Society of the Retail Indus-