The Sustainability Code Newsletter

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1 The Sustainability Code Newsletter Dear Sir or Madam, At the beginning of the New Year, we are sending you up-to-date information and events on the Code and the Code network. We also want to take another look back with you at last year the most successful year for the Code since its launch in The Code Team would also like to take this opportunity to thank all its partners and friends for their help and assistance. To our readers, a great start to the New Year! If you do not wish to receive this quarterly newsletter in future, please click here to unsubscribe. Looking back at 2016 In 2016, 58 declarations of conformity were submitted by new users and 48 existing ones were updated. This brings the total number of declarations of conformity to 352 submitted by 175 companies and organisations. The Code website also saw a significant rise in the number of hits: from 154,504 (in 2015) to over 240,000 in 2016 (as at December 2016). The revised Code database is now far more user-friendly. The changes include a considerably easier means of compiling declarations of conformity and the possibility to compare abridged reports with individual criteria. Furthermore, tables can be incorporated and reports from previous years can be imported and revised to cater to new developments. 1,540 readers now receive the German newsletter. The network of Code training partners and mentors has also grown: at present, a total of 102 training partners (cf. 58 in 2015) and 40 mentors lend a hand to the Sustainability Code by providing advice to interested companies and organisations. As we are therefore well capable of coping with all current inquiries for informative events and workshops in different regions, there are currently no plans to further expand the training partner network in Germany. The Code training partners as well as the Sustainability Code Office have also attended numerous events at chambers and trade associations and have sent informative materials to over 130 third-party events. The level of international interest in the Code has also risen. The Sustainability Code is currently available in the following languages: English, French, Spanish, Greek, Russian and Hebrew. 1

2 NEWS Reappointment of RNE members At the end of October, Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel reappointed the German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE). To see an overview of all new and re-elected members of the 15- strong Council click here. Marlehn Thieme, Member of the Council of Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) and Chairwoman of the ZDF Television Council, was confirmed as Chair of RNE. For more information on RNE s constitutive meeting please go here. CSR reporting obligation New, and therefore more in-depth, details on the legislation have yet to emerge: at the time this newsletter was sent, the German legislation contrary to the original schedule had not yet been passed. Based on the draft bill available to date, it can be confirmed that companies using the Sustainability Code will be able to meet their obligation to disclose non-financial information. As soon as the legislation is published, the RNE will commission legal expertise to verify that the Code conforms to the German law. API interface news Using a so-called application programming interface (API), Sustainability Code users can import data from reporting tools like the ESF-funded CR-Kompass as of right now. Other interfaces are set to follow soon. Users will be able to directly import their declarations of conformity with the Sustainability Code to the Code database from other systems. To do so, users copy a code from the Code database, which can be entered in the reporting tools of CR-Kompass (or others). The data of relevance for a declaration is automatically uploaded to the Code database where it can be amended as needed. Once the Sustainability Code Office has formally reviewed the declaration, it is published in the Code database. The universal interfaces are designed to simplify the exchange of content found in different databases, to reduce the amount of time invested and to create coherence between various approaches. Code users win German Sustainability Award and have been nominated for German government s CSR Award The German Sustainability Award ceremony was held on 25 November 2016 as part of the 9th German Sustainability Conference in Duesseldorf. As in previous years, Code users were once again among the prestigious award winners and nominees. We congratulate the award winners: EVONIK Industries AG received the award in the research category, whilst Tchibo GmbH was honoured as Germany's most sustainable large business. 2

