Preface
Since the deconsolidation of Fresenius Medical Care in November 2023, followed by the split off of Fresenius Vamed in spring 2024; Helios, together with Quirónsalud and Fresenius Kabi, is now one of Fresenius’ strongest operating business segments. In September 2023 I myself became part of the change, as I became a member of the Fresenius Group Management Board, in addition to my role as CEO at Helios. These developments created a closer bond with the Fresenius divisions, and our new and strong, “Team Fresenius” is working together on future sustainable healthcare solutions. This is also reflected in this year’s Sustainability Report, which is being published for the first time together with the reports from Quirónsalud and Kabi in a separate Sustainability Hub to make our joint efforts more visible.
Around 450 million people worldwide come into contact with Fresenius products and services. Five and a half million patients received treatment at Helios in Germany in 2023. We carry great responsibility for all of them, because these people trust us with their health.
Our broad-based sustainability structure with a Sustainability Board at company level and dedicated sustainability teams in our clinics has proven to be a robust foundation for advancing important issues: Although we narrowly missed our ambitious target of saving 20% energy across Helios by 2023 with 17% at the end of the year, we exceeded it in the first quarter of 2024. We are proud of this. Looking to the future, we want to continue to work on using resources responsibly, eliminating waste, and further reducing our environmental footprint. We have now reduced our Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 49% compared to the base year 2020. We have therefore made considerable progress towards our climate target of reducing CO2 emissions by half by 2030 and achieving climate neutrality by 2040.
It is equally important to make progress with regard to our employees and the care of our patients. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, which we have been intensively working on in 2023, form the basis for the broad range of sustainability activities, which we report on in this report. We must find new ways to attract and retain nursing staff. Great progress is being made in the detection, treatment, and cure of diseases. Artificial intelligence, robotics, and other digital solutions are becoming increasingly important for our day-to-day clinical work, always in close collaboration with our most important resource: people. Impressive evidence of this can be seen in the photo series used in this report on robotic medicine at Helios Hospital Schwerin and in the film on the use of AI in colorectal cancer screening at Helios Hospital Leipzig.
The topic compliance was strengthened by a new structure at Fresenius in 2023: the Helios compliance management system, which defines strict ethical guidelines for dealing with employees, partners, and suppliers, was expanded to include the Fresenius Group approach to respecting human rights. The comprehensive human rights program enables Helios to systematically comply with its human rights due diligence obligations, which have had to be implemented under the Supply Chain Due Diligence Act since 2023. This is a vitally important task considering the highly diversified supply chains that form the basis of many products that Helios purchases. We will continue to work on supplier accountability in 2024.
I would like to thank all my colleagues who have worked on this report for their great commitment. On behalf of the Management Board, I would also like to thank our more than 78,000 employees for their exceptional work and engagement!
Robert Möller
Chairman of the Management Board (CEO)
Member of the Management Board Fresenius Management SE