Armed with its first report prepared by akzente, Bayer jumped 24 places from 31st to 7th place in the future/IÖW rankings of German sustainability reports and since then has been playing in Germany´s sustainability reporting big leagues. The 2006 report won international acclaim for its “openness and credibility” (Corporate Register). The 2009 report ranked third in the vote for the best sustainability report (Corporate Register).

Download of CR reports

Having been responsible for the concept, texts and design of the annual report published by BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH since 1994, akzente has been able to shape its development and usher in some important changes. On 5 December 2008, BSH was declared Germany's most sustainable business - thanks to the breadth and continuity of its commitment and the way that commitment is communicated.

Despite being just 36 pages long, the BSH Report 2008 came eighth in the future/IÖW sustainability report ranking 2009. Its slim size did not prevent the inclusion of a detailed facts and figures section.

As a novelty, the latest edition of BSH's CR Report includes a supplement about the "Super efficiency portfolio": BSH offers a wide range of particularly eccicient household appliances. This portfolio was reviewed by an accountant. The supplement which has also been designed by akzente contains facts and figures about BSH's portfolio as well as the accountant's certification. 

Download of the current Sustainability Report

In early 2008, Evonik industries asked us to support them with the development and implementation of a CR strategy. This entailed conducting stakeholder surveys and strategy workshops and defining the relevant organizational structures, objectives and measures. The CR strategy approved by the Board in the summer of 2008 is explained in a brief Management Summary.

Management summary (German only)

In the absence of a common approach and with very little standard data to draw on, creating an integrated report for Karstadt and Quelle turned out to be a big challenge. Yet our transparent presentation of the challenges - and weaknesses - of the supply chain went a long way to make up for this. The first Karstadt-Quelle sustainability report came 2nd in the future/IÖW rankings of German sustainability reports 2005, while the 2005 report came 4th in the rankings for 2007.

MAN has unveiled a new programme with which it intends to regain lost ground. That was how the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of 18 September 2010 reported the publication of the new CR strategy for which MAN drew on the support of akzente. The implementation of the new CR strategy published in time for the IAA Commercial Vehicles in Hannover is certainly ambitious. The goals to be achieved by 2015 include making sustainability an integral part of the annual report, getting systematic stakeholder dialogue firmly established and ensuring that MAN is henceforth among the leaders of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.

Download MAN CR Strategy Report

Working with RWE, we developed its first environmental report and the relevant organizational structures in 1997. The demands made of energy suppliers since then have become ever greater and more specific. As have the responses which we have worked out together with RWE. These include one of Germany´s best sustainability reports (2nd place in the future/IÖW rankings of German sustainability reports 2007 for the RWE report 2005), a wide-ranging web site and events to promote stakeholder dialogue. The status report 2008 published just in time for RWE´s Annual General Meeting on 22 April 2009 provides an update on the 2007 report.

Another report prepared by akzente was the RWE CR report 2007, which came fourth in the future/IÖW sustainability report ranking 2009, placing it well ahead of competitors' reports. The clear presentation of the Group's value-chain-based CR strategy was among the main factors assuring its success.

The 2009 report published just in time for the AGM on 22 April 2010 backs up the ten areas for action of the CR strategy with the key performance indicators (KPIs) by which RWE´s sustainability performance will in future be measured. Another innovation is the auditors' assessment of the report against the Accountability Standard AA 1000. RWE is thus one of only a few companies whose stakeholder management is assessed as part of the auditing of its report.

Download of CR reports

Supporting Siemens AG with its sustainability reporting has always been an exciting challenge. And is set to remain one, too, now that Siemens has set itself the goal of becoming best in class within the next three years. Early June 2009 saw the publication of the second Siemens sustainability report to be designed and created by akzente. Rating and ranking agencies can download a pdf summary of the contents, while a small printed circulation is also available. The Siemens Internet report has been published annually since 2007 and is an integral part of the Siemens corporate responsibility web site.

November 2009 saw the Siemens Report 2008 jump to second place in the future/IÖW ranking of the sustainability reports of Germany's 150 largest corporations, a result which also made it best in class. Siemens supply chain and sustainability Board member Barbara Kux accepted the ranking certificate on Siemens' behalf at an awards ceremony held on 23 November 2009 as part of the German Council for Sustainable Development's annual conference.

Since early 2010, akzente has supported Telefónica Germany with its reporting and with the targeted communication of sustainability-related issues. Central to this endeavour is a comprehensive online report, whose contents have been duly audited by a firm of accountants.

The online report is backed up by a brochure outlining the company’s core issues and strategic focuses, which for O2 as a provider of telecommunications are media competence and barrier-free communication. In March 2010, a round of discussions conducted online closed with an event on this very theme at which there was an interpreter present to translate the content into sign language.

Some 70 participants, many of them individuals who are themselves visually impaired or hard of hearing and were there to represent organizations or participants in the online discussion, accepted the invitation to O2’s Munich headquarters to discuss the options for barrier-free communication as well as O2’s own offering in this area.

Current CR website and report

We have been assisting the HypoVereinsbank (HVB) with its sustainability communications for several years now. Among these is an annual account of the bank's activities, which customer consultants are inspired to distribute. As the UniCredit Group to which HVB belongs publishes its own sustainability report, HVB can concentrate itself on a more customer-friendly brochure.

That this HVB-CR-Brochure was ranked twentieth in the future/IÖW sustainability report ranking 2009 (placing it far ahead of its competitors' much more voluminous reports) merely goes to show that with the right strategy and attitude, reports can be not just short and to the point, but highly readable as well.

Another project we handled for HVB was the launch of a climate protection campaign with the German Environment Ministry in early 2010. The flyer we produced was intended as a visible expression of HVB's wide-ranging commitment to this project, which also included an exhibition in its branches. We also support HVB's own sustainability team with an array of services ranging from presentations to articles in the press and talks.

Download CR reports