Our Responsibility

Our Material Sustainability Topics

Access to Healthcare

Patient and Product Safety

Employees

Human Rights

Digital Transformation and Innovation

Environment

ESG Rating Overview

Sustainable Development Goals

At Fresenius, we are at the heart of healthcare. For all our activities, our patients take center stage. We focus on world-class therapies, which we continuously improve to keep pace with the major trends in healthcare. Our therapy focus is reflected in three platforms: 

(Bio)Pharma

Biosimilars

IV Generics and Fluids

Clinical Nutrition

MedTech

Infusion and Nutrition Systems

Transfusion Medicine and Cell Therapies

Care Provision

Inpatient and Outpatient Treatments

Occupational Healthcare and Prevention

Reproductive Medicine 

 

Furthermore, our Investment Company Fresenius Vamed expands our offering to:

Project Business and Services

Rehabilitation, Care and Health Tourism

An open dialog with our shareholders and the financial community is important to us. The Fresenius Investor Relations team will be happy to answer all your questions and inquiries.  

You can submit your Feedback quickly and easily (anonymously if you prefer). You will be redirected to QuantiFire which conducts this survey in own controllership. 

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the biggest multilateral financial institution in the world and one of the largest providers of finance for climate action, providing economic support to sectors that contribute significantly to technological innovation,  growth, employment, regional cohesion and environmental sustainability in Europe and beyond. The EIB loan was provided to Fresenius in 2021 based on the expenditures in Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) in its portfolio of biosimilars, generic drugs, infusion therapies and clinical nutrition products as well as the devices for administering these products. The RDI activities in scope focus on developing lifesaving medicines and technologies for infusion, transfusion and clinical nutrition.

Based on the outcomes of the materiality assessment 2023, we consider following topical standards of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards as material:

• Climate change
• Pollution
• Water and marine resources
• Resource use and circular economy
• Own workforce
• Workers in the value chain
• Consumers and end-users
• Digitalization
• Innovation
• Business conduct
• Cybersecurity

Our materiality analysis is based on the principle of double materiality and complies with the requirements of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards. The aim is to identify the material impacts, risks, and opportunities that arise in our own business and along our value chain. The sustainability aspects that are relevant for us and our stakeholders arise from this. 

In line with the principle of double materiality, we have considered sustainability from two different perspectives:

• Impact materiality: includes all potential and actual positive and negative impacts of Fresenius’ operations on our stakeholders, including social and environmental impacts
• Financial materiality: includes all financial risks and opportunities that could affect Fresenius’ future profitability due to sustainability aspects. This encompasses the financial performance, results of operations, cash flows, access to finance or cost of capital of Fresenius.

A sustainability aspect fulfills the double materiality criterion if it is material from either or both perspectives.  

 

Stakeholders and partnerships

Fresenius is integrated into a diverse network of interest groups. From this exchange, we gain valuable insights that help us to continuously improve the management of material topics and reporting.

We engage with our stakeholders through a variety of channels. The corporate functions at Fresenius primarily focus on stakeholders who are relevant to the Group as a whole. The business segments actively engage with patients, employees, customers, and regulatory authorities, among others. 

For the integration of affected stakeholders in our operating activities, we consider, for example findings from existing due diligence processes and risk assessments in the area of quality, internal employee satisfaction surveys, dialogs with employee representatives and works councils, patient and customer surveys. Another important element of our stakeholder dialogs is our active participation in industry and interest groups, as well as our exchange with business partners.

 

 

For more information on this topic see the Sustainability Statement.

 

Our contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with 169 targets, adopted by the 191 member states of the United Nations (UN) back in 2015, are the roadmap for tackling mankind´s key challenges on the path to a more sustainable world, such as poverty, discrimination and climate change. To achieve these goals, the public sector, governments and companies must work together.  

As a global healthcare group, we are doing our part. Our activities might be relevant with regards to all the 17 SDGs, we see a direct link between our core business activities and our sustainability ambition and the SDGs listed below.  

For a holistic overview of our sustainability related activities incl. potential risks, please refer to our Sustainability Statement and our Sustainability Highlights Magazine 2024.