GRI Index

The Covestro Group has been legally and financially independent since September 1, 2015. Covestro AG, the parent company of the Covestro Group, is headquartered in Leverkusen (Germany), and has been listed on the German stock exchange since October 6, 2015.

Around the world, Covestro has about 550 temporary employees, corresponding to approximately 3.2% of our workforce. In addition, a number of people work for Covestro externally through contracts for work or service agreements. It is not possible to determine the precise number, since performance is defined via trades or in service-level agreements rather than by the number of people or the hours worked.

The Covestro Management Report and the supplementary information 2020 were approved by the Chair of the Board of Management.

Due to the new process established in the reporting year for defining the material topics, there were significant changes compared with the previous year in terms of the topic selection, their prioritization and presentation. A detailed presentation of the individual changes is not provided. The listing and prioritization of the material topics in previous reports are all publicly available on the Covestro website.

This report covers the period from January 1 to December 31, 2020.

The most recent Annual Report and the associated GRI supplementary information were published in February 2020.

Covestro carries out annual sustainability reporting.

Since our locations in Germany, the United States and China cover most of our procurement volume, the sites located in these countries are referred to as main sites within the meaning of the GRI terminology. Local procurement is regarded as purchasing from suppliers headquartered in the same country as the legal entity they supply.

A risk analysis for 2020 was conducted for every country/every company. Definition of location of operations as a legal entity.

No actions were reported through internal reporting in fiscal 2020.

Information pertaining to the share of renewable energy was not included in this report.

In 2005, Covestro began to introduce a certified energy management system. This requires that we compare our performance with a designated base year, and that year was 2005.

The standards to be applied are oriented to local laws.

Water withdrawal is measured in m³ (cubic meters) since this is the more common approach to measurement. Here, 1 megaliter (ML) corresponds to 1,000 m³.
Usage of other than fresh water <1,000 mg TDS/l: Pursuant to ISO 14046, Covestro uses no water from sea water sources, thus there is no figure for this in the water balance. At some facilities, it is possible that brackish water >1,000 mg TDS/l is used as cooling water. These amounts are included in the water balance and not reported separately. This water can be returned to the water cycle without further treatment in line with the relevant official permits.

Biogenic CO₂ emissions are not reported because they are irrelevant.

Disclosure as CO₂ equivalent of specific GHG. Emissions of sulfur hexafluoride (SF₆) have been recorded. However, because our chemical production processes do not currently cause any SF₆ emissions and because Covestro does not use SF₆, such emissions do not appear in our reporting.

Greenhouse gas emissions are reported separately for Scopes 1 and 2. When considering GHG reductions, the specific greenhouse gas emissions are calculated using the total emissions for Scopes 1 and 2 because otherwise any shifts between the categories would lessen the informative value of the results.

Reporting focuses on significant air emissions; persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and hazardous organic pollutants (HAPs) are not reported. Air emissions are generally measured directly at the source of the emission or are calculated from the stoichiometric determination of the formula mass.

Covestro measures the quantity of waste that is reused or recycled. However, no distinction is drawn between reused and recycling. The specific form of processing is the responsibility of the waste processing company. Covestro does not generally differentiate between hazardous and non-hazardous waste. The composting of non-hazardous waste plays only a minimal or no role in the chemical industry. As a rule, energy is recovered from waste incineration. Due to the large number of sites, it may be the case that no energy is recovered at some locations. According to the information currently available, deep well injection is not used.

In fiscal 2020, no significant administrative or court-ordered sanctions (fines, nonmonetary sanctions) for noncompliance with environmental laws and regulations were reported through internal reporting.

In fiscal 2020, new hires and the resignation rate were broken down according to male and female genders, as no other-gendered employees were known of. If this should change, the tables will be adjusted accordingly in future.

A list of the legal requirements has been dispensed with. The integrated management system for occupational health and safety covers all our employees across the Group and in some cases also our contractors, regardless of the type of work environment or activity performed.

Every employee, contractor or – as appropriate – visitor must comply with the applicable occupational safety procedures, rules, and relevant protective measures. Employees are authorized to withdraw from work situations that seem to them to represent a direct and serious threat to their lives or health. They are obligated to report such situations to their supervisors immediately. Employees may not be subjected to impermissible consequences of such withdrawals or reports.

Depending on site-specific local circumstances, there are in-house occupational physicians or occupational health services are provided in conjunction with external parties. A country-specific description of the functions of the occupational health services has been dispensed with.

Depending on legal requirements, some sites have formal employer-employee committees for occupational health and safety that hold regular meetings. In Germany, for instance, this is the occupational safety and health committee as legally required by Section 11 of the Act on Occupational Physicians, Safety Engineers and Other Occupational Safety Specialists (AsiG). Informal committees are in place at many other locations for which there is no corresponding legal requirement. A country-specific list and a description of the committees has been dispensed with.

Our employees receive the applicable statutorily required training as well as further training that exceeds these requirements depending on the individual circumstances at our sites. Our contractors receive site-specific safety instructions.

Voluntary health services are made available only to Covestro employees, since the influence of such measures has the greatest relevance here.

We record the most important types and frequency of work-related injuries for all employee groups according to the ASTM standard E2920-14, “Severe Incidents and Fatalities” (A. deaths, B. life-changing/life-altering cases, C. other).

At the end of the year, the Supervisory Board consisted of five women (41.7%) and seven men (58.3%). The age structure is as follows: 8.3% are 30–50 years old, and 91.7% are over 50. Membership in a minority is not recorded for legal reasons. In fiscal 2020, new hires and the resignation rate were broken down according to male and female genders, as no other-gendered employees were known of. If this should change, the tables will be adjusted accordingly in future.

For confidentiality reasons, we do not disclose the type and scope of the incidents reported.

In fiscal 2020, no significant cases were reported using formal grievance mechanisms. There was no high risk for the sites in the year 2020, as the local heads of Human Resources and the local managing directors are required by internal rules to maintain a regular exchange of information with unions and employee representatives.

No significant incidents were reported through internal reporting in fiscal 2020.

No significant incidents were reported through internal reporting in fiscal 2020.

In fiscal 2020, no significant administrative or court-ordered sanctions (fines, nonmonetary sanctions) for noncompliance with laws and regulations with respect to the provision and use of products and services were reported through internal reporting.