The role of the administrative, management and supervisory bodies (GOV-1)
On the Management Board, sustainability issues are largely managed by the Board division of the CEO and supervised by her. This applies, in particular, to the areas of sustainability and environment, political relations, infrastructure modernization and product quality. Individual sustainability topics are assigned to other Board divisions, such as the topics of employees, data protection and compliance to the Human Resources and Legal Affairs Board division, or are monitored as an overarching topic by several Board divisions.
As part of the selection process for the appointment of new members of the Management Board, the Supervisory Board takes account of the expertise of the candidates for the relevant Board division and also includes the relevant sustainability topics.
Half of the members of the Supervisory Board are delegated or elected to the Supervisory Board by the owner of DB AG and the other half are elected by the employees. It is generally the responsibility of the Supervisory Board members themselves to ensure that they are qualified to deal with sustainability topics. Information events on sustainability topics are offered to the members of the Supervisory Board on an ad hoc basis, particularly with regard to new technical developments. Examples include the digitalization of rail, which is central to the topics of infrastructure modernization and punctuality, and artificial intelligence (AI), which is highly relevant to many sustainability issues such as the detection of vegetation on the track, but also to employees and corporate culture.
The targets of DB Group are set by resolution of the Management Board and, as part of corporate planning, by the Supervisory Board. This also applies to sustainability topics such as infrastructure modernization and punctuality, in particular. Progress in achieving the targets is monitored via the Management Board’s quarterly reports to the Supervisory Board. Sustainability targets are also incorporated into the variable remuneration of the Management Board members and executives. To this end, the Supervisory Board sets targets for the Management Board members; the Management Board decides on the targets and performance indicators for DB Group, which are also included to an appropriate extent in the variable remuneration of the executives of DB Group.
The Supervisory Board holds an annual strategy meeting at which DB Group’s strategy, including key sustainability topics, is discussed with the Management Board. The main sustainability topics are taken into account when defining DB Group’s strategy and objectives. The effects of different topics are weighed up and balanced if they are in conflict, such as the topics of punctuality and infrastructure modernization. The financial impact of material sustainability topics is part of DB Group’s risk management process and risk reporting to the Management Board and Supervisory Board.
Further information can be found in the combined management report in the Corporate Governance report and in the section Sustainability management.