Guidelines

The RWE Code of Conduct adopted in 2005 refers explicitly to the ten principles of the Global Compact and provides the ethical framework for everything we do, whether as a business or as a corporate citizen. The international standards of the International Standards Organiza-tion (ISO), International Labour Organization (ILO) and Global Re-porting Initiative (GRI) are the compass that guides our CR manage-ment. Our corporate governance is based on the Deutsche Corporate Governance Code of 2002, as amended.

Our RWE Guidelines for Sustainable Development describe in detail our responsibility to the environment and to society. We are guided by these in everything we do. RWE drew up its guidelines for sustain-able development in 2000 and updated them again in 2003. This is the version still in force today which reads as follows:

RWE Guidelines for Sustainable Development

Through its core businesses, RWE provides services that are indispensable to modern society. RWE ensures that no matter where in the world they are provided, these services contribute to maintaining and improving living standards for the people of today and future generations. This, in the long term, secures the value of RWE as a going concern and enables it to earn an appropriate return on capital.

We make a key contribution to climate protection and security of supply.

As one of Europe’s largest energy suppliers, we have a special responsibility to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Our state-of-the-art power plants and efficient use of energy are making a substantial contribution to this endeavour. We tap new potential through the increased use of innovative technologies, renewable energy sources and the cogeneration of power and heat.

We honour our responsibility to our employees and society in a wide range of ways.

We play a proactive role in solving social and economic problems in the regions in which we operate. We motivate our employees and encourage them to show initiative and to take individual responsibility. We offer them secure jobs and healthy working conditions and cater to their individual and culture-specific needs. Mutual respect and tolerance help us to achieve our corporate objectives.

Transparent action and responsible governance are fundamental Group-wide principles.

All our actions are guided by Group-wide rules which apply in all areas and at all levels. These rules make for clear, forward-looking governance and help minimise economic and environmental risks. We regularly review our Group-wide rules and adapt them to changes in the general conditions.

We seek open dialogue with our stakeholders.

We report on our activities regularly and transparently. We respect other people’s opinions and when discussing controversial issues endeavour to find an acceptable consensus. The exchange we have with our stakeholders helps to create new concepts.

We secure our future by using resources efficiently.

We are constantly improving our processes in order to reduce our consumption of resources, including water, and the amount of waste we produce. Ongoing investment in our plants and grids as well as in our employees’ expertise increases our capacity and profitability. We offer our customers a wide range of services for resource-efficient energy and waste management.

We regard nature and landscape conservation as a key aspect of our corporate responsibility.

We seek to minimise the impact of our business processes on the natural world and on the landscape in everything we do. We adopt far-reaching measures to safeguard biodiversity, protect groundwater and wetlands and to preserve nature’s myriad functions. We adhere to high standards when recultivating those areas that we have subjected to intensive use.