Strategy & Organisation

The commercial success of the BENTELER Group is directly linked with the corporate responsibility for employees, environment and society. We see global developments such as climate change and urbanization as challenges that we address through value-based governance, technical innovation, and social engagement. 

As part of the development of the BENTELER sustainability strategy, we analyzed all the SDGs with their sub-goals and prioritized them in terms of their ability to be influenced. In addition, stakeholder requirements as well as regulatory and financial market requirements such as the EU taxonomy, Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) were considered. Our business activities have relevant impacts on ten SDGs. In order to implement effective measures with a view to the most relevant impact, the Executive Board has decided that the focus of BENTELER’s sustainability goals should initially follow five central SDGs:

In order to effectively implement the sustainability strategy developed in 2021, the BENTELER Group has established a Sustainability Office. Along with communicative tasks within the company, this helps especially with coordination of work packages and supports those responsible in the implementation of the corresponding goals. The Sustainability Office reports directly to the Executive Board as part of steering committee meetings. 

In Spring 2021, work began on a comprehensive sustainability strategy, for which a materiality analysis was initially conducted. The issues that were identified form the basis of this sustainability report. In the first step, a list of all sustainability topics potentially relevant to BENTELER was drawn up for the materiality analysis. This was based on an industry analysis, generally relevant sustainability standards such as the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations or the Global Reporting Initiative, and regulatory developments such as the EU taxonomy.  

In the next step, this list was evaluated by a panel of experts representing different stakeholder perspectives and key expectations for BENTELER were discussed. The impact of BENTELER’s business activities on the environment, economy and society was assessed in an online survey by internal experts. The results of the two surveys were then presented and validated to the newly formed sustainability steering committee in a workshop. The final result of the materiality analysis was finally confirmed by the Executive Board. 

Communication with our stakeholders is very important as it allows us to understand their needs and constantly improve our performance. Our goal is to shape the future of the BENTELER Group together with all stakeholders. The following groups are of particular importance to BENTELER:  

We set great importance to dialog in our communications activities. We are convinced that only by exchanging ideas with our stakeholders we can learn from each other, strengthen the general bond and thus make a sustainable contribution to the company's success.  

Dialog with our employees around the world is particularly important to us. To give them orientation in a rapidly changing market environment, we actively and comprehensively inform them with targeted formats. A concrete example is our regular "Business Update" - a video message in which the Executive Board explains the market and company situation on a wide variety of channels (intranet, plant screens, etc.). Here, too, we encourage our colleagues to send us their thoughts: Every employee is actively encouraged to provide feedback to superiors, the Corporate Communications team or directly to the Executive Board.