Many companies report on their performance and challenges in the field of sustainability – however, their reporting differs greatly in detail and quality. Policymakers as well as other stakeholders, such as the financial market, would like to achieve greater comparability. For this purpose, the federal government adopted the German Sustainability Code (GSC) last year - after extensive dialogue with scientists, companies and NGOs (see also CR News 01/2011).

The Code requires that all companies report in line with uniform sustainability criteria in the future. For this purpose, companies may choose between the principles of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and those of the European Federation of Financial Analysts Societies (EFFAS) and take one of the two standards as a basis for their declarations of conformity. Overriding topics include the strategy and process management of the companies as well as their services regarding the environment and society.

RWE has become the first DAX company to publish a declaration of conformity in compliance with the principles of the Global Reporting Initiative for 2010 and 2011. The publication will increase the transparency of the RWE Group's sustainability performance, in addition to GRI level A+.

The discussion surrounding the Sustainability Code will not end with its implementation. Rather, the dialogue between the various stakeholders is to be continued in order to discuss the response to the new standard and enhance the tools used.