Better Health for All
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Fresenius Medical Care's core business provides life-sustaining dialysis products and services for chronic kidney failure, caring for approximately 299,000 patients globally
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and delivering around 48 million treatments annually.
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The company's entire business is devoted to health improvement, and there is no evidence of revenue from products with negative health outcomes. However, in 2024, the company had a significant number of product safety incidents, with 10 recalls of drugs and devices in the U.S., 6 recalls of medical devices outside the U.S., and 1 recall of medicinal products outside the U.S., totaling 17 recalls.
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In terms of healthcare workforce support, Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA collaborated with the European Society for Intensive Care Medicine in February 2024 to support educational efforts and professional growth of medical professionals, and Fresenius Kabi focuses on clinical training programs in China, India, Japan, and Southeast Asia.
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Fair Money & Economic Opportunity
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Fresenius Medical Care is a healthcare provider specializing in dialysis services and products, not a financial institution. The 'Fair Money & Economic Opportunity' value and its associated KPIs are designed to assess companies engaged in lending, insuring, moving, or storing money, and their impact on financial inclusion. As Fresenius Medical Care's core business does not involve offering financial products or services to consumers, most KPIs are not applicable. While the company provides resources for financial literacy, the articles do not offer specific quantitative data on the reach or outcomes of these initiatives, preventing a score from being assigned for that KPI.
Fair Pay & Worker Respect
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In 2024, the company had 38 substantiated incidents of discrimination, including harassment, and identified two cases of occupational health and safety standard violations, along with cases of exceeding permitted working hours.
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The gender pay gap was 26.0% in 2024, with women earning 0.73 of what men earn.
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The Employee Engagement Score (EES) was 56% for the fiscal year.
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The work-related accident rate (TRIR) was 3.0 per 200,000 hours in 2024.
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On a positive note, approximately 74% of global employees were covered by a collective bargaining agreement in 2024.
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The voluntary employee turnover rate was 9.8% in 2024.
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Temporary employees represented approximately 3% of the total workforce, with an additional 116 non-guaranteed-hours employees.
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The CEO pay ratio was 61:1 in the fiscal year.
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Fair Trade & Ethical Sourcing
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Fresenius Medical Care incorporates Codes of Conduct, which include human rights and labor standards, into supplier contracts across its business segments, and retains the right to evaluate suppliers' sustainability performance through audits.
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The company reported no identified forced or child labor in its activities and supply chains in 2024, supported by proactive risk assessments and the implementation of human rights and environmental criteria in new supplier selection processes since 2023.
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However, in 2024, the company directed approximately 2.4% (€183 million) of its total global procurement budget (€7.6 billion) to diverse suppliers in the U.S.
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Honest & Fair Business
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Fresenius Medical Care has a comprehensive anti-corruption and anti-bribery policy, globally rolled out and implemented.
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This policy includes specialized training for high-risk business partners
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and led to 15 anti-corruption-related audits of third-party partners in 2023
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, with around 14,000 third parties assessed for compliance risks.
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The company also maintains a robust whistleblower policy, which includes an anti-retaliation stance
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and an external, independent, and certified third-party vendor operating a 24/7, multi-language, anonymous Compliance Action Line (where legally permitted).
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In 2024, 2,835 reports were received through reporting channels.
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The Supervisory Board is comprised of 33% independent members.
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Kind to Animals
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The company's policy states that animal testing is used only when legally required for new product and treatment approvals.
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These studies are restricted to what is absolutely necessary, conducted by third-party research institutes in recognized labs, and pre-approved by an ethics committee.
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The company also requires adherence to the 3Rs (Reduce, Replace, Refine).
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No War, No Weapons
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The company manufactures medical technology and devices, such as hemodialysis machines and dialyzers, with no evidence of military applications or dual-use technology.
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Its human rights due diligence includes yearly communication of material supply chain risks to senior leadership, with human rights reporting available in its public Sustainability Report.
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The company's commitment is guided by the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and its Responsible Minerals Sourcing Program conforms to the OECD Due Diligence Guidance.
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Given its medical focus, there is no evidence of exposure to controversial weapons.
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Annual reviews of partners include communication of material supply chain risks, confirming no conflict-sector partnerships.
