Daimler counts on sustainable solutions when it comes to future mobility. This also concerns topics surrounding electromobility, such as the supply chains when producing raw materials for battery cells or the ecological assessment of our Mercedes-Benz Citaro E-CELL. Omnibus magazine explains key issues surrounding the eCitaro and sustainability.

Products like the eCitaro make a substantial contribution to keeping the air clean in urban areas. For Daimler, however, sustainability starts much earlier. The electric motors and lithium-ion batteries for the Citaro E-Cell are purchased from external suppliers. A close and trusting working relationship with our suppliers is therefore essential for procuring raw materials in a responsible manner.

Since 2008 Daimler has defined its approach in the Supplier Sustainability Standards. These define requirements regarding working conditions, human rights, environmental protection and safety, business ethics and compliance and are part of our conditions of business. Our direct suppliers across the world are required to comply with these sustainability standards and also introduce them to their upstream value-added chains and to monitor their compliance. In addition we carry out risk-based checks on our part into the critical supply chains, whereby we verify that our standards are being complied with in links of the supply chain beyond our direct suppliers.

As part of the offensive for a sustainable raw materials procurement system we have joined forces with associations, organisations and even competitors in various initiatives. The common objectives are: certifiable standards, more transparency in the procurement process and the safe origin of raw materials associated with risks. With these aims, in 2018 Daimler joined the Responsible Cobalt Initiative, the Responsible Mineral Initiative, the Responsible Steel Initiative and the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative.

For the respect and preservation of human rights, Daimler has developed a systematic due diligence approach, the Daimler Human Rights Respect System (HRRS). It aims both to ensure the human rights of our own employees and to respect human rights among our direct suppliers (tier 1) as well as at relevant points of the supply chain beyond tier 1 based on risks.

In order to be able to evaluate the environmental compatibility of a vehicle, Daimler looks at the emissions and consumption of resources across its entire life cycle. This is done using an ecological assessment that records the most important environmental effects – from the extraction of raw materials to production and utilisation through to recycling.