Management Approach Social Involvement

The Social Involvement focus is one of the four central pillars of the Sustainability Strategy of the REWE Group. Within this pillar, the REWE Group systematically works on taking responsibility beyond its core business and making a commitment to society.

Principles

The REWE Group sees itself as a Good Corporate Citizen. In other words, it takes responsibility wherever it can, where it does business and where help is needed. The REWE Group is therefore committed to a viable society. For example, the company is committed to the development of children and young people. It aims to improve their educational prospects and promote equal opportunities. The company also cares about projects that introduce children and young people to a healthy lifestyle at a young age. It relies on dependable, long-term partnerships for this.

Raising awareness of sustainability in society is a task for the REWE Group. The company therefore promotes awareness of more sustainable consumption and more balanced nutrition among adults and children and involves them in its commitment to biodiversity and environmental protection.

With regard to donations and sponsoring, a combine-wide guideline applies to the REWE Group. It serves as a basic set of rules. In accordance with this guideline, the company ensures that any projects and initiatives it carries out are in line with the mission statement of the REWE Group and with its compliance and sustainability principles.

With its non-profit organisation the DER Touristik Foundation, DER Touristik is committed to its social responsibility towards people and nature in the destination countries, as an international tourism company. The potential of tourism should be used in a way that protects the environment and promotes economic development in the host countries.

Responsibility

Control across all areas of action is the responsibility of the project group “Social Involvement”. It is headed by Dr. Daniela Büchel, Member of the Management Board – People and Sustainability Officer. Dr. Büchel took up this position on 1 January 2023. Before that she was Boardmember German food retail business – responsible for Human Resources and Corporate Responsibility.

Implementation

When putting its social involvement into practice, the REWE Group follows four areas of action that it has identified (see next section). Through the core business of the sales lines, additional foci are defined where projects are created. All projects from the current reporting year are reported on in Projects and Promotions.

Promotion of children and young people is an element of the projects of all sales lines. To tackle inequality of opportunity, the REWE Group supports socially disadvantaged young people during their schooldays and when starting working life. The REWE Group is also committed on an international level to access to education, for example in school construction projects across the world. Furthermore, the company promotes the health of children and young people with numerous projects on the topics of exercise and balanced nutrition.

Local activities in store environments by independent retailers, who implement many of the projects, make up a large share of the REWE Group’s Social Involvement.

The REWE Group also works hand-in-hand with strong partners whose local experience enables them to provide effective assistance. In relation to this, developing long-term partnerships that all those involved can rely on is a particular concern. Strategic partners of the REWE Group in Germany include: German Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU e. V.), funding organisation Aktion Mensch e. V., food bank organisation Tafel Deutschland e. V. and children’s charity organisation Kindernothilfe e. V.. Where possible, the REWE Group involves its customers and employees in projects. This strengthens the sense of community and increases the scope of the projects.

The REWE Group believes that sustainable development is the responsibility of society as a whole. The company aims to enlighten, inform and raise awareness among consumers so they can explore the topic and take it into consideration in their purchasing decisions. The REWE Group uses different formats to reach its customers: Hand-on activities, informative campaign weeks and generating donations by selling selected products (more information is available at Promotion of Sustainable Consumption). To teach children and young people important consumer skills, the REWE Group promotes relevant projects as part of its membership of German consumer protection foundation, Stiftung Verbraucherschutz.

At the DER Touristik Foundation educational measures are intended to create prospects for the future and enable local people to reduce poverty and inequality, to contribute to growth and prosperity and to make a commitment to preserving flora and fauna. For example, since 2014, the DER Touristik Foundation has promoted the construction and renovation of 69 schools in 21 countries on five continents. These projects give children and young people access to education and therefore increase their chances of being able to determine their own life. Since 2014, the DER Touristik Foundation has promoted projects amounting to almost 2.7 million euros.

In the Social Involvement pillar of its Sustainability Strategy, the REWE Group has identified four topics as areas of action:

• Conscious Nutrition and Exercise
• Opportunities for Children and Young People
• Conscious Use of Food
• Biodiversity and Environmental Protection

These areas of action apply to the whole REWE Group, whereby the involvement of each sales line covers at least two areas of action.

To make its progress in the Social Involvement pillar measurable, the REWE Group records KPIs for selected projects in the four defined areas of action. All projects with a budget of at least 30,000 euros or that are of particular relevance to the sales line are included in the reporting. The percentage of projects with a term of at least two years is recorded as an overarching KPI because long-term projects are expected to be highly effective. In general, there are also one-year projects:

Area of Action Conscious Nutrition and Exercise

During the reporting year, the number of children and young people reached by four (2021: 3) projects was recorded. The focus here was on promotion and support of sports clubs. The major project “Vouchers for Clubs“ was assigned to this area of action during the reporting period, because it reached a large number of children and young people. The projects also involved nutrition workshops for children in nurseries and football clubs and provision of healthy food for school classes.

Area of Action Opportunities for Children and Young People

During the reporting year, the number of children and young people reached by nine projects was recorded (2021: 9). It has more than trebled in comparison to the previous year. Institutions with more extensive range were recorded in 2021, although the number of institutions remained the same. The number of organisations has also increased during the reporting period: A total of 520 clubs were supported in 2022 (2021: 123). This is due to a significantly increased commitment as part of “Förderpenny”, which has also become more local. The projects focus on improving prospects for the future. The projects are therefore aimed at supporting children and young people with learning and vocational training, improving their living conditions and constructing and renovating schools all over the world.

Area of Action Conscious Use of Food

A total of two projects that contributed to more conscious use of food were recorded in the reporting year (2021: 1). The focus was on consumer education and cooperation with food banks. Around 80 per cent to 90 per cent of REWE and PENNY stores in Germany and Austria work together with food banks and/or other organisations, such as food-sharing. They are therefore contributing to saving food. For more information about this topic please refer to Food Waste.

Area of Action Biodiversity and Environmental Protection

Five projects (2021: 6) that contributed to biodiversity and environmental protection and that educated and raised awareness among employees and consumers were recorded during the reporting year. The project sum has increased greatly compared with the previous year. This is due to the NABU Climate Fund that promotes rewilding of moors. It amounted to five million euros during the reporting year. Excluding this amount, the project sum decreased slightly during the reporting year, as a result of a lower project budget for the NABU biodiversity project because of the fund, the abandonment of the project “Gemeinsam für weniger Plastik – Ozean-Armband” (see Sustainability Report 2021, p. 194 Sustainability Report 2021, p. 194) and the planned end of the Central America Fund in 2023.

Seven other projects cannot be assigned to any of the four areas of action. Their total volume (donations, including customer and employee donations, sponsoring and project budgets that make a contribution to society) amounted to around 2.4 million euros, of which 2.25 million euros came from customer donations (2021: over 6 million euros, of which 2.5 million euros from customer donations). The decrease in total donations in comparison to the previous year is because large, one-off amounts were raised in 2021 in connection with flood relief. These did not apply in 2022. Furthermore, the project “Vouchers for Clubs” was assigned to the area of action Conscious Nutrition and Exercise.

Noteworthy during the reporting period was the support for Ukraine by the REWE Group and its employees. In total, expenditure amounted to over 2 million euros, of which 1 million euros went to the German Red Cross to benefit Ukraine. Furthermore, just under 1,000 tonnes of food and hygiene items were donated.

The key topics from the Social Involvement pillar can be found in the GRI report:

• Projects and Promotions