The topic of sustainability, with its aspects in the environmental, social and governance dimensions, has a high priority within DB Group. For this reason, for example, the importance of climate protection but also social issues such as employee satisfaction or the share of women in leadership are reflected in their anchoring in the Strong Rail strategy. Sustainability is also firmly incorporated in the variable remu­neration of Management Board members, executives and other employee groups.

• Responsibility for sustainability – and thus climate-related opportunities and risks is the responsibility of the Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO). The role is exercised by the Chairman of the Management Board (CEO) of DB AG. The CSO’s perspective is thus incorporated in a very central role in all important Group decisions. With regard to climate-related decisions, the CEO is also significantly involved in strategy development in his dual role. In 2024, the Management Board decided for example to adopt the Green Rail Technology program, a package of measures for additional climate protection, among other things, to improve energy efficiency. The CEO is also responsible for compliance issues. Responsibility for employee issues lies with the Management Board member for Human Resources and Legal Affairs and for occupational safety issues with the Management Board member for Digitalization and Technology.
• The central Sustainability and Environment organizational unit is responsible for overall coordination of Group-wide sustainability issues. The Head of Sustainability and Environment is the highest position responsible for sustainability-related issues under the Management Board and reports directly to the CEO. Specific tasks include, among other things, the definition of the sustainability strategy, associated Group-wide targets and key figures, their planning and monitoring, and the planning, management and implementation of Group-wide transformation projects.

Responsibility for further sustainability topics lies with the respective Management Board divisions or business units.

• Group management focuses further its compliance work on centralized governance activities in particular. Operational responsibility is assumed in the business units and service units.
• Employee topics are supported by the Human Resources (HR) Group functions in Group management. Group-wide implementation is performed in coordination with the business units. Aspects of occupational health and safety are not set up centrally, but are integrated in the business activities and taken into account within the management systems of DB companies.

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The 2024 Integrated Report relates to the reporting/calendar year 2024. To enable a comparison of the figures, values from the financial years 2023 and 2022 are also presented for the majority of the key figures. The Integrated Report is published annually. The 2024 Integrated Report is set to be published on March 27, 2025 (2023 Integrated Report: March 21, 2024). The Integrated Report addresses the main stakeholder groups of DB Group. The reporting covers all material economic, social and environmental aspects. All fully consolidated companies of DB Group (excluding discontinued operations) are included in the reporting. Deviations from this reporting scope or period are noted as such.

The data collection methods and bases of calculation used for the data in the Integrated Report are based on the relevant standards:

• CSR-RUG: We implement the requirements of the CSR Directive Implementation Act (CSR-RUG). Information on the key areas of action can be found in the non-financial statement.
• GRI Standards: The Integrated Report was prepared in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards. In the GRI Index, we refer to content on general and specific disclosures.
• EU Taxonomy: In the 2024 Integrated Report, we are reporting for the first time the “ecologically sustainable” share of our revenues, capital expenditures (Capex) and operating expenses (Opex) pursuant to the EU Taxonomy Regulation.
• TCFD: In addition, DB Group presents information in line with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) on reporting climate-related information. The TCFD index refers to the relevant passages.
• UN Global Compact: The Integrated Report also contains information on the implementation of the ten principles of the UN Global Compact (UNGC).
• External audit: Material sustainability-related content, indicators and text passages that do not fall within the scope of the statutory audit of the management report with reasonable assurance are indicated by arrow markings at the beginning ( ) and end ( ) of the corresponding passage and gray font color and are audited with limited assurance by an independent third party, KPMG AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft (KPMG), commissioned separately by the Executive Board. The preparation of the combined management report in accordance with the GRI Standards is a part of the audit.

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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.

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DB Group has decided to voluntarily issue a non-financial statement (NFS). As part of our integrated reporting approach, we report comprehensively on all significant sustainability issues.

The update of the materiality analysis based on the first-time materiality analysis in line with the requirements of the CSRD in conjunction with the ESRS in 2024 resulted in extensive changes with regard to the material areas of action within the meaning of the CSR Directive Implementation Act (CSR-RUG): as a result, the topics climate protection, capacity and service expansion as well as product quality, customer benefit and information were classified as material. The contents of the NFE can be found in the relevant chapters of the combined management report and were prepared using the GRI standards. We also provide additional information on further matters.

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