Our commitment

For Fresenius Medical Care, sustainability means acting responsibly to achieve business success as well as environmental and social progress to secure our future as a globally operating company in the health care industry. Responsible conduct in compliance with our core values and applicable legal requirements is a key element of our corporate culture.

Fresenius Medical Care informs its stakeholders in a separate Non-Financial Group Report about its commitment to sustainability and shows how we translate our global responsibility into action.

It incorporates disclosures relating to the following six key aspects:

1. Responsibility for patients
2. Responsibility for employees
3. Our approach for ethics and compliance
4. Responsibility to respect human rights and workplace rights and labor and employment principles,
5. Responsibility for the environment
6. Relationship with suppliers
    

Our non-financial report references the international sustainability standard of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Disclosure 102-46 from GRI 102: General Disclosures 2016, and Disclosures 103-1, 103-2 and 103-3 from GRI 103: Management Approach 2016 as a framework within the meaning of Section 289d of the German Commercial Code.

As a global healthcare company, we work continuously to save lives, promote health and improve the quality of life of our patients. We want to make a difference to the lives of others with our products and services by enabling better access to good and affordable health care in many countries. To us, human rights are an integral part of our corporate responsibility.

To fulfill our responsibility as a health care company, we are committed to respecting human rights in our operations and complying with the laws of the countries in which we do business. The below statement is unique to Fresenius Medical Care. However, in its development, we considered for purposes of guidance, the principles described in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the International Labor Organization’s 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. This statement complements our commitment and our principles toward respecting human rights, as addressed in our Code of Ethics and Business Conduct.

Our Code of Ethics and Business Conduct constitutes a binding framework that governs how Fresenius Medical Care employees interact with patients, colleagues, suppliers and society. The Code defines practices beyond legal requirements. It covers material non-financial topics that are relevant for Fresenius Medical Care ranging from patient care, quality and innovation, anti-corruption and bribery to worker protection, the environment and health and safety. The Code of Ethics and Business Conduct and our underlying values also include Fresenius Medical Care’s commitment to respecting material human rights topics such as working conditions, non-discrimination and grievance mechanisms. It applies worldwide to the members of the Management Board, to all of the company’s employees as well as to the operations of all direct and indirect subsidiaries that are majority-owned or controlled in some other way by us.

Compliance with the Code of Ethics and Business Conduct is essential for Fresenius Medical Care’s long-term success as it is the foundation of our corporate culture and an integral part of day-to-day work. Specialized functions at global, regional and local level are responsible for implementing and communicating these principles within the organization. Training programs on the Code of Ethics and Business Conduct are designed to increase awareness of the applicable rules and help employees to understand them better and comply with them. The training programs are held regularly and are mandatory for all relevant employees. Standardized processes are in place to allow employees to attend the programs.

To identify and prioritize the topics that have the strongest impact on the economy, society and the environment and matter most to our business, we conduct a formal materiality analysis every three years.

In 2019, we conducted a thorough materiality analysis in accordance with the German Commercial Code to help us identify topics that are important to the business and our stakeholders and that therefore need to be covered in our reporting.

Our materiality analysis comprised five steps:

1. In a first step, we created a comprehensive list of potential material topics based on a competitor benchmark, our corporate risk management reporting, ESG ratings and rankings such as DJSI, CDP and MSCI, best-practice guidelines including GRI or the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) as well as an ongoing trend and media analysis.

2. To prioritize the sustainability topics according to their business relevance, we then conducted an online survey, in which we asked representatives of all regions and functions to assess the importance of the individual topics for Fresenius Medical Care.

3. To gain an internal perspective on our contribution to sustainable development, we used the comprehensive and internally accepted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a proxy to help us understand how our business activities impact non-financial aspects.

4. In step 4, we asked our stakeholders for feedback and identified external stakeholders to review the results and make sure that the materiality analysis process and the results derived from it are sound.

5. Finally, we involved senior management and asked them to test the results of our materiality analysis and validate the outcome.

In response to the economic, social and environmental challenges that our planet faces, the United Nations defined 17 goals for a sustainable development. The so-called Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a worldwide agenda to reduce hunger and poverty, improve health, enable equal opportunities and protect the planet. We too expressly support the comprehensive approach of the SDGs. In line with our corporate purpose “Creating a future worth living. For patients. Worldwide. Every day.”, we support in particular SDG 3, which focuses on good health and well-being.

In addition, we seek to make a responsible contribution to further SDGs: