We at Fresenius save and improve human lives. We are Committed to Life. We focus on opportunities that originate from sustainable business practice. And we use them to achieve measurable progress.
Have we reached our goal yet? No, but we are ambitious and are making progress along the way. And we are prepared to be measured by our results.
This is how we contribute to a more sustainable, healthier future.
Our sustainability ambition
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Our sustainability ambition in detail
Our promise, Committed to Life, lends emphasis to our mission: saving lives and improving patients’ quality of life and health. It guides our daily actions and shapes our understanding of how we perceive sustainability as part of our social responsibility.
Millions of people entrust us with their most valuable asset: their health. With our expertise, we accompany patients through their lives. And with our healthcare services and products, we give them access to innovative, high-quality treatments.
We are well aware that a person is much more than his or her illness. We therefore want to use our therapies to create a positive experience for the patients in our hospitals: It is important to us to treat them with respect and engage with them as equals and to provide them with comprehensive personal care.
We also focus on the people who make all of this possible: our employees. We want to offer them the best possible working environment, where they can develop and reach their full potential. Attracting and retaining talent is a top priority for us.
People need a healthy home – today and tomorrow. By reducing the environmental impact of our activities, we want to help protect the climate and nature.
We wish to play our part in mitigating climate change and conserving natural resources. At the core of our efforts are cutting emissions, saving water, and reducing waste.
It is our responsibility to conduct our business for the benefit of people and the environment – in keeping with our values and legal requirements, and with respect for human rights. This all originates from a unique corporate heritage that is more than a century old: Else Kröner built Fresenius into a successful international healthcare company. She is a true role model for courage, integrity, and humanity.
Our benchmark: Our sustainability goals
Since we can only improve what we can understand and control, we have set ourselves goals along our business activities – for the Group as a whole and for the individual business segments.
At Fresenius, sustainability is an important responsibility of the Management Board: As a key component of our business strategy, sustainability targets are also included in the variable compensation of the Management Board.
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Committed to Life
Human Dimension
Excellent Human-to-Human Care
Leading Medical Outcomes
We provide high-quality inpatient treatments. In 2025, we want to outperform the German national average in
of cases.
Leading Medical Outcomes
Current status as of December 31, 2024:
Above-average quality of in-patient treatmes in
of cases.
Employee Engagement
We want to be employer of choice and listen to our employees’ feedback.
For 2025, we are aiming for an Employee Engagement Index of
Employee Engagement
Current status as of December 31, 2024:
Employee Engagement Index of
Leading Product Quality
We aim for continuous improvement and limit the average number of observations in external inspections / audits to
in 2025.
Leading Product Quality
Current status as of December 31, 2024:
average number of observations in external inspections / audits.
Talent Development
We want our employees to develop professionally. By 2030, we will increase annual training hours per employee by
Talent Development
Communication on status of target achievement from fiscal year 2025 onwards.
Planet Dimension
Healthy Planet
Decarbonization
By 2030, we will reduce Scope 1 & 2 emissions by 50%; by 2040, we want to achieve climate neutrality in our own operations (baseline: 2020).
We will reach
by 2050.
Decarbonization
Current status as of December 31, 2024:
Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions compared to 2020.
Water Reduction
Efficient use of water is among our priorities. By 2030, we will reduce process water withdrawal at production sites in areas of high water stress by
(baseline: 2023).
Water Reduction
Communication on status of target achievement from fiscal year 2025 onwards.
The strategic direction of our sustainability activities
Interview with Sarah Tix, Head of Group Sustainability at Fresenius
Sarah, Fresenius has defined a Group-wide approach to sustainability management for the first time in 2024. What was behind this decision?
Sarah Tix: With our Sustainability Ambition, we have defined Group-wide sustainability-related priorities and targets for the first time. This is an important milestone for our sustainability management: Despite all the differences in the business models of our business segments, we now have a common framework for our sustainability activities, which we are constantly developing.
What does this mean in concrete terms?
Sarah Tix: We have defined two key dimensions in our ambition: the Human Dimension and the Planet Dimension. On this basis, we have now derived specific focus topics that we will concentrate on in the coming years. We want to ensure that we can actively manage and transparently measure progress with regard to each individual topic – using strategic key figures and targets. At the same time, we will anchor responsibility for these topics even more firmly in the company’s organization and define lighthouse projects. This will also help us to raise awareness of sustainability issues – and make it clear what role they play in the day-to-day work of each and every one of us.
What overarching goal do you have in mind here?
Sarah Tix: As a company, we have an important mission: to improve the quality of life and health of our patients. I am convinced that implementing our sustainability ambition is an essential part of fulfilling this mission. It is therefore very important for us to create a common basis of understanding throughout the organization: What are our sustainability priorities? How are they integrated into our processes? In this way, we ensure that our sustainability activities have the right impact and help us achieve our corporate goals. That’s what it’s all about for us.
Perspectives that enrich: the Sustainability Advisory Board
Fresenius has appointed an independent advisory board for sustainability issues. Four leading international experts from science, business, and consulting are supporting us in further developing our sustainability activities:
Anahita Thoms (Chair): The head of Baker McKenzie’s international trade practice in Germany is a member of the EMEA Steering Committee for Compliance & Investigations and Global Lead Sustainability Partner for the Industrials, Manufacturing, and Transportation industry group. She is a member of the National Committee of UNICEF Deutschland and of the Board of Directors of Atlantik-Brücke. She was also a member of the German government’s Sustainable Finance Advisory Board and the ABA International Human Rights Steering Committee.
Dr. Fiona Adshead: The former Deputy Chief Medical Officer of the UK Government is a leading expert on sustainability and health. She is currently Chair of the Sustainable Healthcare Coalition, an organization that brings together partners to promote sustainable healthcare.
Prof. Dr. Judith Walls: The Chair of Sustainability Management and Director of the Institute for Economy and Ecology (IWÖ) at the University of St. Gallen (HSG) conducts research at the interface of economy and ecological sustainability.
Fabian Kienbaum: The managing partner at Kienbaum focuses on advising family businesses on governance and succession issues. He is also the author of publications on leadership and modern working environments.
Statements from our Advisory Board members can be found in various places in this magazine.
Find out more about Fresenius’ sustainability activities: