Human rights

Heidelberg Materials’ commitment to respect human rights in our business area and the supply chain is aligned with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights. To cover human rights and environmental impacts that our activities might cause directly or indirectly, we use global values and internationally recognised standards as guidance, in particular:

• The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
• The International Covenant on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights.
• The core labour standards of the International Labour Organization (ILO); including, but not limited to, (i) the right to enjoy just and favourable conditions of work, including earning a living wage, (ii) the right not to be subject to forced or compulsory labour or child labour, (iii) the right to freedom of association and assembly as well as the rights to organise and collective bargaining, and (iv) the right of non-discrimination at work. 
• The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.

In all countries where national laws, rules, or customs deviate from international human rights standards, we will make every effort to observe the underlying principles reliably and adequately. As a minimum, we comply with applicable laws and regulations as the legal basis of our business activity. Also, for our operations in countries experiencing armed conflicts, we conduct our activities conflict-sensitively according to the standards set by International Humanitarian Law. As a Germany-based enterprise, we comply with the obligations set forth in the German Act on Corporate Due Diligence Obligations in Supply Chains (Gesetz über die unternehmerischen Sorgfaltspflichten in Lieferketten).

This commitment is reflected in our Policy Statement on Human Rights resolved by the Managing Board of the Heidelberg Materials AG. We expect our employees and business partners worldwide to comply with the standards and guiding principles laid out in our policy statement.

The compliance organization is under the authority of the Chairman of the Managing Board of Heidelberg Materials AG, to whom the Director Group Legal & Compliance reports directly. The Compliance function, including the board-appointed Group Human Rights Officer, is responsible for the development, implementation and monitoring of Heidelberg Materials’ Human Rights Compliance Management System and for reporting to the Managing Board on the results of the due diligence process. The Environmental Social Governance (ESG) department is responsible for implementing the environmental aspects of the Human Rights Compliance Management System. The ESG department is overseen by the Chief Sustainability Officer, who is a member of the Managing Board.

To implement the Heidelberg Materials’ Human Rights Compliance Management System, every country organization has appointed a Human Rights Coordinator responsible to monitor human rights compliance management and an Environmental Expert to partner in assessing and addressing human rights impacts related to environmental aspects.
 

We always weigh the social and environmental impacts of our activities. Our sense of responsibility to people and the environment is not just motivated by ethical concerns, however – it is also good for our bottom line.

Core of the human rights compliance management system is the due diligence process which consists of human rights risk assessments, the design and implementation of preventive, mitigative and remedial measures. Further, the human rights compliance management system also considers the effectiveness of the implemented measures, as well as their documentation and reporting. Based on the results of the risk assessments and the evaluation of the effectiveness of the measures taken, the due diligence process is continuously improved and adjusted to ensure that the risks are adequately identified and dealt with. More information on our due diligence process can be found in our Policy Statement on Human Rights.
 

Heidelberg Materials takes seriously any suspicion or concrete indication of a human rights or environment-related violation in its own business area or along the supply chain. We have established a case management system where all reported compliance cases are documented globally, which helps us to track human rights compliance violations as well as improve our preventive measures. Complaints can be reported through different channels, such as emails, phone calls, the direct superior, the compliance team and our SpeakUp reporting platform. 
 

The Sustainability Commitments 2030 set forth the most important fields of activity of our company. They define the key topics and core principles of the future sustainability strategy at Heidelberg Materials. We continue to place a strong focus on Responsible Procurement to ensure that together with our suppliers we contribute to a more sustainable and responsible future. Further measures and guidelines can be found in our Policy Statement on Human Rights.