Sustainability at Schaeffler
Climate change is a major challenge of our time. Its consequences are becoming increasingly visible to everyone. At Schaeffler we aim to do everything we can to stop this change. Not only in climate protection, but also with regard to other aspects of sustainability Schaeffler takes on ecological as well as social responsibility along the entire value chain. For us, doing business sustainably means using natural resources responsibly and sparingly so that they can also be used by future generations.
Our commitment
News
Our strategy
For the Schaeffler Group, sustainable company success means assuming economic, environmental, and social responsibility throughout the entire value chain, which is why sustainability is not only one of the Schaeffler Group’s four company values, but also a key component of the “Roadmap 2025”.
To be able to maintain these standards in the future, we consistently refined our strategy and defined ten action fields throughout the ESG dimensions of environment, social, and governance. Our action fields will be backed by further concrete targets and measurable key figures in 2023.
Our action fields
We assume environmental and social responsibility along the entire value chain and systematically aligned our strategy with the three ESG dimensions of environment, social, and governance.
Environment
1 Climate neutrality
2 Circularity
3 Resource efficiency and environmental protection
4 Green products
The Schaeffler Group considers its goal to minimize the environmental impact of its business activities as the basis of its future company success. Therefore, the company primarily focuses on potential impact on the climate and climate change in its sustainability strategy.
You can find out more about our commitment to environmental sustainability in the online sustainability report.
Social
5 Diversity, employees, and people development
6 Occupational health and safety
7 Responsibility in society and supply chain
8 Product safety and integrity
Schaeffler Group employees contribute significantly to the company’s success. This is why we support the professional and personal development of our workforce, provide fair, performance-oriented payment and company pensions and offers flexible working time models. We support nonprofit organizations through our corporate citizenship activities and invests in research and social projects.
You can find more detailed information about our commitment to social issues in our online sustainability report.
Governance
9 Corporate governance
10 Business integrity
Integrity plays an important role in the Schaeffler Group’s business activities, which need to comply with the company’s values of sustainability, innovation, excellence, and passion at all times. To ensure proper behavior in line with values and standards, the company established a Group-wide compliance management system.
Learn more about corporate governance at Schaeffler in our online sustainability report.
Our sustainability goals
Climate-neutral Supply Chain
CO₂ reduction in the supply chain (scope 3 upstream) by 2040 compared to base year 2019
Climate-neutral Production
CO₂ reduction in own production (Scope 1 and 2) by 2030 compared to base year 2019
Energy Efficiency
100 GWh cumulated annual efficiency gains through implementation of energy efficiency measures by 2024
Renewable Energy
100 % purchased power from renewable sources by 2024
Women in top Management
Increase the percentage of women at top management level to 20 % by 2025
Freshwater Supply
20 % reduction of freshwater supply by 2030 compared to base year 2019
Accident Rate
10 % average annual reduction of accident rate (LTIR) by 2024
Sustainable Suppliers
90 % of purchasing volume of production material from suppliers with sustainability self-assessments by 2022
To manage and track all our sustainability activities, we have set ourselves eight sustainability targets that apply across the entire company. Further goals are derived to cover all ten action fields in the future. Four of our sustainability targets directly support the topic of climate neutrality. From 2040, we will be doing business climate-neutrally. The Schaeffler Group has responded to the challenges of climate change and aims to achieve climate-neutral operations by 2040.
The company will include the entire supply chain on this climate journey. To achieve this target, we will make our own production (Scope 1 and 2) climate-neutral from 2030. In addition, by as early as 2025, 75 percent of our production emissions will be reduced. We will reduce emissions resulting from intermediates and raw materials in the supply chain (Scope 3 upstream) by 25 percent by 2030. We aim to also achieve climate neutrality in this area by 2040. The base year for all our calculations is 2019. We aim to achieve our targets almost exclusively through tangible reduction measures. We will only resort to carbon offsets in the case of unavoidable emissions.
Schaeffler Group’s climate targets have been assessed and validated as science-based by the „Science Based Targets initiative“ (SBTi). These targets, that Schaeffler pursues within its Roadmap 2025, are hence suitable for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and in line with what the latest climate science considers necessary in order to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. In this way, Schaeffler is actively helping to limit climate change and to continue to be successful as a company in the future. The SBTi is a partnership between CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute (WRI), and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
For more information on our commitment to sustainability in relation to strategy and management, please see our full online sustainability report, which is also available as a PDF download.
Ratings and rankings
CDP
Climate: Score "A" | Water: Score "A" (2022)
EcoVadis
Platinum status | 79/100 Points (2023)
S&P Global
54/100 Points (2022)
Sustainalytics
9.4 (“negligible risk“) – core framework (2022)
Initiatives & Associations
To establish a shared understanding of sustainability, the Schaeffler Group is involved in a variety of initiatives and associations that promote standardized measures and processes for effective sustainability management. The organizations listed here by way of example offer an insight into our commitment to sustainability through our involvement in various associations and initiatives. A complete list of our memberships is available to download.
UN Global Compact
We commit to the ten principles of the United Nations Global Compact in the areas of human rights, labor standards, anti-corruption and environmental protection.
Value Balancing Alliance
As a member of the Value Balancing Alliance (VBA) we work with other companies to develop a consistent standard for measurement and monetary assessment of the environmental and social impacts of companies.
Diversity Charter
Integration and mutual respect have been part of our internal corporate culture for a long time now. We made a binding commitment to these values by signing the “Diversity Charter” in May 2008.
Econsense
Since 2016 we have been contributing our expertise to econsense – Forum for Sustainable Development of German Business. The objective of this network of various globally operating organizations and companies aims to advance sustainability in business.
Our Contribution to the UN Sustainable Developement Goals
As part of its 2030 Agenda, the United Nations (UN) has defined 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs). This “timetable” focuses on the implementation of sustainability in companies, governments, and private households. The aim is to enable decent living standards worldwide and at the same time protect natural resources.
Through our activities we are contributing to 11 of the 17 sustainable development goals. You will find a detailed overview of our commitment to achieving the sustainable development goals in our Sustainability Report.
Climate Action Day
Schaeffler organized a company-wide Climate Action Day in June 2022. That day, all of the company’s approximately 83,000 employees spent 90 minutes learning about the challenges that climate change poses for Schaeffler and society. In total they developed more than 23,000 recommendations for helping to protect the climate. These recommendations apply to Schaeffler’s entire value chain.
Online Sustainability Report
In our online Sustainability Report you will find detailed information about our sustainability targets and what we are doing to achieve them.
Our Code of Conduct
In our Code of Conduct we describe the principles and practices that we urge all our employees, Members of the Executive Board to implement. We also expect our business partners to adhere to this Code of Conduct.
Green Finance Framework
With the help of “green” financing tools like the Green Finance Framework we enable the implementation of eligible projects that help create a lower-emission and more climate-friendly economy.
Certificates and awards
We have put together all certificates for all Schaeffler locations related to energy and quality management to occupational safety and environmental management.
Reports and downloads
The Schaeffler Group publishes an annual Sustainability Report, which explores in detail the topic of sustainability in all business areas. All reports published since 2016 are available.
The Sustainability Report from 2022 contains the combined separate non-financial report in accordance with the CSR Directive Implementation Act. The reporting is conducted in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards (Core option).
2018 Combined Separate Non-financial Report
2017 Combined Separate Non-financial Report
In addition, the following documents are available to download:
Contact
For all questions relating to sustainability at Schaeffler please contact us. We look forward to hearing from you.
Schaeffler AG
Industriestraße 1-3
91074 Herzogenaurach
Germany
Whistle-blower system
The BKMS whistle-blower system is an important tool for preventing and following up illegal business practices and violations of human rights or environmental laws. The system allows employees and external whistle-blowers worldwide to report breaches of laws or regulations anonymously and around the clock. Reprisals against whistleblowers based on justified information is not tolerated at Schaeffler. If you are suspicious about something, please use the points of contact we have provided.
Further information on the procedural principles of the Schaeffler whistleblower system and complaint mechanism can be found in the Guideline Whistleblowing System.