Sustainability

Ecology and economy in harmony

Embracing the globe, while caring for the environment

DB Schenker sees no contradiction in ecology and economy, which is why DB’s logistics specialists prefer solutions that satisfy both the customer’s economic needs and their own ecological demands when planning their operations.

DB Schenker takes its responsibility for the environment very seriously. Sustainability is an integral part of the corporate philosophy, it is practiced and constantly being developed. In the development of their products and services, for example, the logistics specialists focus on innovation and invest in new environmentally sound logistics solutions and technologies.

Proving environmental management

Environmental management can be measured, with the result that today all DB Schenker country organizations in have received DIN ISO 14001 certification. The goal is have all the country organizations certified worldwide.

Environmental protection – an image factor

As a company’s environmental behavior is increasingly developing into a corporate image factor, DB Schenker is significantly improving your ecological performance. Deutsche Bahn’s goal is now to bring about a reduction in specific CO2 emissions of at least a further 20 percent by 2020 compared to 2006.

Schenker Boosts ISO Certified Facilities to 39!

As of February, 39 US Schenker, Inc. facilities have been awarded the ISO 14001 certification. Just one year ago, only two facilities held the certification: Freeport and JFK. We are very proud of our achievement, as it places us among a handful of Freight Forwarding / Logistics companies worldwide to be ISO 14001 certified.

Getting to the point where a facility can undergo the necessary audit to become ISO certified involves more than just a pile of binders with policies in them. It’s only possible with the commitment and hard work of many people in the organization.

A key success factor for Schenker was having a truly dedicated management team and staff that were absolutely committed to achieving and maintaining the designation. A special thanks to the offices that were audited this year: Hartford, Orlando, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Chicago, Moline, JFK and Freeport. The DNV (Det Norske Veritas) auditor assigned to us was very impressed with the involvement and awareness of our employees and management.

One of the major requirements to obtaining certification is having an Environmental Management System (EMS) in place. We took our already established EMS and made some upgrades, creating the new Lean EMS Interface back in 2012. This replaced the traditional Environmental Policy Manual and gave users a simple-to-use flow chart design, with immediate access to all of our environmental programs, policies, processes and forms. The response from the field was very positive. With the training and continued support from Environmental Management, users were equipped with the knowledge and know-how to wow any auditor that crossed their paths… and they did just that!

The fact that we made this investment, indicates our commitment to continually monitor, manage, and improve our environmental performance. We must show that:

• We have identified significant environmental aspects of our operations. We currently monitor Electricity and Heating Gas use, and Paper Consumption.
• We are taking steps to control these aspects. We have Energy / Waste monitoring tools that we utilize (Environmental Data Reports, TORCH).
• And that those steps are proving effective. We review Environmental Data Reports quarterly.

Besides training employees, and utilizing green practices around the workplace, we plan on continually improving our environmental performance by adding transparency to the quarterly sustainability figures submitted by the branches. By getting creative with contests and rewarding offices for their energy achievements, we predict nothing but great things for our sustainable future.