Our responsible business journey

Sustainability at Zimmer + Rohde

Since the founding of the company that has grown into today’s ZR Group, our understanding of ethical behavior has been rooted in the idea of the honorable merchant. At the heart of responsible business is a commitment to balancing economic success with broader social and environmental responsibilities, recognizing that long-term success relies on the well-being of employees, communities in our value chain, and the world around us.

This page gives a brief overview of the different topics on our sustainability agenda, for a deeper dive, download our latest Sustainability Report below. For more information about our approach to responsible design and our products made from, for example, recycled fibers head to our "Responsible" topic page.

Sustainability Reports

Our sustainability reports provide transparency and accountability on our environmental, social, and governance performance. They help us keep track of our sustainability goals and identify areas for improvement. In July 2023, the European Commission adopted the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS): The standards cover the full range of environmental, social, and governance issues, including climate change, biodiversity and human rights. These standards are not yet binding for the ZR Group, but we have nevertheless started working on a reporting structure based on their framework.

Zimmer + Rohde Group Sustainability Report 2023 > Download PDF

ENVIRONMENT

Implementing practices that mitigate negative impacts on the environment is central to doing business responsibly. For the ZR Group, the focus in this area lies in optimizing resource utilization, minimizing waste, enhancing energy efficiency and therefore reducing carbon emissions.

In our commitment to climate protection, we’re actively pursuing shipping optimizations to minimize our carbon footprint. We have also made significant progress in reducing textile waste by giving deadstock goods a second chance, for example through several up- and recycling partnerships.

"Our activities and actions today should not compromise the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

[widely accepted definition of Sustainable Development]

SOCIAL

We see the extensive and diverse experience of our international team and our external partnerships as a key component of our success. Zimmer + Rohde was founded as a family business and we recognize that the values important to sustain healthy family relationships are also essential in building strong business ones.

We aim to foster a work environment that facilitates the professional and personal development of all our employees in line with the principle of lifelong learning. Our relationships with suppliers and other external stakeholders are based on loyalty and transparency. We have cultivated many successful long-term partnerships, in a number of cases over multiple generations.

“If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together”.

[African Proverb]

GOVERNANCE

Effective corporate governance ensures transparency, fairness, and accountability, fostering trust and confidence among all stakeholders. During 2023 we developed the first draft of a brand-new Code of Conduct for the whole of the ZR Group. This offers a set of principles and guidelines, covering personal conduct as well as relationships both internally, with other employees, and externally, with suppliers, customers, partners, and the media. While it doesn't provide a solution for every situation, the aim is that it equips all our employees with the necessary tools to make ethical decisions. Watch this space: following the internal rollout, we plan to share our Code publicly in 2025.

Our Code of Conduct is a declaration of our collective values and should serve as a compass for conducting ourselves with transparency, honesty, and integrity.

Contact

For further information or inquiries, please contact our Sustainability Team: sustainability@zimmer-rohde.com