Stakeholder dialogues

At DB we see ourselves as part of society and public life. Achieving broad social acceptance is therefore crucial for our activities and our success. For our company to be perceived as a sustainable one, a collaborative dialogue and good-faith relationships with our stakeholders based on integrity, continuity, and transparency is essential.

DB's important stakeholders include employees, private and business customers, investors, policymakers and regulators, suppliers, the general public, the media, interest groups, and the industrial sector?

One of the primary aims of our dialogue with stakeholders is to make our company decisions transparent and thus build confidence. At the same time, the dialogue imparts knowledge and provides an impetus for our sustainable actions. Because we aim to pinpoint the diverse expectations of our stakeholders as accurately as possible, discuss them and address them, we continue to refine our tools for ascertaining and integrating these expectations. The Group is tracking stakeholders' reactions to our “Strong Rail” strategy, for example, and the process is being improved on an ongoing bases for other topics as well. The stakeholder dialogue allows DB to identify early on which topics are important to the different groups and discuss them accordingly. And thanks to this process, our stakeholders are involved in setting our course, for example in the further development of our climate and energy strategy and the development and introduction of new products.

We are constantly working to refine the dialogue with our stakeholders. Our efforts are guided by Group-wide principles, which we have set out in a charter for responsible interaction between the DB Group and our stakeholders. Among other things, the charter states that:

• Placing certain expectations on a company is legitimate and is something that DB welcomes.
• Stakeholders provide important information about what is expected of DB. They are important as they enable DB to develop solutions together at an early stage.
• Any conflicts are assessed in the context of corporate and social responsibility and resolved consensually wherever possible.