Our Sustainability Management

GRI 2-12, 2-13, 2-14, 3-1, 3-2, 3-3

In 2021, we carried out a materiality analysis to identify key sustainability focus areas for Volkswagen Immobilien (VWI Sustainability Report 2021, p. 10). Doing so has allowed us not only to set strategic priorities, but also to orient ourselves toward the requirements of the reporting standards set out by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and legal frameworks such as the European Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which also applies to the Volkswagen Group.

The materiality analysis was carried out in a multi-stage process. To this end, an analysis of VWI’s business environment, including the existing requirements and framework conditions, was first carried out, resulting in a list of potentially material sustainability issues for VWI. These were then discussed by the senior management team and department heads. Both the environmental and social impact of VWI’s business activities (inside-out perspective) and the business relevance for VWI (outside-in perspective) were taken into account. The outcome of the materiality analysis and the associated prioritization of eight sustainability focus areas were confirmed by senior management.

The key sustainability-related initiative associated with our corporate strategy is called “Embedding sustainability at the company.” It aims to embed the sustainability issues that have been identified as material more deeply in the relevant company processes and standards. To enable us to achieve measurable progress, we have created a sustainability road map that defines the objective, target, time frame and KPIs for each focus area. The road map specifies the responsibilities, measures and management approaches for each target.

Aside from the OKR framework, sustainability topics at Volkswagen Immobilien are primarily coordinated and steered by the Sustainability Committee and the Sustainability business unit. The senior management team is a permanent member of the Sustainability Committee, which meets at least twice a year. At these meetings, the members are informed about all sustainability-related issues. As well as discussing report topics and sharing information in an interdisciplinary fashion, the committee’s core responsibilities include defining concrete strategic objectives, measures, action areas and statements pertaining to sustainability. These are then incorporated into the initiative, which forms part of the corporate strategy.

The Head of Sustainability has a seat in all VWI decision-making bodies. This ensures that all relevant sustainability criteria set out in the VWI sustainability strategy are taken into account in the company’s decision-making. In addition, the consistency of the relevant decision with the sustainability and environmental strategy is checked as part of the internal decision-making process.

Our committees allow us to ensure the lean management of our corporate activities and make decisions transparently and comprehensibly in order to take action on issues quickly. The meetings of the committees take place at fixed intervals. The VWI Board, which meets weekly, is the highest decision-making body at VWI and consists of eight members in addition to the senior management. It is primarily concerned with the strategic and operational management of VWI. Other committees that meet once or twice a week and are attended by the management are the Corporate Real Estate Management (CREM) Committee and the Private Clients Steering Committee, which focus on project decisions for commercial and residential real estate. The resolutions of the respective committees are recorded in minutes. The Digitalization Committee, the Governance Committee, our Sustainability Management, the Occupational Safety Committee, the Investment Management Steering Committee, the Finance Board, the Commercial Real Estate Portfolio Steering Committee for portfolio issues and the Human Resources Working Group also meet.

Like the Volkswagen Group, VWI is committed to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in connection with the 2030 Agenda. We conducted a two-part analysis in 2022 to link the SDGs as closely as possible with our sustainability strategy.

First, we determined which SDGs VWI has a considerable impact on with its business activities. In step two, we investigated which SDGs VWI is already contributing toward with the focus areas defined in its sustainability strategy, thereby identifying where the two dimensions overlap significantly. The following SDGs were found to have the greatest impact and the strongest link to the VWI sustainability strategy: