NKG Sustainability report 2024
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NKG Sustainability report 2024
Dear valued stakeholders,
Since our last Sustainability Report, our efforts at NKG have increasingly been shaped by new regulations such as the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D). Accordingly, the priorities within our Responsible Business Program have been shifted to align with these changes. As a coffee-trading company, our primary focus remains ensuring that our operations are resilient while upholding our historic commitment to the producers we do business with. Our vision is to foster a sustainable coffee supply chain where all stakeholders can thrive.
David M. Neumann
Group CEO
Ruben Scholz
Group COO
A key milestone in this journey is the development of a unified system for EUDR and Business Partner Due Diligence, underpinned by our recent partnership with osapiens. This collaboration is aimed at strengthening NKG’s position as the leading green coffee service provider, enhancing efficiency and supporting value creation across our entire group. Our proprietary supply chain programs, NKG Verified and NKG Bloom, already exceed EUDR standards and serve as blueprints for compliance. We are also proud that NKG Verified has seen substantial growth, now encompassing more than 30,000 farmers in NKG Verified supply chains. This expansion underscores our commitment to responsible sourcing along the green coffee supply chain.
While our previous Sustainability Report laid the groundwork for our ongoing environmental efforts, we have now calculated our Corporate Carbon Footprint, including Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions, for the third time and defined our baseline for emission reductions. Based on this work, we have also developed NKG’s very first Climate Action Plan.
Our commitment to sustainable supply chains is central to this year’s Sustainability Report, which provides a detailed account of our efforts and achievements in 2023, demonstrating how we are putting our sustainability strategy into action. With over 300 colleagues dedicated to sustainability worldwide, we are confident in our ability to tackle future challenges and drive meaningful change in our supply chains. We view this report as an opportunity to share our progress, contribute to the ongoing discourse in the coffee sector, and cordially invite you to join us on this journey.
Thank you for your continued support and dedication.
Sincerely,
For the Board of Management
David M. Neumann
Group CEO
Ruben Scholz
Group COO
As a family-owned business headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, NKG has been a leading force in the global green coffee industry for over three decades now. With a presence in 28 countries and a network of 60 companies, we operate across the entire coffee value chain, from farming, export and milling to import and specialized services, ensuring a comprehensive holistic approach to the green coffee business. Our diverse network of companies and collaborative initiatives allows us to meet the needs of both large-scale roasters and specialty buyers while contributing to a more sustainable coffee industry. In 2023, 29.5 % of our coffee sales volume was certified, reflecting our ongoing efforts to responsible sourcing.
Building on the milestones highlighted in our previous report, we are proud to present NKG’s latest sustainability achievements that underscore our dedication to progress and innovation:
For the first time in NKG history, we implemented a group-wide Human Resources System called
Workday
As part of our Supply Chain Integrity Program, we published our
new Supplier
Code of Conduct
and opened our well-established integrity reporting platform to external stakeholders
Enhancing our ongoing environmental commitment, we developed the
first NKG Climate
Action Plan
in 2023
At NKG, our commitment to sustainability and responsible conduct is rooted in the understanding that coffee connects us to people, communities, and ecosystems worldwide. We recognize that the health and well-being of all of our stakeholders are essential, not only for their prosperity but also for our company’s long-term success. Therefore, we strive to ensure that everyone involved in bringing coffee from farm to cup can achieve a sustainable livelihood while preserving the environment we all rely on.
Guided by this responsibility, our core values and upcoming industry developments, we launched the NKG Responsible Business Program (RBP) in 2020. The RBP defines four focus areas and nine strategic objectives for our work, building a robust framework for our group’s sustainability efforts.
All objectives of the RBP are fully supported by our Board of Management and the operative management of all NKG companies. While the program is led and coordinated by Neumann Gruppe GmbH in Hamburg, its objectives are brought to life through close collaboration with our local teams around the world. These teams, representing diverse backgrounds and expertise, passionately implement the RBP within their respective national contexts and organizational structures. Their work is based on and driven by continuous innovation, industry partnerships, as well as transparent communication. By digitizing our operations, piloting new technologies, fostering industry collaborations, and ensuring transparent communication, we continuously enhance traceability and refine our group’s sustainability approach.
As our business environment is constantly changing, the RBP is reviewed on a regular basis to ensure that it matches our long-term objectives and the needs of our stakeholders. To align with the requirements of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), we are currently conducting a Double Materiality Assessment (DMA) to identify the most material sustainability topics for our sustainability strategy and reporting. This process is supported by an external consultancy and involves a comprehensive analysis of our impacts, risks, and opportunities (IROs).
For this purpose, we are engaging with our most important external stakeholders through interviews, analyzing internal reports, screening media articles, and benchmarking against competitors and other industry participants. Additionally, we are involving our NKG sustainability experts worldwide in workshops and discussions to evaluate the IROs. Utilizing the assessment criteria of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), we systematically evaluate each IRO to assess its impact and financial materiality. Our Board of Management is closely involved in the process and an internal steering committee of NKG managers monitors the progress und results. In 2026, we will publish our first sustainability report that fully complies with the CSRD and presents the revised version of our RBP, featuring the results of the DMA.
The present report refers to the reporting period January to December 2023 unless otherwise stated. The report content has not been subject to an external audit.
We are pleased to announce that NKG was awarded the EcoVadis silver medal in 2023. EcoVadis is a globally recognized sustainability assessment platform that provides ratings based on the evaluation of environmental, social, and ethical performance. Earning the silver rating places us among the top 25 % of companies committed to sustainable business practices. This recognition is a testament to our dedication to ensuring that we have a positive impact on the planet and the communities in which we operate.
Although achieving the silver rating is a momentous accomplishment, we view it as a steppingstone on which we want to build in the future. Our sustainability journey continues, and we remain dedicated to pushing boundaries, setting higher standards, and contributing positively to the global sustainability landscape.
Through our Responsible Business Program, we want to contribute to a more sustainable future in the coffee industry. However, solving major sustainability challenges will always require industry-wide approaches and the joint commitment of different stakeholders. NKG believes in the power of collaboration. We are a proud founding member of International Coffee Partners and coffee&climate. Moreover, we actively engage in multiple other initiatives to enhance industry dialogue and to address complex sustainability topics that go far beyond our own supply chain. In 2023, we became a member of the ILO Child Labour Platform (CLP), joining forces with different partners to combat the root causes of child labor in global supply chains.
Do you have any questions about the report or would like to get in touch with us? Please feel free to contact the project team: responsiblebusiness@nkg.coffee
Front row:
Nicole Ochojski,
Group Compliance and Responsible Business Program,
Julia Wichert,
Communications
Back row:
Benjamin Loske,
Communications,
Jonathan Heimbach,
Sustainable Business Unit
NEUMANN GRUPPE GMBH
COFFEE PLAZA • AM SANDTORPARK 4
20457 HAMBURG • GERMANY
