The environment, people and society
Sustainable business practices are a key part of our Group’s strategy. Our guideline in these efforts is our Code of Conduct, which was introduced and became binding in 2006. This code is based on international agreements and guiding principles such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Labour Organization Conventions, and the United Nations Global Compact.

Recognized by the capital markets
Our commitment to sustainability has been noted and well received by stock markets. In 2006, we were included in the DJSI STOXX, the respected Dow Jones sustainability index. The FTSE4Good Index also confirmed our company as a member. We are similarly included in the Advanced Sustainability Performance Index Eurozone maintained by the French rating agency Vigeo and listed in the KLD Global Climate 100 Index. Our climate protection efforts earned us the top rating in the air freight and courier services category from the Carbon Disclosure Project.

Partnership with the United Nations expanded
Our strategic partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) was expanded again in 2006. We have set up two well-trained disaster response teams which already demonstrated their commitment on two assignments in 2006. Through this project, we offer our core competency in logistics to the international community, free of charge.

In addition, we entered into a partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The objective here is to support UNICEF in its fight against child mortality by providing logistics services, financial assistance, and the personal commitment of our employees. The launch of this partnership took place in 2006 in Kenya, where we distributed approximately 3.5 million mosquito nets as part of Africa’s largest vaccination campaign.

Environmental and climate protection
As a responsible logistics company, we consider minimizing the adverse effects of our own activities to be one of our most important duties. We aim to reduce our use of fossil fuels, lower CO₂ emissions, and, by 2012, to cut greenhouse gas emissions from our road transport activities in Europe by 5% compared with 1990 levels. Our fleet of natural gas-powered vehicles for parcel delivery in Germany grew by 100 vehicles to a total of 170. In addition, we use alternative engines and fuels, consolidate shipments, and optimize route planning. The new “GOGREEN Pluspäckchen” is a climate-neutral dispatch option that has been available to customers at our retail outlets since August 2006. The emissions associated with mailing this package are offset by climate-protection projects. In January 2007, we also began offering climate-neutral express delivery services to business customers in Europe. Our first international customer was the World Economic Forum, which switched to GOGREEN for all of its express shipments in advance of its annual meeting in Davos.

Strong social commitment
Large-scale projects are not the only ones in which we participate. Our social commitment extends to numerous local and regional initiatives, many of which are suggested by our employees. Above all, we support projects in the areas of disaster relief, future generations and the entrepreneurial activities of small companies.

First sustainability report published
In June 2006, Deutsche Post World Net published its first sustainability report outlining our strategy and key sustainability activities. This report combines the formerly separate environmental, human resources, and social reports and was audited externally.