Press Release | Gütersloh, 10/25/2016

Bertelsmann Presents Information about Sustainability Efforts

• Corporate responsibility magazine spotlights Group-wide key issues
• Reporting in accordance with GRI Guidelines and latest carbon footprint available online

Bertelsmann has published a new Corporate Responsibility (CR) magazine documenting its social and environmental efforts. The publication, titled

“24/7 Responsibility”, shows how the international media, service and education company shoulders responsibility for seven core topics that are important across the Group. At the same time, up-to-date facts and indicators on sustainability-related topics, based on the guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI G4), as well as Bertelsmann’s latest carbon footprint, are now available on the company’s website (www.bertelsmann.com/responsibility  ). The cross-media sustainability coverage also serves as a Communication on Progress for the United Nations Global Compact, in which Bertelsmann has been a participant since 2008.

Immanuel Hermreck, Chief Human Resources Officer at Bertelsmann, said: “Bertelsmann sees itself as a part and partner of society; this is the cornerstone of our corporate culture. To systematically evolve our sustainability management, we have focused on seven topics with particular relevance for Bertelsmann’s businesses in recent months. This report spotlights these topics and its creative format is a deliberate reflection of one of our company’s core competencies.”

The new Corporate Responsibility magazine reports on the measures and activities of Bertelsmann and its subsidiaries in the following areas: education, press freedom, fair working conditions, protection of media users and customers, diversity, health, and eco-efficiency. The publication contains informative, varied reports, interviews, infographics and news on each of these topics.

The contents of the CR magazine include:

• A conversation between Bertelsmann’s Chief Human Resources Officer Immanuel Hermreck and Thomas Ammann, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of “Stern” magazine, about partnership, freedom and respect as prerequisites for fair interpersonal relations in workaday life
• A report on press freedom from the Cologne-based news channel n-tv
• Interviews with Shobhna Mohn, Executive Vice President Growth Regions, and Annabelle Yu Long, CEO of the Bertelsmann China Corporate Center, providing an insight into cultural diversity at Bertelsmann
• An interview with Steven Moran, Bertelsmann’s Chief Learning Officer, on the role continuing education plays in the company
• Examples for the protection of media users and customers in the TV, children’s book production, magazine journalism and digital marketing businesses
• An essay by “Geo” editor Christoph Kucklick on ecological resource efficiency, and an explanation of Bertelsmann’s latest carbon footprint by the company’s experts
• Insights into Bertelsmann’s health management unit

Information on the corporate culture, on the strategic principles underlying Bertelsmann’s sustainability management, on ethics and compliance, and on a variety of projects and fundraising activities rounds off the issue.

The Bertelsmann CR magazine was developed in cooperation with G+J’s communications agency Territory and is available in German and English. Like the supplementary publications – the “Bertelsmann GRI Index 2015” and “Bertelsmann Carbon Footprint 2015” – it is also available for download online at: www.bertelsmann.com/responsibility  .

About Bertelsmann
Bertelsmann is a media, services and education company that operates in about 50 countries around the world. It includes the broadcaster RTL Group, the trade book publisher Penguin Random House, the magazine publisher Gruner + Jahr, the music company BMG, the service provider Arvato, the Bertelsmann Printing Group, the Bertelsmann Education Group, and Bertelsmann Investments, an international network of funds. The company has 117,000 employees and generated revenues of €17.1 billion in the 2015 financial year. Bertelsmann stands for creativity and entrepreneurship. This combination promotes first-class media content and innovative service solutions that inspire customers around the world.