Sustainability at EQS Group

Environmental protection is of great importance to us. Therefore, we are constantly improving our existing resourceful and sustainable processes in our company.

At our locations, we are continuously optimising our circular economy and paying attention to resource conservation. There is a particular focus on preventing use of plastic and reduce waste generation. At our Munich headquarters, for example, we offer our employees reusable containers to minimize the amount of packaging material used for takeaway meals during lunch breaks. In addition, we support projects in disaster, environmental and species protection both financially and through corporate volunteering by our employees. During the Ahr Valley flood disaster in the summer of 2021, we were able to make a donation to an aid organisation for the purchase of needed equipment. Our employees have participated, among other activities, in CleanUp campaigns as volunteers in Munich and Kochi and planted trees on a Berlin hospital site.

We already use green electricity from renewable sources at our main locations in Germany. This also applies to some of the data centers where we operate our products for our customers. We also contribute to minimizing our carbon footprint by encouraging our employees to use bicycles or public transport for their daily commute, while air travel and cars are only permitted for business trips in exceptional circumstances.

For the second year in a row, we voluntarily accounted for our greenhouse gas emissions (GHG report): In 2022, we emitted 714 metric tons of CO₂ equivalents (CO₂e) in the course of our business activities, resulting in emissions per employee of 1.23 metric tons. All three emission scopes (Scopes 1, 2 and 3) were taken into account. The calculation follows the standards of the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol and DIN EN ISO 14064:2019 and was audited by TÜV Rheinland Energy GmbH.  Detailed information can be found in our current Sustainability Report in the chapter “Environmental protection”. In the future, we will continue to provide transparent information on our GHG emissions on an annual basis.

With our products, we have been supporting companies and organisations in maintaining and complying with ethical standards and laws for more than 20 years. In this way, we help to prevent unacceptable actions and uncover abuses.

However, sustainability is also firmly anchored in our corporate culture and in all areas of corporate management. Sustainability is a top priority at EQS Group, which means that our CEO is responsible for the strategy, communication and the management of the topics. Our company guidelines, commitments and principles are transparent for everyone and are both actively communicated and demanded by the CEO. We live these clear guidelines with our managers, employees, suppliers, partners and shareholders.

We cultivate responsible corporate governance and therefore support any further development of the German Corporate Governance Code that contributes to increasing the transparency of corporate processes and strengthening investor confidence. In our Declaration of Compliance, we have acknowledged the recommendations of the “Government Commission on the German Corporate Governance Code” in the version dated April 28, 2022 and listed any deviations.

As an active member of various professional associations, e.g., the German Institute for Compliance (DICO), the Professional Association of Compliance Managers (BCM) and Le Cercle de la Compliance in France, we deepen our knowledge of anti-corruption, compliance, business ethics and data protection while passing on our know-how in the form of expert lectures.

A sustainable environment and society can only be achieved if many individual actors pull together. EQS Group AG also wants to assume global responsibility and is therefore committed to the ten principles of the UN Global Compact. We are therefore part of the world’s largest initiative for responsible corporate governance and we contribute to a fairer and more sustainable global economy.

The UN Global Compact was founded in 1999 on the initiative of then Secretary General Kofi Annan. It defines a common system of values for companies and interest groups that want to strategically anchor sustainability issues. The focus is on ten principles in the areas of human rights, working conditions and anti-corruption. More than 17,000 companies across the world are already part of the voluntary initiative.