Companies must have the consent and support of society. We want to maintain regular and open dialogue with all stakeholders. This is one of our business principles. We believe that dialogue offers us an opportunity to prepare for new challenges promptly, avoid risks and realize our full potential.

WACKER constantly communicates with a number of stakeholder groups throughout the world: employees, customers, suppliers, analysts, investors, journalists, scientists, neighbors and politicians, as well as representatives from NGOs, authorities and associations. We use a monitoring and analysis tool to identify our principal stakeholders and their expectations. Stakeholder dialogue is conducted in many ways – through the outreach activities of WACKER’s various management levels, sites and departments. The focus is always on face-to-face discussions, i.e. on direct contact. What’s more, we communicate with stakeholders through publications (annual report, press releases, employee newspaper, etc.), special events (open-house days, supplier days, investor roadshows, etc), tradeshows, committee work and presentations. In 2011 and 2012, WACKER participated in the sustainability assessments of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and RobecoSAM. In addition, the Sustainalytics and oekom research agencies analyzed WACKER.

In 2012, we quizzed our stakeholders about WACKER’s sustainability efforts and its reputation. A total of 201 individuals with links to our company filled out online questionnaires. The survey was conducted in Germany, China and the USA. It included analysts, customers, suppliers, employees and politicians, as well as representatives from authorities and NGOs. Its outcome showed that WACKER enjoys a very good reputation among the various stakeholder groups. We scored a high figure of 82 points in the reputation stakes – this compares with the average score for industrial companies and service providers of just 56 points. WACKER’s good reputation stems primarily from the high level of trust which is placed in the company.

The aim of the sustainability survey was to find out how these interest groups viewed our commitment to sustainability and where they saw room for improvement. The evaluation of the online questionnaires revealed that our sustainability efforts are viewed slightly more favorably than in 2010.

Stakeholders ranked WACKER highly to very highly in the following areas: safety of production facilities, reduction of waste volumes and proper disposal, promotion of workplace safety and employee health, as well as product and transport safety. They named the following as future challenges: setting of climate protection goals, sustainable working conditions within the supply chain and environmental protection within the supply chain, sparing use of water resources and biodiversity.

A key challenge raised in the 2010 stakeholder survey was the setting of climate protection goals. We intensified our work on this topic in the period under review. In 2011, we therefore conducted the first survey of our indirect greenhouse gas emissions from procured energy (as per Greenhouse Gas Protocol Scope 2). In 2012, we started to determine our indirect greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with Greenhouse Gas Protocol Scope 3. This covers all emissions generated along the entire supply chain. Due to WACKER’s integrated production setup, it will take some time to attribute energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions to individual products. From 2013 on, WACKER is defining groupwide energy targets for the first time. All of these measures will help us promote climate protection within the company.

In the Imageprofile 2012 reputation survey conducted by the Humboldt University of Berlin on behalf of German business monthly manager magazin, WACKER came second in the Basic Materials category. More than 4,000 first and second level managers were polled in the survey. Assessment criteria included: managerial quality, sound finances, innovative strength, customer focus and sustainability.