3 Our congratulations also go to all Sustainability Code users who were nominated Grohe AG, elobau GmbH and BeoPlast Besgen GmbH for their dedication and commitment as well as their top 5 rankings in the categories major corporations, medium-sized companies and SMEs. Sustainability Code users are also among the companies nominated for the German government s CSR Award. We are keeping our fingers crossed for the awards ceremony that is to be held in Berlin on 24 January The nominated Code users for 2016 are: Stadtsiedlung Heilbronn GmbH (company with 249 employees) VAUDE Sport GmbH & Co. KG (company with 250 to 999 employees + responsible supply chain management) Unilever Deutschland GmbH (company with 1,000 or more employees) Grohe AG (company with 1,000 or more employees) Frosta AG (company with 1,000 or more employees) Flughafen Muenchen GmbH (company with 1,000 or more employees) Henkel AG & Co. KGaA (responsible supply chain management) Code Apéro on 24 November 2016 During the 9th German Sustainability Conference, an exclusive Code event was held on 24 November 2016 involving mentors and partners. Besides looking back at some of the successes of the past year, the focal point of the event was discussions between business representatives and the Sustainability Code Team. THE CODE GOES INTERNATIONAL First English-language Code webinar Following the successful launch of the inaugural Sustainability Code webinar in September 2016, the Code Team held its first English-language webinar on 16 November The seminar was geared towards existing Code training partners who wanted to advance the development of the Code outside Germany and learn more about the Code itself. If you wish to be part of likewise events, please send your to team@sustainabilitycode.org. Open SDGclub.Berlin The first Open SDGclub.Berlin, an RNE initiative, took place in Berlin from 21 to 23 November The international conference sought to discuss what initial experiences had been made with the United Nations Agenda Representatives from national sustainability councils and think tanks for sustainable development or similar advisory boards exchanged experiences, developed new ideas and networked. One outcome of the event was the spontaneous creation of a Sustainability Code Lab at the request of the participants in order to learn more about the initiative and exchange experiences. Further information on this is available here. 3

4 NEW DECLARATIONS OF CONFORMITY The Sustainability Code is continuing its upward trend: whilst 66 companies were registered in the Code database at the beginning of 2015, this figure had risen to 172 companies and organisations by mid-december 2016, with 345 declarations of conformity currently on hand. Since the last newsletter in September, the following companies have submitted a declaration of conformity: 162: Sparkasse Märkisches Sauerland Hemer-Menden (reporting year 2015) 163: Ulmer Heimstätte eg (reporting year 2015) Hypovereinsbank (reporting year 2015) 164: oekom Verlag GmbH (reporting year 2015) HEAG Holding AG (reporting year 2015) 165: QUMsult GmbH & Co.KG (reporting year 2015) (German and English) 166: GEFAK Gesellschaft für angewandte Kommunalforschung mbh (reporting year 2015) 167: Pehl Beratung (reporting year 2015) Allianz SE (reporting year 2015) Flughafen München GmbH (reporting year 2015, English) 168: Saxonia Franke GmbH & Co. KG (reporting year 2015) 169: Heinz Sielmann Stiftung (reporting year 2015) McDonald s Deutschland Inc. (reporting year 2015, English) ÖPP Deutschland AG (reporting year 2015) 170: Flughafen Stuttgart GmbH (reporting year 2015) Union Investment (reporting year 2015) 171: CRA-Berlin, Dr. Wolfgang Bünsow (reporting year 2015) 172: Das Spenerhaus Hotel und Tagungszentrum am Dominikanerkloster (reporting year 2015) NEWS FROM THE PARTNER NETWORK At the 45th station for the Future Energy Tour, the Minister for Climate Protection for the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Johannes Remmel, visited the Sustainability Code user and mentor BeoPlast in Langenfeld on 2 November He was accompanied by a delegation from EnergieAgentur.NRW. The medium-sized plastic-processing enterprise is increasingly relying on organic plastics and has been an accredited climate-neutral company since

5 SERVICE Database enhancements With immediate effect, you can simply copy and paste content from your previous declarations of conformity into the current reporting year and then edit it. A full-text search of published declarations of conformity can also be used to compare the declarations made by various organisations and companies on the performance indicators with each other. As previously announced to all registered users, the old database was shut down as of the end of October. All of the data and information was imported to the new database, with login access and passwords remaining intact. We ask all companies and organisations that have linked their declarations to their website to check the corresponding link. As of November, all links referring to the old database lead to nowhere. The new link is set up as follows: New training partner section on website In an effort to make communication and the sharing of information between Code training partners and the Sustainability Code Office easier, we have created a protected login section for Code training partners on our website. Here, training partners will find downloadable training aids as well as documentation and recordings of the Code webinar held on 27 September From now on, up-to-date information will be posted in this section by the Sustainability Code Office. Sustainability Code Office c/o Scholz & Friends Reputation Tel (0)30 / team@sustainabilitycode.org Internet: Litfaß-Platz Berlin (Germany) 5