DFGE as a full-service provider: Corporate Carbon Footprint, EcoVadis & ESG Strategy
Client: Sauter Gemrany
Category: Building Automation / Facility Management
Date: February 2023
With 3300 employees worldwide and a turnover of over 700 million euros, SAUTER is one of the leading companies in the field of building automation, system integration, and facility management. For more than 100 years, the company has taken up the challenge of making living and working in buildings as pleasant, energy-efficient, and environmentally friendly as possible.
As a subsidiary of the Swiss company Fr. Sauter AG, SAUTER Germany is represented throughout Germany with a total of 34 offices, with headquarters in Freiburg i. Br. and Augsburg. The company employs around 1,400 people in Germany and generates an annual turnover of more than 300 million euros.
With the aim of developing a valid sustainability strategy based on key figures, SAUTER engaged DFGE in October 2021 for three enterprise projects. The calculation of the Corporate Carbon Footprint (CCF) (Scope 1 to 3) served as the basis for both the response to the EcoVadis assessment and the development of an ESG strategy.
Harald Sonntag
General Manager, Sauter Cumulus GmbH
”It is becoming increasingly important for companies to incorporporate sustainability into their corporate strategy. One main reason is the external demand from stakeholders. We are glad to have found an experienced partner in DFGE, who was able to support us professionally in this transformation all along the way.”
Challenge
Development of an ESG-Strategy
Prior to working with DFGE, SAUTER had already implemented some basic guidelines as well as measures in the areas of environment, safety, and quality. However, there was the need for a clear action plan as well as an integration of environmental, social, and governance issues into the corporate strategy in order to be prepared for the challenges of the upcoming reporting obligation (CSRD). In addition to regulatory issues, the increasing pressure exerted by customers to participate in the EcoVadis assessment is particularly noticeable.
To meet these demands, the first step was to compile various data and identify and close data gaps. The data quality has a significant impact on the calculation of the CCF and the result of the EcoVadis assessment, which identify the company’s emissions hotspots and required actions for future EcoVadis improvement. These provide an important orientation for the ESG strategy, which was developed in the third step.
Solution
Corporate Carbon Footprint, EcoVadis Assessment and ESG-Strategy
The kick-off for the joint projects was in December 2021. In close cooperation, DFGE calculated the first CCF for SAUTER Germany for the year 2020 on the basis of the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard. The project was successfully completed in August 2022 and formed an essential basis for the development of the ESG strategy.
Simultaneously, preparations for the first EcoVadis assessment began in February 2022. As part of the project, relevant documents were collected, which are of utmost relevance for a successful rating. In addition, an environmental policy including quantitative targets and a KPI dashboard was created. The project was successfully completed by the end of 2022. SAUTER received a silver medal and a score of 59/100 and was thus even able to exceed the targeted result. The result was analyzed in a joint final meeting and recommendations for action were presented for improvement in subsequent years.
The work with the strategy team of DFGE began in June 2022. After an analysis of the status quo in ESG (corporate activities as well as relevant regulations), the joint work started with an introductory workshop in which SAUTER received a thematic introduction and the further procedure was discussed. Through various macro- as well as micro-economic analyses, KPIs were developed and the main recommendations for future measures for SAUTER were derived and prioritized. For the environmental part, the CCF played an important role, as it was interpreted and explained in detail for the company, and reduction potentials were identified in accordance with the science-based targets. This made setting corporate goals in the form of an ESG vision and an ESG roadmap in a joint effort in the final step possible. SAUTER will align future business activities with the goals set, improve ESG performance, and prepare for CSRD. This will also be reflected in the company’s CCFs and EcoVadis ratings in the coming years.
Result
On the way to Net-Zero with an EcoVadis silver medal
With the help of the CCF, SAUTER can now identify its emission hotspots in its own area of control and in the value chain. This makes it possible to find more targeted reduction measures that enable the path to Net-Zero. In addition, the company now holds the EcoVadis silver medal with a very good 59/100 points. Sustainability is now, even more, an integral part of the company’s corporate strategy and will be reported to stakeholders in the future. SAUTER was able to gain an overview of all the regulations relevant to the company. We congratulate on this progress and look forward to supporting SAUTER again in the EcoVadis assessment and CCF calculation in subsequent years.
Harald Sonntag
General Manager, Sauter Cumulus GmbH
“We are pleased with the progress we have been able to make over the past year. DFGE has made this as easy as possible. In addition, the intensive exchange and detailed explanations and analyses provided by DFGE’s experts have helped us a lot to better understand the whole topic and to get a better overview of everything. Today, we feel better prepared for the years ahead and the upcoming regulatory challenges, and we are looking forward to the ongoing support from DFGE.”
Further Information: Sauter-Cumulus GmbH develops and manufactures products that are used in room and building management. These include, for example, control technology products and systems for the effective and efficient control of building automation, as well as services and software that are used, for example, to optimize energy consumption. Sauter FM GmbH, a sister company of Sauter-Cumulus GmbH, is specialized in facility management services. This includes the maintenance and servicing of all technical systems of a property as well as the reliable and energy-efficient operation of the properties. The portfolio is complemented by the subsidiary, Pandomus AG, a full-service provider of building technology.
