How sustainable are German companies? How seriously do they take ecological and social issues and how openly do they deal with them? For the tenth time, the Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IÖW) and the business initiative Future have been investigating large companies and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Germany and have compiled a ranking of sustainability reports.

Rewe and Vaude excel at transparency

Reports from a total of 69 large companies and 40 SMEs were analysed according to specific criteria such as compliance with environmental protection, consideration of employee interests in the company itself and at suppliers or compliance with supply chains in production. A maximum of 700 points was achieved. In February, the best six companies received an award for their transparency from the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in Berlin: Among the large companies, Rewe won with 512 points. The authors write that the retail chain was particularly strong in its efforts to systematically align its product range with sustainability criteria such as regional products. The BMW and Telekom sustainability reports ranked second and third respectively.

Vaude, Lebensbaum and Memo were the winners among small and medium-sized companies. With 671 points, Vaude almost achieved its highest score. The manufacturer of sports equipment anchors sustainability holistically in its corporate strategy and places long-term brand value above short-term profits, the jurors explained.

Role models in terms of sustainability

"The award-winning companies are leading the way in terms of sustainability. Through transparent reporting on their ecological and social responsibility, they enable their customers and business partners to clearly classify their performance and, if necessary, demand improvements," said Rolf Schmachtenberg, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Labor, at the award ceremony.

In addition to the ranking, IÖW and Future also presented a study on the development of the reporting obligation for the first time. Since 2018, companies in Germany with more than 500 employees and a turnover of more than 40 million euros have been legally obliged to disclose how they fulfill their corporate social responsibility (CSR). Nationwide, 439 companies were affected by this in November 2018. For SMEs, this information remains voluntary.

Many reports only meet minimum standards

The evaluation showed that the companies do indeed comply with the duty to provide information, although they often only meet the minimum requirements. The authors emphasize that there are major differences in the depth and consistency of the information. "The reportable companies describe concepts on how to deal with the issues that are important to them. However, information on concrete goals and results as well as meaningful performance indicators and key figures associated with them are not given enough attention or corresponding correlations are not made clear," said economist Christian Lautermann of the IÖW.

SMEs as role models for large companies

Particularly in the case of SMEs, the authors note that sustainability reports are becoming increasingly professional and standardized. "Those companies that have been voluntarily publishing sustainability reports for many years are clearly at an advantage. Some big companies could learn a lot from even the medium-sized companies, which have been voluntarily practicing transparency for a long time", says Udo Westermann of Future.

At the same time, the authors point out that newcomers to the field of reporting are certainly able to provide comprehensible information. Aldi-Nord is cited as an example. The discounter took part in the ranking for the first time in 2018 and managed to reach 15th place straightaway.

Adapting the bar to the ranking criteria

The ranking of sustainability reports has been carried out since 1994. "The experience gained from ten runs of our sustainability report ranking shows that the information needs of stakeholders are constantly changing. We will continue to adapt the yardstick for good reporting to social challenges in the future," says Ranking Project Manager Lautermann.

bb/um