Sustainability in the supply chain
We make the greatest possible contribution to sustainable mobility development through strong partnerships in transparent supply chains. Our suppliers take an active role in ensuring mutual business success with their sustainability performance and capacity to innovate. We have refined our social and environmental responsibility in many product group strategies and have embedded it in our contract awarding practices in the form of suitability, performance, evaluation and implementation criteria. The DB Code of Conduct for Business Partners is the starting point in forming sustainable supply chains and making definitive procurement decisions. We use it as a basis for monitoring our strategic partners’ compliance with the Code’s requirements through on-site audits if their industry, the country where their registered office is located, or their supply chains are exposed to increased risk.
We place great importance on conducting comprehensive sustainability assessments on our suppliers with regard to their management system, activities and results. We look at environmental aspects, occupational health and safety, human rights, business practices and supply chains. Each of these aspects is subject to minimum requirements. More than 700 suppliers, which account for 62% (previous year: more than 600 suppliers, 60%) of our procurement volume, submitted their assessments to us in 2021. The majority of reevaluated suppliers improved their sustainability performance. This allows us to work together to reduce risks and increase resilience in DB Group’s supply of goods and services. In many product groups, our suppliers can benefit from a simplified qualification process if they submit an up-to-date sustainability assessment (in most cases from EcoVadis).
We are continuing to develop sustainable performance and decision-making criteria in a continuous dialog with industry associations and the Railsponsible initiative. All 14 Railsponsible members play a key role in making supply chains more transparent with more than 2,000 supplier assessments. Climate protection and safeguarding social minimum standards are the strategic focal points for responsible procurement management at Railsponsible.
