OREANDA-NEWS. With its 12th annual Corporate Responsibility (CR) Report, Deutsche Post DHL Group has provided a detailed overview of its global corporate responsibility activities in 2015. "Essential" - the title of the Group's CR Report 2015 - underscores the value placed on responsible business practice at Deutsche Post DHL Group. As in previous years, the primary focus in 2015 was on intensified dialogue with stakeholders. As part of a materiality analysis conducted in the reporting year, eight central sustainability issues concerning employees, the environment and corporate governance have been identified from which KPIs and targets were derived. In 2015, the Group has applied for the first time the G4 guideline of the "Global Reporting Initiative" in its reporting.

"We chose the title 'essential' for our latest report, to demonstrate that for us, corporate responsibility and economic success are inextricably linked," said Christof Ehrhart, Head of Corporate Communications and Responsibility at Deutsche Post DHL Group.

The quality of sustainability activities at Deutsche Post DHL Group in the reporting year has been reflected in a wide range of external awards and best-in-class ratings. The Group was again listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability (DJSI) World and Europe Indices, and for the second time received a top AAA rating from MSCI, a leading provider of investment decision support tools. The non-profit Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) awarded Deutsche Post DHL Group the highest possible score of 100A for its environmental protection program.

Carbon efficiency remains the Group's most important environmental KPI. In the reporting year, Deutsche Post DHL Group increased the carbon efficiency of its operations by one index point over the previous year. Now at 25%, the Group is another step closer to achieving its climate change target of reducing carbon emissions by 30% by 2020 compared to the base year. A wide range of measures have contributed to this success. These include small-scale production of the electric StreetScooter vehicle developed by the Group, with 500 vehicles produced initially. In 2015, around 22,500 efficiency measures were applied to 13,500 vehicles. This includes measures such as aerodynamics enhancement, telematics or eco chip tuning. In addition the number of alternative vehicles rose: from around 350 electric vehicles, the fleet increased to 937 electric drive vehicles in 2015. Expansion of the electromobility program will continue in 2016 - among other things with the deployment of further StreetScooters for mail and parcel deliveries in Germany. The StreetScooter was also deployed in several other countries in Europe in the reporting year.

Carbon efficiency at Deutsche Post DHL Group sites was also improved through numerous measures, including the use of efficient lighting and intelligent cooling and heating systems, and the installation of photovoltaic systems. In addition, the introduction of an ISO 50001 energy management system at sites throughout Europe was largely completed, with the first sites receiving ISO 50001 certification in the reporting year.

Despite the still challenging market environment, the Group's global workforce grew by 8,900 employees in the reporting year.

With the Group-wide Certified initiative, engagement of employees will be further stepped up and developed. By 2020, 80% of the workforce will have completed the Certified program. The Corporate Responsibility Report also records volunteer work performed by Group employees. Our annual Global Volunteer Day (GVD) is our flagship employee engagement activity: more than 78,000 employees supported GVD activities in 2015 (2014: 77,000), investing some 260,000 hours in over 2,000 social and environmental projects.

The year 2015 saw a great need for action in the areas of disaster prevention and disaster relief - two fields in which Deutsche Post DHL Group is active with its global GoHelp disaster management program. In the reporting year, the Group's Disaster Response Teams, which provide logistics support at airports in the wake of a disaster to ensure seamless distribution of relief supplies, were deployed in Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, Nepal and the island nation of Vanuatu. Some 400 employees are available for deployment worldwide. As part of the Group's GARD (Get Airports Ready for Disaster) program, workshops were held in the Dominican Republic, India and Macedonia.

In the area of Corporate Citizenship, the Group's long-standing partnership with SOS Children's Villages was expanded to include children's villages in Nigeria and Tanzania, increasing the total number to 26 countries. The Group-wide GoTeach educational program, which is designed to improve educational and employment opportunities for socially disadvantaged children and youths, also developed positively. As part of its collaboration with the international Teach For All network, the Group entered into new cooperation agreements with national organizations in Bangladesh and Malaysia. Deutsche Post DHL Group now has education cooperation partnerships in ten countries throughout the world.

With regard to both the social challenges and the opportunities arising from the refugee crisis in Germany in 2015, Deutsche Post DHL Group launched a refugee aid initiative in collaboration with Aktion Deutschland Hilft, SOS Children's Villages, Stiftung Lesen and Teach First Deutschland. The initiative started successfully with its main focus on language acquisition and vocational training and education. Among other things, Deutsche Post DHL Group has made some 1,000 additional internships available Germany-wide exclusively for refugees, thereby laying the foundations for potential apprenticeships and future employment with the company. Along with training some 100 employees as refugee aid initiative coordinators, Deutsche Post DHL Group also supports and encourages up to 10,000 employees in Germany to get involved in local refugee aid activities.

"Our refugee aid initiative is a concrete example of the fact that although we apply long-term thinking and planning in our corporate responsibility activities, we are nonetheless in a position to provide a timely response to social challenges as and when they arise," said Christof Ehrhart. "Refugees, to whom we would like to offer prospects in Germany, will benefit from our engagement."