Sustainability
Acting sustainably and responsibly is one of the key principles by which the KION Group operates. The Group’s focus on sustainability is reflected in its efforts to manufacture products that are as eco-friendly and safe as possible, to use climate- and environmentally friendly manufacturing processes, and to provide a safe and non-discriminatory working environment. The KION Group and its Operating Units strive for a balance between environmental, economic, and social considerations in their activities. In the reporting year, the KION 2027 strategy was updated to include sustainability as an additional field of action on the basis of the main aspects of the sustainability strategy. This underlines the priority that the KION Group is giving to this increasingly important matter. The KION Group’s values also have a clear link to sustainability.
In 2021, the KION Group fleshed out the details of its sustainability strategy. The outline of the strategy had been bindingly defined by the Executive Board at the end of 2020. With its overarching theme ‘We take responsibility’, the strategy prioritizes the three strategic dimensions – people, products, and processes – to ensure that the KION Group’s activities are focused on the important aspects of each dimension.
As part of the ongoing evaluation by external independent auditors and rating agencies, the KION Group’s sustainability performance was reaffirmed in 2021. The rating from ISS remained at B–, which equates to prime status, having been raised to this level in the previous year. CDP recognized the KION Group’s commitment to combating climate change, awarding a rating of B. The rating from S&P Global CSA continued to rise, advancing by four points to reach 57 points. The KION Group achieved a total score of 69 in the ESG rating from Sustainalytics in the year under review. In May 2021, the KION Group notched up an ESG score of 47 as part of the broad rating from Vigeo Eiris. This put it in fourth place out of 49 companies in the peer group Industrial Goods and Services Sector in Europe.
The groupwide sustainability report for 2021, which will be published in April 2022, contains information on strategy, the management approach, and structures for sustainability as well as data on relevant key performance indicators. It also contains the KION Group’s non-financial declaration as required under German law. For this reason, the KION Group has not provided detailed information in the 2021 combined management report.