Mercedes 2010 Annual Report Download - page 143

Sustainability | Sustainability at Daimler | 139
Another task of the Sustainability Board is to analyze and evaluate
our Group’s performance in the area of sustainability. Whenever
they see room for improvement, the members of this committee
develop decision-making tools. In cooperation with the Sustain-
ability Office, which operates at the working level, the Sustainability
Board supports the Board of Management in its efforts to develop
a consensus concerning issues relevant to sustainability.
Our stakeholders: a corrective force on the road to sustain-
ability. Back in 2008, we intensified the dialogue with our stake-
holders and established the Daimler Sustainability Dialogue.
This annual forum brings scientists, politicians and other public
figures together with representatives of Daimler’s top manage-
ment. The aim is to promote an in-depth dialogue concerning critical
issues and to engage in a joint search for practical solutions.
A total of 130 participants came together at the third Daimler
Sustainability Dialogue, which was held in Stuttgart in November
2010. After an introductory talk by Dr. Dieter Zetsche, the event
focused on workshops dealing with the following issues: electric
mobility, sustainable mobility systems, job security during the
economic crisis, demographic developments, human rights, supplier
management and community relations. The results of the work-
shops will be further developed in the following 12 months, and
they will serve as starting points for the next Sustainability
Dialogue.
In July 2010, we were one of the first German companies to
initiate a dialogue with stakeholders in China on the issue of
sustainability. The conference under the title of Daimler Sustain-
ability Forum – Ethical Standards and Corporate Social Respon-
sibility was held in the United Nations pavilion in the Expo Park
in Shanghai.
Voluntary commitment to responsible actions. In Berlin on
November 25, 2010, top executives and entrepreneurs from 21
German companies signed a “Mission statement for responsible
actions in business.” With the other signatories, Daimler sub-
scribes to the social market economy and fair rules in global com-
petition. Based on six principles, the chief executives and
managing directors committed to a style of management oriented
towards success and values compatible with the social market
economy. According to this mission statement, competition is
essential but profits may not be achieved by illegally harming
third parties. In addition, the companies see it as a duty to con-
tinually search for ways to utilize resources for the benefit of
mankind, and thus to do business more sustainably. The principles
included in this mission statement are to be put into practice
together with employees and social partners, and are to become
a constitutive element of the management process.
Transparent reporting on sustainability. We published our
first sustainability report in 1993, thus laying the foundation for
our ongoing reporting on sustainability issues. The year 2010
saw the publication of our sixth Group-wide sustainability report,
360 DEGREES, which is prepared in accordance with the guide-
lines of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). It provides a detailed
and comprehensive sustainability analysis of the previous finan-
cial year and is supplemented by an interactive online sustainability
report that contains more detailed and extensive information
(http://sustainability.daimler.com). We will present the new
sustainability report at the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting in
mid-April 2011.
The electronic Daimler Sustainability Newsletter provides
information at regular intervals about our activities in the area
of sustainability. You can subscribe to the newsletter at
[e-mail]. Further information is available online
at http://sustainability.daimler.com
Locally emission-free around the world: Three Mercedes-Benz B-Class F-Cell cars demonstrate Daimler’s claim
to leadership in the field of sustainable mobility.