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For conflict minerals, 63.2% (227 out of 359) of identified smelters in its supply chain were conformant with the Responsible Minerals Assurance Process (RMAP) for the 2024 reporting period, while 32 were non-conformant and 96 were not enrolled.
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Planet-Friendly Business
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In 2024, Fresenius Medical Care's total Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas emissions (market-based) were 3.68 million tCO2eq
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, representing a 5.04% decline from 2023.
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The company aims for climate neutrality across the Group by 2040
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, with a 50% reduction target for Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030.
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It is developing Scope 3 climate targets aligned with SBTi criteria and plans to submit them for validation
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, but currently has no external SBTi validation.
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In 2024, 27.6% of its total energy consumption came from renewable sources.
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Water withdrawal in 2024 was 1,819 m3 per €1 million revenue
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, with 21.02% of water withdrawn from high water risk/stress areas.
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The waste diversion rate in 2024 was 30.45%.
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Only 0.9% of capital expenditure was aligned with the EU Sustainable Taxonomy in 2024.
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The company reported 0% of Scope 3 emissions were calculated using primary data from suppliers.
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Fresenius follows TCFD recommendations
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and conducted a climate scenario analysis considering IPCC scenarios SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, and SSP5-8.5 across short, medium, and long-term horizons.
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Respect for Cultures & Communities
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The company reported zero cultural appropriation incidents.
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Fresenius Medical Care established a formal partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, through which 0.25% of revenue was reinvested in local community development.
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In March 2024, a "Journey to Cultural Competency" training program was launched for U.S.-based clinical staff.
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Additionally, in 2022, 27 Cultural Ambassadors were trained in Germany, and over 2,500 leaders and employees participated in 10 diversity training sessions in the US.
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In 2023, over 1,100 Helios senior executives completed online training courses on disability law and inclusion.
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Safe & Smart Tech
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In 2023, a data breach affected approximately 500,000 patients, former patients, guarantors, and 200 staff
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; the stolen data was encrypted.
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Fresenius has AI Guidelines (Version 1.0) that complement its Code of Conduct
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, providing principles for responsible, ethical, and secure AI use
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, with safeguards and human oversight to avoid bias and ensure human control.
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The company holds ISO/IEC 27001 certifications for its information security management system at Group and business segment levels.
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Its Cybersecurity Training & Awareness Program (CTAP) in 2023 offered 73 new training modules to approximately 179,000 employees
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, with 25% mandatory
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, and 88% of employees successfully detected simulated phishing attempts.
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Training is provided annually for all employees and new hires.
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Fresenius ensures compliance with diverse global privacy regulations, including GDPR and HIPAA, for its Apollo Dial DB global database
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and its telehealth platform.
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Zero Waste & Sustainable Products
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Fresenius Medical Care achieved a hazardous waste diversion rate of 70.5%
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and a non-hazardous waste diversion rate of 73.8% in 2022.
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The company's machines have 24% recyclable content,
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and packaging contains approximately 79-80% recyclable content.
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, 2 However, the recycled content in products is low, at 0.6% of the total weight of secondary reused or recycled components.
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Circular design principles are considered, with repairability and disassembly factored into medical device design,
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and closed-loop systems implemented for items like Blue Drums
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and Mircera shipping containers.
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The company has implemented over 110 Green & Lean Projects
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and various waste reduction initiatives, including a Blue Drum Recycling Program that reuses 141,300 drums annually (diverting 3.1 million pounds of plastic),
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a shift to reusable sharps containers (112,000 reused, eliminating 900 tons of plastic waste),
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and the replacement of plastic cups with paper cups (avoiding 46 million plastic cups annually).
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Cardboard and single-stream recycling dumpsters were distributed to 1,388 dialysis centers by 2020,
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and a printer cartridge recycling program operates in all U.S. locations.
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Hazardous waste management includes processing and reusing waste where possible,
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with non-recyclable waste legally disposed of,
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and no material environmental incidents or waste disposal violations reported.
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The company has local internal targets to improve waste recovery rates by 0.5% to 3% annually across manufacturing sites.
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Suppliers are expected to set environmental targets and implement policies to identify and mitigate environmental impacts in their operations and supply chains.
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