Viable solutions for sustainability can only be developed through a dialogue with all social groups – at the local, regional and international levels. We therefore continuously seek a dialogue with all stakeholders, including customers, consumers, suppliers, employees, shareholders, local communities, government authorities, associations, non-governmental organizations and scientists.

Contributions of stakeholder dialogue

Intensive communication with all stakeholders has become an indispensable corporate task. Only through transparent and open dialogue are we able to achieve social validation for our business activities. This dialogue shows us which aspects of sustainable development are of particular interest to individual stakeholder groups. It offers a basis for mutual understanding and an opportunity to compare our corporate views with those of our stakeholders. Furthermore, it is a source of new ideas for the company. It enables us to identify future requirements and potential risks that may be associated with our actions at an early stage. The insights gained make an important contribution to our innovation management and risk management. They form the basis for the further development of our sustainability strategy and our reporting.

Sustainability as a societal challenge

We welcome the growing public interest in the sustainability of corporate activities and the fact that the topic is increasingly discussed at all levels of society. Sustainable consumption can only be achieved if we all work together. This is why we cooperate closely with our partners throughout the value chain to jointly address the overall challenge that sustainable development poses to society as a whole. In international initiatives, we and our partners develop a variety of solutions, such as for the responsible purchasing of our raw materials and ingredients. The exchange of ideas with our industrial customers leads to the development of process improvements that make a decisive contribution to the conservation of resources. We use our experience and our role as a sustainability leader to actively contribute to the debate regarding sustainable lifestyles of future generations. We express this engagement in national and international associations, working groups and at conferences – for example in the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), the multi-stakeholder initiative “Forum Waschen” (washing forum), the UNEP/Wuppertal Institute Collaborating Centre for Sustainable Production and Consumption (CSCP), and in the Consumer Goods Forum, which was established in 2009. In a direct dialogue with consumers over consumer telephone lines and through action days and market research projects, we provide information, above all, about the resource-conserving use of our products.

Alongside the ongoing exchange of ideas with customers, employees, neighbors, government authorities and research institutes, Henkel has always maintained an intensive dialogue with analysts and investors. Over the last years, institutional investors and specialized analysts and portfolio managers have gained more and more importance.

Although the issues associated with sustainability are global, regional priorities and perspectives differ widely. We have therefore integrated our dialogue with stakeholders into our functions, business sectors and regions. In this way, we ensure that challenges are discussed in a dialogue between our experts in the Company and the appropriate stakeholder groups. Strategies and solutions are developed at the very place where they will be assessed and put into practice. The instruments, themes, duration and intensity of the dialogue are aligned to the individual stakeholder groups and their specific issues. The following table shows examples of our integrated dialogue approach and the communication instruments aligned to our stakeholders.