Sustainability in the supply chain
We want to make the greatest possible contribution to sustainable developmentthrough strong partnerships in transparent supply chains among other factors. In 2024, these have not changed significantly. Our suppliers take an active role in ensuring mutual business success with their sustainability performance and capacity to innovate.
We have further developed our social and ecological responsibility in numerous product group strategies in line with DB Group’s objectives and anchored it in contract tenders as a suitability, performance or evaluation criterion. The Code of Conduct for Business Partners (CoC BP) and the DB procurement policy serve as starting points for a sustainable design of supply chains and the specific procurement decisions. The CoCBP is agreed upon during the registration of suppliers. By way of this, suppliers among other things declare that they respect human rights in accordance with the International Labour Organization (ILO core labor standards).
On this basis and on the basis of the legal requirements of the German Act on Corporate Due Diligence Obligations in Supply Chains (Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz; LkSG), we check compliance with the requirements at our strategic partners by way of on-site audits in accordance with the Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit (SMETA) standard for social audits, if there are justified reasons for an increased risk at the suppliers.
Procurement is part of the LkSG risk management to continually ensure compliance with the legal requirements of the LkSG. The existing complaints procedure was further improved. In 2024, a human rights and environmental risk analysis was carried out for the supply chain of DB Group to identify and minimize anomalies and prevent, end or minimize the extent of any violations of human rights or environmental obligations. The risk-based approach is being continually developed and expanded with an IT solution for the systematic, risk-oriented evaluation of suppliers. Based on the results of the LkSG risk analysis, suppliers were selected on a risk basis and supplier discussions were conducted on human rights and environmental aspects and action plans were agreed where necessary. In addition, a risk assessment procedure was developed and piloted for the deeper supply chain. This is aimed at systematically examining high-risk processing stages or service stages in prioritized supply chains and identifying risk-minimizing preventive measures for the specific product groups. In addition, our complaints procedure offers the opportunity to point out any deficiencies in our supply chain. We place great importance on conducting comprehensive sustainability assessments on our suppliers with regard to their management system, activities and results. We consider the dimensions of the environment, working conditions and human rights, fair business practices and sustainable procurement and sustainable supply chain management. Each of these aspects is subject to minimum requirements. Proven compliance with the minimum requirements proves that a supplier deals with the subject areas to a defined minimum extent.
The step-by-step plan for a sustainable and transparent supplier landscape has been in progress since 2023. In the procurement processes, our contractors are gradually placed under obligation to present sustainability ratings and to achieve minimum requirements defined therein. Accordingly, we have been asking for mandatory sustainability ratings in all EU tenders since 2023 (without minimum requirements). Since 2024, there has also been an obligation to submit a sustainability rating after conclusion of the contract (without minimum requirements) for tenders in excess of € 100,000. The expansion will continue gradually:
- From 2025 onwards in EU tenders: Obligation to submit a sustainability rating with defined minimum requirements.
- From 2026 onwards for tenders in excess of € 100,000: Obligation to submit a sustainability rating with defined minimum requirements.
More than 1,200 suppliers (previous year: more than 680) have already submitted assessments to us. This means that we cover about 70% (previous year: about 60%) of our procurement volume with current sustainability assessments. Only sustainability assessments that are no more than two years old are taken into account. The majority of the reassessed suppliers have improved their sustainability performance or already meet our defined minimum requirements. We are, thereby, jointly reducing risks and increasing the resilience of DB Group’s supply of goods and services. Our suppliers benefit from simplified qualification in many product groups if they submit a current sustainability assessment (e.g. EcoVadis or similar). The LkSG risk analysis is also supported by the improved information base from the sustainability assessment of suppliers.
Procurement continues to play a key role in achieving the resource conservation targets of DB Group. We are continuing to develop sustainable performance and decision-making criteria in an ongoing dialog with industry associations and the Railsponsible industry initiative. The 19 members of Railsponsible make an important contribution to more transparent supply chains with more than 3,900 supplier evaluations. Climate protection and safeguarding social minimum standards are the strategic focal points for responsible procurement management with Railsponsible.