New Schüco ESG Board

Based in Bielefeld, the Schüco Group develops and sells system solutions made of aluminium, steel and PVC-U for the building envelope. The product portfolio includes window, door, façade, ventilation, security and sun shading systems, as well as intelligent networked solutions for residential and commercial projects. Schüco also provides consultancy and digital solutions for all phases of a building project – from the initial idea through to design, fabrication and installation, as well as after sales with maintenance and servicing. Fabrication machinery and customer-oriented service complement the product portfolio. As one of the leading companies in the construction industry, Schüco is committed to being a pioneer for comprehensive sustainability and to making an active contribution to climate neutrality and the circular economy within the construction sector through its products and services. Founded in 1951, Schüco is now active in more than 80 countries and achieved a turnover of 2.11 billion euros in 2023 with 6750 employees.

For more information, visit www.schueco.com

With its products and services, Schüco strives to be a pioneer of sustainability in the construction industry. This approach is reflected, for example, in the long-standing collaboration with the WWF and the Stiftung KlimaWirtschaft (German CEO Alliance for Climate and Economy). By establishing a Schüco ESG Board, this goal is now consistently being pursued further with external expertise from the fields of science, business and politics. In so doing, the company is strengthening its focus on holistically sustainable action, as well as its ecological and social responsibility.

To develop further, you must bring in ideas from outside. Schüco is therefore setting up an ESG Board, which will advise and support the company in future with the ongoing development of its focus on sustainability. The members of the board will provide new ideas for the company’s sustainability strategy and evaluate activities at Schüco with regard to their ecological, social and commercial impact.

Andreas Engelhardt, Managing Partner & CEO of Schüco, says: “We welcome external assessment. The knowledge and ideas that come out of the discussions between the board members and Schüco will be fed into decision making within our company.”

Dr Andreas Mattner, Chairman of the Board and Honorary President of the German Property Federation (ZIA), adds: “Schüco has always been a leader in terms of sustainability and in particular recycling. Now is the right time to take the next step.”

Dr Mattner is joined on the board by sustainability expert Maria Hill, polar explorer Arved Fuchs, former Deputy Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Dr Michael Vesper, and Managing Director of GOLDBECK, Dr Michael Six.

ESG stands for “Environmental, Social, Governance”. In line with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) of the European Union, companies will be obligated in future to publish an annual ESG report – depending on the number of employees they have and their turnover. The Schüco ESG Board was established on 1 July 2024 and therefore in advance of the obligation which begins with the reporting year 2025.

The members of the Schüco ESG Board

Dr Andreas Mattner (Chairman)

Since 2000, Dr Andreas Mattner has been Chairman of the Board of the Stiftung Lebendige Stadt (Living City Foundation), which has a focus on climate protection and social integration. He has been a member of the ESG Board of the ECE Group since 2011, most recently as Chairman. He also sat on the Supervisory Board of ECE in the interim. Dr Mattner became a member of the ESG Board of ZIA in 2013. From 2013 to 2023, he also sat on the Supervisory Board and later became Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board of EUREF AG for developing energy and environmentally optimised real estate in a centre of sustainable added value. From 2016 to 2020, he was the Germany representative for the R20 Regions of Climate Action founded by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and since 2017 he has been Board Director of the six-strong world leadership of the R20 Foundation. Since 2017, he has also been a member of the innovation partnership of the German Federal Ministry of Construction and Economic Affairs for implementing the 2050 climate protection plan and for achieving a climate-neutral building stock in Europe. In 2022,

Dr Mattner became Chairman of the Supervisory Board and Chairman of the ESG Committee of Hamborner Reit AG.

Maria Hill

Since 2007, Maria Hill has been responsible for sustainability in the ECE Group. She led the development and expansion of the entire issue in the company and continues to manage it to this day. From 2014 to 2018, Maria Hill was also Chair of the “Sustainability” committee for the “International Council of Shopping Centers” and, from 2015 to 2018, she was an advisor for B.A.U.M e. V.. In 2017, she became Chair of the committee for “Energy and Building Technology” of the ZIA with a focus on the EPBD (Energy Performance of Buildings Directive) and GEG (German Building Energy Law). Since 2019, Maria Hill has acted as an expert on the German Building Energy Law for the German parliament and, since 2022, she has been the Chair of the “Sustainability” committee for the “Europe Council of Shopping Places”. In 2024, she became an advisor for KEDI (Competence Centre for Energy Efficiency through Digitalisation) of DENA (German Energy Agency) and an advisor for the DGNB (German Sustainable Building Council).

Arved Fuchs

For more than 40 years, German explorer Arved Fuchs has been undertaking expeditions into the remote polar regions of the globe. He was the first person to reach both the North Pole and the South Pole on foot in the same year. But what started out as a great adventure for the polar explorer and author has long since become a mission. On his expeditions, he experiences the breathtaking beauty of the Arctic landscapes. At the same time, he is brought face-to-face with the impact of climate change, the pollution of the oceans and landscapes, and the extinction of species. Through his series of expeditions entitled OCEAN CHANGE, he aims to record scientifically relevant data and increase public awareness regarding the protection of the oceans and the world’s climate. Arved Fuchs has been honoured many times for his commitment, including with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2017. He is an ambassador for the German committee for the current United Nations Decade of Ocean Science. Since 2011, he has been a member of the ESG Board of the ECE Group.

Dr Michael Vesper

Dr Michael Vesper is a German sports official and politician (Alliance 90/The Greens). He was Deputy Prime Minister in North Rhine-Westphalia and, from 2006 to the end of 2017, he held the office of Chief Executive of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB). In 1979, Dr Vesper was one of the founding members of the Green Party and, from 1990 to 2005, he was a member of the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia, as well as the Chief Whip. From 1995 to 2005, Dr Vesper was initially Minister for Building and Housing and then, from 2000, Minister for Urban Development and Housing, Culture and Sport. He was also Deputy Prime Minister; in the period from 21 October to 6 November 2022, Dr Michael Vesper was Acting Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia and therefore the first Green politician to govern a federal German state. In 2004, he received an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Law at the Hagen distance learning university. Dr Vesper was awarded the Heinz Schmitz Memorial Medal from the Association of German Master Builders, Architects and Engineers in 2006 for his work as the state Minister for Building. Since 2019, he has been a member of the ESG Board of the ECE Group.

Dr Michael Six

Dr Michael Six is the Managing Director of GOLDBECK Deutschland GmbH, a member of the management board and Chief Sustainability Officer for the pan-European construction and real estate company. Having studied civil engineering, he then obtained a doctorate specialising in concrete constructions from the Technical University of Darmstadt in 2002. Following positions as a team leader in structural engineering for bridge building at Bilfinger Berger and as a manager at Haag Ingenieur GmbH, he joined GOLDBECK in 2004 as a sales engineer. Since then, he has held various management positions and made a significant contribution towards GOLDBECK becoming one of the leading construction and real estate companies. Since the summer of 2022, in addition to his role as Managing Director, he has also been the first Chief Sustainability Officer in the company’s history. In this position, he is responsible for the strategic management of ESG activities at GOLDBECK and is also involved in diverse initiatives for a sustainable transformation of the construction and real estate sector, as well as the overall economy.