Selection of sustainability topics
Procedure
To determine our key sustainability topics, we conducted a material analysis for the first time in 2024 in reference to the requirements of the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) in conjunction with the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS). DB Group is expected to report in accordance with ESRS from the 2025 financial year.
As the first step, we drew up a list of potentially material topics comprising the sustainability aspects set out in ESRS 1 (AR 16) and company-specific topics. In the second step, we defined and assigned actual and potential positive and negative impacts that DB Group has on ESG topics as well as the resulting opportunities and risks, the so-called IROs (Impacts, Risks and Opportunities), based on the Integrated Report 2023 and other thematic sources (e.g. DB Code of Conduct for Business Partners or employee survey 2022). Before these IROs entered the evaluation phase, they were validated by internal subject matter experts for accuracy, relevance and completeness. In the third step, the internal subject matter experts performed materiality assessments for the IROs, taking into account stakeholder interests. The detailed valuation methodology was based on the requirements of ESRS and DB Group’s existing opportunity and risk management system. We have assessed the severity and probability of occurrence for impacts and the financial effect and probability of occurrence for financial risks and opportunities. Finally, the various components were combined to form an IRO score.
Result
Based on a defined threshold, we identified the material IROs from which the material topic set of DB Group is derived, which was finalized in a validation workshop (including consideration of borderline cases). In total, 23 material topics were identified. In 2024, the topics “Water pollution,” “Noise reduction” and various sub-topics of the “Biodiversity” topic group were added to the material topic set compared to the previous year. The “Dealing with politics and regulation” topic was no longer identified as material.
Derivation of GRI topics
To determine the material topics according to GRI, in a final step we clustered the 23 material topics from the materiality analysis in reference to the requirements of the CSRD based on previous GRI reporting and topics and assigned them to or supplemented those previous topics.
Our DB sustainability topics are made up of:
- Material topics according to GRI: were expanded compared to the previous year to include the additional topics of environmental pollution, biodiversity, occupational health and safety in the supply chain and noise reduction. The topic of product quality and customer benefits was expanded to include the aspect of customer information. The topics of capacity expansion of the infrastructure and vehicle fleet as well as solutions for modern and digital mobility, logistics and service were merged into the single topic, capacity and service expansion. The topicsof economic performance capability and dealing with politics and regulations have been removed from this year’s GRI materiality.
- Topics from our transparency aspiration: arise from our comprehensive transparency aspiration towards our stakeholders.
- Additional topics: supplemented on the basis of an internal assessment of their significance.