Message from the Chairman of the Board of Management

The true value of safety and security, and trust, reliable partnerships and business activities geared towards long-term success is currently becoming apparent.

This is exactly what TÜV SÜD has stood for for almost 160 years. Since the foundation of our company, we have been meeting our responsibility to protect people, the environment and assets from technology-related risks. Trust and integrity are the baseline of our business success – and sustainability has underpinned our actions from the very beginning. It is this standpoint that makes our business model robust and resilient.

We therefore continue to adhere to our values and our standpoint, and are placing sustainability even more firmly at the center of our actions. More than anything, we can see the opportunities that are opening up for TÜV SÜD on the journey to greater sustainability. We therefore continued to strengthen our activities in this area in 2024 and expanded our portfolio of services for greater sustainability. Sustainability also plays a central role in the further development of our strategy.

Our ambition is clear: We want to lead the way and assist our customers as a reliable partner on their journey to greater sustainability. Our experts determine and review carbon footprints for individual products or entire companies. They help with the auditing and certification of environmental management systems or with the standard-compliant establishment of wind farms and photovoltaic systems. They also create transparency across global supply chains to ensure that environmental standards and human rights are respected worldwide.

For many years now, we have also been driving forward the use of renewable energy by introducing new standards and certificates, thus establishing the framework for fossil fuels to be replaced systematically in energy supply and industrial processes. Our standards for green and blue hydrogen can be described as pioneering. In this way, we are creating the necessary transparency for global trade in hydrogen and contributing to decarbonization around the world.

At the same time, we are convinced that the challenges posed by climate change can only be tackled together and in global partnerships. Together with the IEEE Standards Organization and other partners, we launched an initiative that was presented at the UN Science Summit in New York in September 2024. SustainMobility focuses on the development of a holistic evaluation framework for sustainable mobility models based on globally binding standards which enables different concepts to be compared.

It is also clear that: Sustainability always begins in your own environment, which is why we are naturally also looking at the potential that exists within our own company. We are currently putting our processes to the test in numerous projects and initiatives, paying attention not only to economic efficiency, but also to environmental and social sustainability.

We are continuously improving our use of energy and resources, strengthening diversity and inclusion in the workplace and challenging established routines to create a more responsible future. There are starting points everywhere that we can further develop together, from climate-friendly mobility to fair supply chains or designing a sustainable working environment.

Based on an ambitious transformation path, we have set ourselves science-based targets for the decarbonization of our business activities and initiated the validation of these by the Science Based Target initiative (SBTi) in 2024. And shortly before the publication of this report, the SBTi confirmed the consistency of our approach with the latest scientific findings and with international climate targets.

By 2050, we want to reduce emissions by 90% compared to 2023, meaning that only the remaining, unavoidable emissions need to be offset. In order to relieve the pressure on the climate as quickly as possible, we will offset the greenhouse gas emissions of all of our business operations – that is to say Scope 1 and 2 as well as the business travel recorded in Scope 3 – using appropriate actions from 2025 onwards.

We have also set ourselves the goal of making our entire value chain as sustainable as possible. This is why we approach our most important suppliers in a targeted manner to involve them in our efforts to achieve greater sustainability. Our Supplier Code of Conduct has set the framework for this for many years – and this year we aim to have concluded contracts with more than 90% of the targeted suppliers with clear rules on environmental, labor and human rights requirements. At the same time, we prioritize local sourcing where possible. We already source more than 90% of our procurement volume from local suppliers – and we want to keep it that way.

All this shows: We are firmly committed to our path towards greater climate protection and sustainability.

This report shows in detail what we achieved in 2024, what targets we have set ourselves and what we still need to work on. For the first time, the report not only meets the requirements of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), but it also incorporates some parts of the new European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), which will shape reporting in the European Union in a few years’ time. This brings the sustainability report even closer to the financial reporting in the annual report. Again this year, the two publications share a common slogan: FORWARD ▷▷ THINKING.

This sums up the essence of our commitment: We think ahead and want to be perceived as a reliable partner when it comes to sustainability and sustainability-related services – and we are doing everything we can to live up to this claim time and time again.

Kind regards,

Dr. Johannes Bussmann
Chairman of the Board of Management