01: Sustainability at the Woco Group

Sustainability management

Sustainability management

Sustainability is anchored in the principles and guidelines of the Woco Group. In recent years, internal structures and responsibilities have also been established for effective sustainability management that sets goals and collects and evaluates key indicators. By participating in numerous external sustainability initiatives, we are constantly making progress in this area.


The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that came into force in January 2016 are political aims of the United Nations (UN) meant to ensure sustainable development from an economic, social and environmental point of view. They provide Woco with a framework for incorporating sustainability into the corporate strategy. The SDGs that are relevant to Woco are set out in greater detail in the respective subsections of the sustainability report.


Principles and guidelines

At Woco, sustainability is a fundamental principle that shapes how we think and act in all areas of the company. The Woco Group assumes social responsibility and faces up to the demands that arise in the context of sustainability. Earning power, new product ideas and innovative manufacturing methods, as well as motivated and qualified employees, provide the basis for actively shaping the future and are key requirements to our company’s long-term success.

The principles of sustainable business practices are set forth in the Woco Group’s corporate values, as well as in its vision and mission. They establish guidelines on environmental, social and economic issues. The Woco Go2025 strategy explicitly focuses on the topic of sustainability to emphasize the topic’s importance within the Group.

Woco also takes guidance from the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact in the areas of human rights, labor, the environment and anti-corruption.

By the time the next report is published, Woco plans to develop a dedicated vision and mission on the subject of sustainability in order to provide even clearer direction on this issue. This is to be carried out at a workshop held at management level.

Structures and responsibilities

Sustainability – as a Group-wide subject relating to all organizational units – includes the key issues of ethical responsibility, production and value creation, as well as employees and society, which will be joined to create a uniform sustainability strategy. The goal is to ensure sustainable development for the company in a socially responsible manner within the framework of the corporate strategy.

With regard to this goal, accountability structures were created in late 2016 for the topic of sustainability. In addition, a sustainability charter specifies the related tasks. If necessary, these are adapted to changes in the organizational and operational structure.

As part of the organizational changes introduced, the topic of sustainability (CSR) was placed under the direct responsibility of the CFO in order to establish a stronger link with economic aspects in line with the recommendations issued by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TFCD). The CFO is also responsible for the issue of risk management.

 

Support for external initiatives

Woco has reported to the CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project) and its “Climate Change” supply chain program since 2017, and to the “Water Security” supply chain program since 2018. At the level of associations, we also support the joint development of more sustainable practices and regularly take part in committees and working groups on a range of issues. One example is the Life Cycle Analysis project group of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (Verband der Automobilindustrie – VDA), in which Woco serves as quality manager. Woco is also a member of the German Mechanical Engineering Industry Association (Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau – VDMA), the Association of German Engineers (Verein Deutscher Ingenieure – VDI), the German Rubber Industry Association (Wirtschaftsverband der deutschen Kautschukindustrie – WDK), the German Technical and Scientific Association for Gas and Water (Deutscher Verein des Gas- und Wasserfaches – DVGW) and the Association of Companies in the Gas and Water Industries (Firmen im Gas- und Wasserfach – FIGAWA).

Performance indicators, monitoring and goals

Corporate sustainability goals are specified at the level of business units and central divisions.

For example, Group-wide goals are in place in the Innovations/Corporate Development, Environment/Energy, Human Resources and Purchasing divisions. In each case, they pertain to specific performance indicators or to the successful introduction of certain measures. Realization of the objectives is up to the relevant divisions or respective locations that define the corresponding implementation steps or focal points and the responsible parties. The implementation steps can be traced using performance indicator systems, which are subject to monthly reporting.

To date, goals have usually been set in the final quarter of the fiscal year for the following year. The specific goals for the individual issues and their achievement are set out in the following sections.

The respective locations collect numerous key figures concerning energy and environmental performance as part of internally or externally certified management systems. Due to the wide product range and the different location contexts resulting from this, the information is not standardized.

With regard to the development of a cross-disciplinary and cross-departmental reporting and monitoring system, a uniform template that is geared towards the GRI guidelines has been created for all plants, thereby enabling a significantly differentiated collection of input and output figures from the various plants and departments. This requires both technical measures (e.g., the installation of additional meter units) and the expansion of our existing data collection systems.

In order to promote an understanding of the differentiated data collection and provide the necessary background, we have set up a sustainability section on our intranet where all employees can access information on the subjects of climate change, water availability and human rights due diligence in both German and English. The section also includes webinar presentations provided by CDP, the UN Global Compact and the Global Reporting Initiative.

 

Risk management

We adhere to strict risk management processes in order to identify opportunities and risks related to our business operations as early as possible. They are described in detail in the current Woco risk management guidelines, which went into effect on January 1, 2017. The risk management guidelines apply to all companies and joint ventures (provided there are no legal regulations to the contrary) and to all employees of the Woco Group. When necessary, the Corporate Risk Management team modifies the guidelines, which are then approved by the Woco Group’s Executive Board. 
The Group’s identified risk areas are monitored continuously by the respective locations by means of risk management software (bottom-up). The software’s standardized format features predefined categories and standards and is updated every quarter by the respective locations. Apart from common economic criteria, such as commodity price and currency fluctuations, the risk categories also include environmental and social factors, such as processes introduced for environmental and human resources management.
 

Continuous improvement process

  • By the next report is published, Woco plans to develop a dedicated vision and mission on the subject of sustainability in order to provide even clearer direction on this issue. This is to be carried out at a workshop held at management level.
  • In order to further improve the area of risk management in terms of creating a holistic, structured process, we will further enhance the top-down approach that we have developed to date to include a range of different business areas. For this purpose, we have assigned the topics of CSR and ESG directly to executive management. Market changes and the opportunities and risks these entail are to be considered at various levels (regulatory, technological, market-related and reputational). This assessment will reveal the time horizon and probability, as well as an evaluation of opportunities and risks, which will then be subjected to an economic analysis.
  • In terms of defining goals and measures, Woco intends to incorporate industry-specific objectives, such as the Drive Sustainability Initiative’s Road Map 2030, in addition to the existing frameworks and guidelines (SDGs and UN Global Compact). 
  • Furthermore, we aim to move forward with the development of our cross-divisional and cross-disciplinary reporting and monitoring systems by the time the next report is published, establishing the necessary conditions for differentiated data collection and improving communication of the background to the individual aspects so as to provide an even clearer view of future requirements (opportunities/risks) in the regions.
     

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