Our strategy.

Bechtle’s Sustainability Strategy 2030 defines our specific ecological, economic and social objectives. It incorporates the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and comprises four strategic areas of action that are particularly relevant for Bechtle—ethical business practices, environment, people and digital future—each of which is backed by a programme that includes goals, milestones and operational measures.

The following SDGs apply to our actions for ethical business practices:

Download our Sustainability Strategy 2030, Climate Protection Strategy 2030 and our current Sustainability Programme in one compact document.

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Ethical business practices.

We are committed to human rights and environmental standards along our supply chain. We call for transparent sourcing processes and are expanding sustainable supplier management. That’s why we request all our direct suppliers to sign our Supplier Code of Conduct backed up by a growing number of document-based audits to ensure compliance.

Supplier Code of Conduct

Complaint procedures in accordance with Section 8 of Germany’s Supply Chain Act (LkSG).

Any reports of human rights violations and negative impacts on the environment caused by or in the context of Bechtle’s business activities can be made in confidentiality to the following e-mail address and telephone number:

Phone: +49 7132 981-4555
E-mail: complianceboard@bechtle.com

We act with integrity and in compliance with statutory requirements. Compliance and anti-corruption are paramount, which is why we consistently strive to minimise risks and advance prevention.

Bechtle sets great store in ethical and lawful conduct. It is especially important, therefore, to increase every employee’s awareness of this as part of preventative measures. The processes and measures built into the compliance system are fundamental to combating and minimising all potential risks of corruption and bribery. Applicable since 2010, and thoroughly revised in 2021, the Bechtle Code of Conduct forms the foundation of the compliance system and is binding for all Bechtle Group employees.

Code of Conduct

More detailed information about Corporate Governance as well as the Corporate Governance Statement can be found here.

Social commitment is part of our corporate responsibility and we actively support select social projects in a variety of ways as a reliable partner. Since 2014, Bechtle AG has been concentrating its social commitments in the areas of children/young people, education and sports This threefold approach echoes our corporate culture, our values and our Vision 2030 while also resonating with our very identity as a brand.

Bechtle’s largest individual donations in recent years include 200,000 euros to Aktion Deutschland Hilft e.V. in 2023 in the aftermath of the Turkish earthquake, and 250,000 euros in 2022 to UNICEF after the outbreak of war in Ukraine. After catastrophic flooding in 2021, Bechtle set up its own relief fund with an initial 500,000 euros. This fund is here to stay, and we will increase it as needed to be able to provide swift relief in future situations that call for exceptional social responsibility. Furthermore, Bechtle donated 500,000 euros to Aktion Deutschland Hilft, an alliance of German aid groups.

Our decentralised business model is reflected in our social commitments. With over 100 subsidiaries, Bechtle is active in its local communities as an employer, client and business partner and each managing director has discretion as to their location’s individual CSR activities.

Environment.

Published in August 2022, the Bechtle Climate Protection Strategy 2030 lays out how we aim to achieve our climate objectives in line with the 1.5 °C Paris Agreement goal set in 2015. At its heart are our targets related to the reduction of direct and indirect CO₂ emissions along the supply chain and the Climate Protection Strategy complements the Bechtle Sustainability Strategy 2030.

Bechtle has signed a commitment letter for the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), pledging to pursue science-based climate protection targets and to undergo continuous audits by the globally recognised network. Once our targets have been submitted, they will be validated by the SBTi based on current scientific consent on climate issues.

Reduction targets by 2030:

These are the areas where we see the greatest potential to achieve our reduction targets:

• Boost energy efficiency at our locations
• Generate our own power, use of geothermal energy
• Sourcing of green energy

• Sustainable vehicle fleet strategy
• Increase in the proportion of vehicles running on alternative fuels
• Environmentally-friendly business trips and commuting

• Sustainable procurement strategy
• Close collaboration with suppliers

• More climate-friendly logistics (packaging and transport)

• Raise awareness among internal and external stakeholders

We design our logistics processes around ecological efficiency criteria, both in terms of transport and packaging. At our logistics hub, we are reducing the amount of shipping boxes used per package by 20 % without changing the way products are despatched.

We think recycling before disposal, making sustainable use of the resources that exist in our IT hardware.

As a result of rapid developments and innovations, product lifecycles are becoming ever-shorter, which is why, several years ago, we established Bechtle Remarketing GmbH—a business unit that is fully focused on the issues that arise at the end of a product’s lifecycle, taking into consider information security, data protection and the responsible handling of resources. Our specialists ensure the secure wiping of corporate data and manage the resale or environmentally-sound disposal of decommissioned hardware to do our part for the circular economy.

For more information, please refer to our Climate Protection Strategy 2030.

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People.

As a forward-facing employer, we offer our employees the freedom to pursue their own ideas guided by a clear vision, a close-knit team environment that values individual contribution, and many ways to create a healthy, personal work-life balance. Flat hierarchies enable every employee to take on responsibility early on and develop an entrepreneurial mindset. What’s more, Bechtle employees enjoy extensive opportunities to develop and hone their professional skills and knowledge, to showcase their talents, and to be creative in how they approach their goals.

