We want to inform our stakeholders transparently about our sustainability activities with this Online Sustainability Report. We considered various reporting standards, such as the Sustainability Code or the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards, as possible frameworks for sustainability reporting. Due to our global business activities, we decided to use the globally recognized GRI Standards as a framework.
This Online Sustainability Report has been prepared with reference to GRI standards 2021 and contains a review of the materiality analysis we conducted in 2020 in accordance with the then applicable standard GRI 102-46 (determination of report content and topic delimitation) from GRI 102: General Disclosures 2016 and the legal requirements. This materiality analysis did not include an impact assessment in accordance with Disclosure 3-1 in GRI 3: Material Topics 2021. Accordingly, the management approaches of our material topics (Disclosure 3-3 in GRI 3: Material Topics 2021) does not include a description of how we manage actual and potential positive and negative impacts. We will take this into account in the next materiality analysis and derive appropriate measures for managing our impacts. The GRI Index provides an online overview of the relevant content.
The Online Sustainability Report is available in German and English. In the event of deviations between the versions, the German version shall prevail.
Report framework
This Online Sustainability Report covers the financial year (calendar year) 2022 and relates to the Group including its four business segments, i. e., all fully consolidated companies that are subject to the legal or actual control of Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA, Bad Homburg, Germany. The Notes to the consolidated financial statements in the Annual Report contain further information. Deviations from this reporting framework are marked in the appropriate place.
Determination of the contents of the report
We base our choice of report content on the GRI standards, the principles of materiality and the requirements of our stakeholders, especially the capital market. In addition, the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals serve as a framework for identifying and aligning our sustainability activities. In 2020, we conducted a comprehensive materiality analysis, see the Group Non-financial Report 2020. Experts from the four business segments as well as relevant Group functions have reviewed and validated the results. In 2022, a review confirmed the identified materials topics as still valid. Further information can be found in the section Our materiality analysis.
Separate Group Non-financial Report
In addition to this Online Sustainability Report, we publish a separate Group Non-financial Report with which we meet the regulatory requirements. Our auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers GmbH Wirtschaftsprufungsgesellschaft submitted the information in the separate Group Non-financial Report 2022 to an audit according to ISAE 3000 (Revised) to obtain limited assurance against the relevant legal requirements. The separate Group Non-financial Report including the independent audit certificate for the separate Group Non-financial Report as well as information on the audit can be found here.
Publication
The Online Sustainability Report and the separate Group Non-financial Report were published on March 23, 2023. Due to German Commercial Law, Fresenius applies a yearly reporting cycle. The last separate Group Non-financial Report was published in March 2022.