Dear Readers,

As the new CEO of Kuehne+Nagel, it is an honour for me to share my thoughts on the importance of sustainability for our people, our planet, and our business. Today the logistics industry faces unprecedented challenges — from shifting consumer needs, increasing energy prices and the war in Ukraine, to post-pandemic adjustments, and a need to make our industry more sustainable.

Over the last few years, we have seen significant disruptions that resulted in increased customer service requirements. Challenges that our 80,000 colleagues managed with incredible commitment.

Dealing with complexity is what we do well, and a factor that has led the Kuehne+Nagel Group to close the year 2022 with record earnings for the eighth year in a row.

We successfully delivered four billion Covid-19 vaccines around the world, a reflection of the trust that customers place in our healthcare industry solutions. The company also made deeper inroads into e-commerce and successfully expanded its presence in Asia, in particular on the transpacific routes.

We also reduced greenhouse gas emissions for more customers and in new ways. Customers such as Lenovo can now offer sustainable fuel services to their customers through us. Novo Nordisk is collaborating with us to increase the usage of sustainable fuel for their airfreight shipments as part of their zero CO2 emissions commitment from operations and transport by 2030. And Vestas has put their trust in us to deliver their wind turbines and spare parts 24/7 all year round.

We achieved the goal of 100% renewable electricity across all our Contract Logistics fulfilment centres worldwide with a future ambition to produce more energy on site. We also started an important collaboration with suppliers to develop a much-needed road charging infrastructure. Just as we closely monitor the voice of the customer, we also listen closely to our employees. We conducted an employee operations survey last year where we invited more than 25,000 colleagues to participate. We are now putting in actions and sharing best practices based on that survey — work that will become part of our new Great Place to Work programme that begins this year.

I am also pleased to share that 40% of our workforce today are women and I have made a personal commitment to double female representation in top leadership by 2030.

During the year we appointed a Human Rights Officer and provided pandemic guidance for employees working remotely, as well as, supporting employees with personal development plans.

These are some of the actions that are keeping us on track, in addition to, our commitment to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) to reduce emissions and address climate change.

Together with my colleagues at the Management Board we are the decision-making body with respect to our sustainability approach and strategy.

Recently we announced our new Roadmap 2026. Our strategy consists of priorities that will set us on the path to achieve our longer-term Vision 2030, of ‘becoming the most trusted supply chain partner supporting a sustainable future’.

Living ESG is one of the four material cornerstones of the Roadmap 2026 reflecting our ambition to be a frontrunner in sustainable logistics. Our aim is to reduce our environmental footprint, support customers on their sustainable journey, attract and retain top talent by being the best company to work for, and safeguard our future success through strong governance.

To support our Living ESG approach we have also made changes at Management Board level. Sarah Kreienbühl was appointed as the new Chief Human Resources Officer, the first female leader to join the Management Board, who brings along substantial prior ESG experience and will be taking over responsibility on management board level. And with Dr. Marc Pfeffer, Chief Legal Officer and longstanding Group General Counsel at Kuehne+Nagel, having been a Board Member since the beginning of 2023 with responsibility for Governance, we demonstrate the Board of Directors’ and Management Board’s ongoing commitment to integrity and compliance.