2023/24 is another record academic year as we welcomed an all-time high of 299 vocational trainees and university students in dual-study programmes. Group-wide, 869 young people are learning the ropes across 13 technical and commercial professions, as well as 10 different university courses—an addition of 107 people, or an increase of 14 per cent compared to the previous year. Bechtle’s offering was also extended with the addition of a bachelor’s degree programme for sustainable management, and vocational training in marketing communication. Bechtle has a 7 per cent training ratio and aims to increase that to 10 per cent by 2030. You can find out more about Bechtle as an employer here.

We believe in equal opportunity and stand against discrimination—be it on the grounds of gender and gender identity, sexual orientation, age, religion or world view, ethnicity or nationality, illness or disability. This fundamental principle is firmly anchored in the Bechtle Code of Conduct. As a signatory to the German Diversity Charter, Charta der Vielfalt, and the UN Global Compact, we make sure our stance on diversity is visible to external stakeholders.

We achieve this through well-established measures including the Women@Bechtle and Pride@Bechtle communities, a mentoring programme for women as well as opportunities for personal development. 2022 saw the strategic groundwork laid and new initiatives launched to bring us closer to achieving our diversity and equal opportunity objectives which resulted in us being awarded the DE&I Mover 2022 prize by ACI Diversity Consulting.

In 2020, the Bechtle Supervisory Board set targets related to the proportion of women at the company.

• By 30 June 2025, one member of the Group’s Executive Board should be a woman
• By 31 January 2025, women should account for 22 per cent of the Executive Vice Presidents.
• By 31 January 2025, 25 per cent of managing directors and direct reports should be women.

We want to provide our employees with a safe and productive working environment in which they feel at ease and which is designed to prevent work-related injuries and illnesses. It’s essential that we take our responsibility as an employer seriously and ensure that the company is a safe and healthy place to work.

Compliance with legal regulations is a matter of course, and we attach great importance to the well-being of our employees, which is why Corporate Health Management (CHM) has an extensive offering ranging from yoga and fitness courses to medical check-ups. Furthermore, employees in Germany can take advantage of the opportunity to lease a company bike.

Since 2021, Bechtle AG in Neckarsulm and Gaildorf have been EN ISO 45001-certified in occupational health and safety management.

Digital future.

Within the scope of our IT strategy, we are pursuing the goal of making our own enterprise architecture resource-saving, efficient and user-friendly. Our efforts in this regard are particularly guided by consumer behaviour, modularity, reusability, redundancy, and scalability. Bechtle IT develops sustainability criteria to evaluate our internal processes and applications in terms of economic, social and environmental aspects. The strategy integrates process optimisation and modification as well as IT retirement and a streamlined application landscape and infrastructure. Scaling back enhances employee satisfaction on the one hand, reduces CO₂ emissions and boosts IT security on the other.

Digitalisation is transforming the way we live and work across all industries and is the key to a successful future. We take an active and responsible role to help our customers optimally implement their digitalisation strategy, uphold their corporate digital responsibility, and achieve their climate targets. For Bechtle, sustainable technologies, solutions and services are the very essence of the business model as an IT organisation and an issue that permeates the entire Bechtle Group.  We engage closely with our vendor partners, who are in turn advancing the production of sustainable IT hardware, and we are continuously developing our portfolio and integrating new products that meet a variety of sustainability criteria. One important instrument to evaluate the energy consumption of hardware, for instance, are certified seals such as Energy Star, EPEAT, TCO Certified, or Blue Angel.

Our data centres at NTT in Frankfurt am Main and Rüsselsheim have joined the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact and are aiming to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2030. We also expanded capacities for private cloud services with a new data centre located in the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region, collaborating with the colocation provider, PFALZKOM, at the Mutterstadt campus. The new PFALZKOM data centres not only deliver outstanding availability and security, but also fulfil essential criteria laid out by the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact.

Information security, data protection and confidentiality are imperative for Bechtle’s business activities. For Bechtle, adherence to legal provisions (EU General Data Protection Regulation, GDPR) is a matter of course. When it comes to information security and data protection, preventative measures are essential.

The future in sight.

Sustainability Management.

Bechtle’s Sustainability Management department reports directly to the CEO and is a central point of contact within the Bechtle Group for all sustainability-related questions. Its tasks include monitoring progress and the strategic development of the Bechtle Sustainability Strategy 2030.

We also identified a number of central departments that have been integrated into a core team that is dedicated to promoting the topic:

These sustainability experts also work closely with the Sustainability Management team. As a cross-cutting issue, the topic of sustainability is woven into the fabric of the Bechtle Group and backed up by a Sustainability Community of over 150 regional sustainability officers and data entryists who connect every one of the 100 Bechtle companies across Europe. In its role as the steering board for sustainability, the Executive Board convenes at least once a year and as and when a decision must be reached.

Reports.

We believe authenticity and credibility carry weight, which is why it’s important for us to be transparent in our annual sustainability reporting. The 2019 Sustainability Report was the first to adopt Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards.

Contact.