Bosch Group Releases First Corporate Social Responsibility Report

3 September 2006

by Jack Rosebro

The Bosch Group, of which Bosch Automotive is the largest subsidiary, has released its first Corporate Social Responsibility report.

Although Bosch has reported on its environmental-related activities since 1998, this is the company’s first corporate report incorporating economic and social data as well as environmental data. In this way, Bosch follows the growing corporate trend of combining those three subjects in either CSR or sustainability reports.

In a speech announcing the release of the report, Peter Marks of the Board of Management invoked the words of Robert Bosch, “I would rather lose money than trust,” and asserted that the company’s original search to find “a happy medium between the entrepreneur who needs to assert himself, and the socially-minded businessman” must be broadened to include ecological interests.

Unlike most corporations, which typically disclose energy used per unit of product produced, Bosch has published overall material and energy flows. For example, total energy used in 2005 was 5,968.3 GWh, as compared to 7.155.2 GWh in 2004—a reduction of almost 20%. Most of this, however, was due to Bosch’s divestment of the energy-intensive Buderus steelmaking divisions.

The report charts a wide variety of environmental initiatives, including:

• Bosch has been aggressively reducing its reliance on pollutants during manufacturing cutting production of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by more than half, and its use of cholrinated hydrocarbons (CHCs) by more than three-quarters in 2005 as compared to 2004. Newly acquired facilities have two years to phase out CHCs.

• The Bosch subsidiary BBT Thermotechnik, which produces heating systems, is increasing its focus on renewable energy, including solar panels and solar water heating.

• Bosch Automotive is working on technology that will contribute to achieving the goal set by ACEA (European Automobile Manufacturers Association) to cut vehicle CO₂ emissions to an average of 140 g/km, realizing a 25% reduction in average automobile CO₂ emissions.

• In addition to its flex-fuel and hybrid initiatives, Bosch Automotive has also set a goal of helping to halve the annual number of road deaths in Europe by 2010.

Bosch has an unusual ownership structure: 92% of Bosch GmBH is owned by the charitable foundation Robert Bosch Stiftung, with the remainder of shares owned by the Bosch family.

Resources:

• Bosch Corporate Social Responsibility Report 2005-2006

• Bosch sustainability initiatives

• Presentation “Balancing economy, ecology, and social commitment: the global responsibility of Bosch” by Peter J. Marks, Bosch Board of Management