Welcome Message

Dear Reader,

DR. DETLEF TREFZGER, CEO

Sustainability has many facets. For us, at Kuehne + Nagel, sustainability means creating a corporate culture of sustainable behaviour in the first place – in every aspect of our business. Therefore, we attach great importance to the integrity of our employees, but also of our suppliers. Our Compliance and Ethics Programme, our Quality, Safety and Health Initiatives as well as our Supplier Management Tool are good samples of how we drive integrity by giving guidance.

However, the concept of sustainability is also reflected in our range of services: We see many opportunities for sustainable development to grow profitably and to provide our customers with added value. We already offer several sustainable solutions today and will continue to expand them in the years to come. The public's awareness of the environmental impact caused by the growing global flow of goods has risen noticeably in recent years – and will continue to increase in the coming years. At the same time, for our customers, it is becoming more and more important to achieve sustainable efficiency with the least possible environmental impact. The better we succeed in supporting our customers with corresponding logistics solutions, the more sustainable our development will be.

At Kuehne + Nagel, sustainability is highly related to our spirit of innovation. Through the use of new technologies or by applying data analytics, we are able to create innovative solutions which help our customers to optimise their supply chains and contribute to their own sustainability goals. With the new digital platform Sea Explorer, our customers can schedule and book shipments according to specific criteria, e.g. choose the service with the lowest CO₂ emissions. But innovation also means for us to be open for new ideas. This is directly related to the development of unique industry-specific solutions such as KN BatteryChain, the first logistics solutions for the entire life cycle of lithium batteries fostering the worldwide trend towards drive electrification through battery-powered vehicles. And last but not least, we use our innovative mind-set to lay the foundation for a sustainable company culture shown in numerous projects carried out locally to enhance environmental consciousness, raise health & safety awareness or encourage ethical behaviour among our employees and the communities they work and live in.

I invite you to explore this report and learn about our commitment towards sustainability.

Dr. Detlef Trefzger
CEO