Certified environmental management. The certification of all of DaimlerChrysler’s sites around the world in line with ISO 14001 and the additional validation of its European sites by the EU’s Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) are important elements of the Group’s environmental management system. The efficacy of the system is regularly audited by external experts. Today, more than 96 percent of the Group’s workforce is employed in production facilities with certified environmental management systems. The regularly conducted comprehensive ecological audits of the company’s business locations assess whether the prescribed procedures and standards are being complied with. Corrective measures are initiated if necessary.

Integrated management systems. The merging of the management systems for quality, environmental protection, and health and safety into a single system is an important goal at DaimlerChrysler. As a result, environmental protection tasks are being integrated even more fully into the core functions and processes of the respective units, instead of being dealt with as separate processes. An integrated concept has already been implemented since 2002 in the production facilities of the Mercedes Car Group in Germany and the U.S. At EvoBus the first steps toward the introduction of the integrated management system were taken in 2006. At Chrysler Group plants, the environmental management system was introduced as an integral part of the existing Manufacturing Quality Assurance System (MQAS) in 2001.

Spotlight on sites. Ecological site audits help DaimlerChrysler to apply uniform global parameters (environmental standards) as it identifies environmental risks, reduce them using measures agreed on between the Board of Management and plant management, and further refine its preventive environmental protection measures. These audits involve the regular and systematic monitoring and assessment of the site’s environmental management system as well as the key areas of environmental protection (atmospheric emissions, effluents, waste management, soil and groundwater contamination, and the use of production materials).

Environmental protection in the development process. Vehicle development takes place in a standardized process in which the vehicle specifications and the quality gates form the cornerstones. Environmental protection issues and requirements (fuel consumption, emissions, prohibited or prescribed materials, and recycling requirements) form an integral part of the vehicle specifications and are taken into account and managed throughout the entire product creation process within the framework of the quality gates.

Knowledge builds motivation. If the Group’s employees were not aware of relevant environmental issues and committed to resolving them, it could not achieve continuous improvements in environmental protection. Accordingly, DaimlerChrysler conducts comprehensive environmental training programs at its business locations all over the world.

Award for outstanding commitment. The objective of the Environ-mental Leadership Award (ELA) is to raise popular awareness of environ-mental issues within the Group and to motivate as many employees as possible to actively promote environmental protection. The Group-wide award is presented by the Board of Management in recognition of projects that advance environmental protection in the company. At the same time, through the ELA DaimlerChrysler aims to disseminate expertise and knowledge about exemplary technologies and concepts and to encourage imitation at as many locations as possible worldwide.