The Group Management Board and the Chairman have overall responsibility for sustainability. A separate CSR department in the Group Management Board, under the responsibility of the CFO, promotes the anchoring of sustainability topics. At the same time, this unit manages and coordinates overall development across SBUs and countries in the Zeppelin Group.
The Head of CSR of the Zeppelin Group, who is appointed by the Group Management Board and regularly reports to the Board, coordinates stakeholder management, manages the further development of CSR topics throughout the Group, drives forward the further development of the sustainability strategy within the individual SBUs, is responsible for sustainability communication, and prepares the annual sustainability report.
For the action areas defined as material, a contact person is appointed at Group level, who drives forward the implementation of the targets, analyses the performance of the defined KPIs and agrees on suitable measures to ensure that the targets are achieved. In each SBU, responsibility for CSR is defined at management level. CSR managers are appointed at work level. They regularly report to the central CSR department on the development of sustainability management in their SBU. The CSR Steering Committee advises on current key topics at least three times a year, reviews the effectiveness of the measures, and ensures continuous improvement in the individual areas and thus overall for Zeppelin’s sustainability performance. It includes the responsible Group Managing Director, the Managing Directors responsible for CSR at SBU level, the central CSR office and individual heads of department. The Supervisory Board is involved in significant decisions and is kept informed by the Group Management Board. Example presentations approved in this format include the adopted modernization strategy for owned buildings (see section on carbon neutrality) and the overview of CSR investments made. Regular reporting was introduced at the end of 2022 in order to expand the knowledge, assessment skills and experience of the highest control body in the area of sustainable development. In the 2023 reporting year, the Supervisory Board received a report on the topic of CSR three times.