2022

Haselünne, March 31, 2022 – Berentzen-Gruppe Aktiengesellschaft has published its voluntary Sustainability Report for the 2021 financial year. It is the corporate group’s fifth Sustainability Report.

“Our 2021 Sustainability Report marks the continuation of our ongoing efforts to communicate transparently with our various internal and external stakeholders on matters related to social, environmental and economic responsibility”, explains Ralf Brühöfner, who is responsible for corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities within the Executive Board of Berentzen-Gruppe Aktiengesellschaft. “The topic of sustainability – which has always played an inherent role in how we see ourselves as a corporate group, now more than 260 years old – is, as we know, becoming increasingly important in society, politics and the economy with every passing year. Our ongoing efforts to step up our sustainability activities show that we have understood and readily accept the tasks that fall to companies as key parts of society.” These efforts are also reflected in the scope of the Sustainability Report, which has been increased again to cover even more aspects of sustainability.

“To make a clear, visible statement of how overwhelmingly important the different aspects of sustainability are to us, we joined the United Nations Global Compact last year, the world’s largest and most important initiative for responsible corporate governance”, says Laura Schlochtermeier, CSR manager at the Berentzen Group. “By joining this initiative, we have committed to the ten universal principles of the United Nations Global Compact, based on aspects such as human rights, working standards, environmental protection and corruption.”

The 2021 financial year also saw the launch or implementation of a range of additional projects aimed at achieving the objectives of the sustainability strategy, launched in 2020, in the areas of activity of People, Planet and Products. “For example, we have started to decentralise subtopics to specialist departments and project groups in order to ensure that they are implemented comprehensively with various measures developed on a continuous basis”, continues Schlochtermeier. To manage the overall process, a Sustainability Council with the relevant division heads has also been established.

The EcoVadis sustainability rating awarded to the corporate group at the end of 2021 confirms the positive impact of the sustainability activities carried out to date, Schlochtermeier continues. With a total of 72 out of 100 points, the Berentzen Group achieved gold status and is therefore among the top 5% of all companies rated by EcoVadis.

“Social, environmental and economic sustainability and the challenges this brings concern us all – as a company, we will continue to pursue the course we have taken in this regard resolutely. This year – and in the future – we will therefore continue to add further sustainability activities to the measures we have already taken”, concludes Brühöfner.

Click here for the 2021 Sustainability Report