Assumption: You have been introduced as the Head of Sustainability at Deutsche Post World Net

Global S= ummit of Women 2007 Remarks
Dr. Monika Wulf-Mathies
“Corporate Social Responsibility Across Borders”

Thank you very much for the kind invitation to briefly present = the approach to sustainability we have developed at Deutsche Post World Ne= t, which today is the world’s leading provider of logistics service= s.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the term “sustainability” is often used in the same context as “CSR – Corporate Social Responsibility” or “Corporate Citizenship”.
This makes it necessary to explain what sustainability means fo= r us and how we understand it today.
The definition we use at Deutsche Post World Net is based on the definition provided by a woman belonging to today’s global leade= rs: Gro Harlem Brundtland.
The commission she chaired defined sustainable development in i= ts 1987 report as:
“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising t= he ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
For businesses this means that actively managing and balancing = the economic, social and environmental impact of their operations is a precondition to sustainable — that is = to say — long-term business success.
What does this mean for us?
Deutsche Post World Net is the world’s largest logistics provider with some 500,000 employees around the world and operations in more than 220 countries and territories. Outside Germany these services are delivered under the DHL brand.
This global scope and reach implies that our approach to sustainability must also be global.
We understand that economic success and the acceptance of socia= l and environmental responsibilities are not mutually exclusive. Instead they are prerequisites to each other.
Good corporate governance, ethical and credible management behavior, community engagement, sound environmental performance and a = good record as an employer have become increasingly relevant and important = for businesses.
This is particularly the case for global corporations and all t= hose smaller companies that are suppliers or service providers to global customers.
Our customers – and I assume many of you represent compan= ies which we are pleased to serve – ask about our Corporate Values, = our Code of Conduct, our environmental footprint and our internal social standards.
An increasing number makes awarding of contracts dependent on t= he answers we provide.
Financial markets and investors ask very much the same kind of questions when making investment decisions, as the growing importance = of sustainability indices such as FTSE4Good or the Dow Jones Sustainabili= ty Index show.
The Carbon Disclosure Project, supported by financial instituti= ons managing more than 31 trillion US Dollars, aims at increasing the transparency of major companies’ climate change strategies.
And I am proud to mention that they gave us the best marks in o= ur industry sector.
For the world’s largest logistics company in size it is indeed of utmost importance how we manage our environmental impact.
Our contribution to global warming is a threat to the environme= nt and to our business model in equal measure.
To deliver transport services for our customers, we rely heavil= y on fossil fuels for our aircraft and our vehicles. This generates a significant amount of CO₂ emissions.
We have underlined our commitment to fighting global warming by voluntarily adopting a greenhouse gas reduction target.
In line with the targets in the Kyoto Protocol, we want to redu= ce the emissions from our owned vehicle fleet in Europe by 2012 to 5 % be= low the 1990 level.
Compared to 2004 emissions, this requires a reduction of approximately 28 %.
This target is backed by a number of emission reduction efforts= in our fleet. For example, we are piloting alternative power trains, such= as hybrid, and the use of renewable or low-emission fuels, for example biodiesel or biogas.
Route planning and consolidation of shipments also help us to increase the efficiency of our transport network. And we train our dri= vers to drive more carefully, more environmentally friendly and more economically.
All these activities also make excellent sense in financial ter= ms. They help us reduce costs.
Moreover, we are carefully looking at a modal shift to railroad= or maritime transport wherever appropriate.
Increasing fuel efficiency is also most important from a long-t= erm strategic aspect: it helps us reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. <= o:p>
The mineral oil industry claims that we will have enough oil fo= r at least another 100 years to come.
But they don’t tell us at what price. We are therefore seeking to expand our choice of fuels for our operations as soon as possible to manage risks.
Also, we think we should save as much of our fossil fuel resour= ce as possible for future generations and look into less carbon-intensive modes of logistics already today.
However, we will not be able to replace a major share of the fo= ssil fuels we use by renewable ones for quite some time. =
This also means that we will have to cope with a residual carbon footprint of a significant size.
Our customers certainly want us to resolve that situation and to provide solutions instead of explanations or excuses.
To this end we had a look at the Kyoto Protocol – and fou= nd that it offers almost all we need.
Its flexible emission reduction mechanisms - in particular the basics of emissions trading and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) - together with a little innovative thinking are the ingredients we used= to develop a new range of carbon-neutral and carbon-reduced services.
We have created the brand DHL GOGREEN for these services.
They work like this: We build on our knowledge of our own proce= sses and of logistics processes in general.
This enables us to calculate the amount of carbon emissions we generate for a specific customer or a specific kind of service. <= /o:p>
These emissions are then balanced and offset by emission reduct= ions – so called carbon credits – which are generated in defined emission reduction projects.
I will not go into detail on these projects because the most important fact is that they meet externally verified additionality criteria.
This means that they generate emission reductions beyond busine= ss as usual, for example investing in reforestation or solar panel projec= ts in developing countries.
We have set up a dedicated internal carbon management function = to manage these processes from emission calculation to supply and the ret= irement of carbon credits.
To demonstrate the credibility of these processes, they also ha= ve been externally verified by an independent body — the Swiss-based SGS group.
We now have a number of GOGREEN services on offer that range from retail customer solutions in Germany= to the DHL GOGREEN Express se= rvice for Europe-based business customers which was launched at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos in January.
Our GOGREEN Service= s come at a small surcharge, e.g. 2 % of the list price, which covers the full package including carbon offset. GOGREEN offers our customers a new and previously unavailable option to tackle the causes of climate change in their logistics chain.
For us at Deutsche Post World Net and DHL, this is one option to complement our own efforts to tackle the causes of climate change with= a well balanced and credible business opportunity.
We do not make extra money with GOGREEN, but we do hope that it supports our overall promise to the customer to deliver the best service and innovative solutions for all their logist= ics challenges – including the climate change challenge.<= /span>
Ladies and Gentlemen, it is our firm belief that a corporate sustainability strategy should be closely linked to the core business = of the company.
Only then will it maximize the benefits of society, employees a= nd businesses, at minimum cost.
A company should use its specific know-how, resources, and the skills and talents of its employees, together with its strengths as an innovator, to improve its sustainability footprint.<= /li>
To sum up:
Our commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility across border= s is based on two main pillars – the environment (which I have just explained in more detail) and delivering help to the humanitarian community by improving the UN’s disaster management capabilities= and medical logistics processes.
Both pillars demonstrate DPWN’s ambition to be the world’s leading logistics group – not only in terms of size but also in terms of sustainability.