Stroer publishes 4th Sustainability Report, expands climate strategy

Ströer SE & Co. KGaA has published its fourth Group Sustainability Report 2022. The sustainability report gives an overview of Ströer's sustainability strategy and covers the four sub-areas of Environment, Employees, Business Partners & Society and Governance. The report highlights the developments, progress and focus of each of these areas and has been prepared in accordance with the internationally recognised standards of the Global Reporting Initiative.

Climate Strategy 2030

The company refined its climate strategy in reporting year 2022 even further: First, specific objectives for the coming years were formulated for the key areas of innovation, reduction and compensation. Second, in view of the United Nations' 1.5 degree target, "Net-zero by 2050" was established as the overarching goal for Ströer. The previous goal of achieving climate neutrality for the entire business by 2025 will continue to be upheld and has been integrated into the evolved climate strategy.

With regard to climate change, Ströer continues to develop its portfolio of sustainable solutions in terms of increasing efficiency and energy savings. The focus of the improvement of the outdoor advertising portfolio's environmental friendliness is the gradual digitalisation of the media carriers in public spaces (DOOH). Ströer's digital communications infrastructure in Germany is powered by 100 per cent certified green electricity. This makes it a key building block for climate-neutral growth by 2030.

Lowest-emission medium

Compared to other forms of media, digital outdoor advertising is the medium with the lowest CO₂ emissions. In addition to traditional campaign performance metrics such as reach and CPM (cost per mille), the carbon footprint will be of increasing importance to clients. Advertisers can reduce the carbon footprint of their own campaigns by increasing the share of outdoor advertising in their media mix, as OOH, and especially DOOH, achieve CO2 reference values that are significantly better than those of all other advertising media. For example, only 5 to 6 grams of CO₂ (green electricity) are emitted for 1,000 DOOH impressions - compared to other traditional advertising media, with levels ranging from well over 800 grams per 1,000 impressions to just under 10,000 grams per 1,000 impressions - depending on the respective type of media.

“Because sustainability continues to play a growing role in society and thus also in the economy, low-emission advertising is also becoming increasingly important. Outdoor advertising, and especially the digital version of outdoor advertising, are very emission-efficient compared to other media types. Advertisers prioritizing OOH or DOOH in the media mix reduce the carbon footprint of their own advertising campaign. The growing demand for sustainable solutions is an incentive for us to continuously develop our portfolio. We offer services for our customers and partners that make an additional ecological and social contribution,” says Henning Gieseke, CFO of Ströer.

In addition to progress in energy and climate, there were significant developments in the areas of social and governance during the reporting year. As an example, the Ströer Social Charter was published in July 2022. It defines the values according to which Ströer engages as an international operation and is mandatory for the entire group. Also, the responsibility for our products was made binding in the year under review with the principles of ethical advertising and journalistic principles.
The many strides made in the area of sustainability are reflected in the assessment carried out by independent sustainability ratings, where Ströer was able to significantly improve in the past reporting year.