PRESS RELEASE

Committed to protecting water, our invaluable resource: Grohe AG wins the CSR Award of the German Federal Government

· First place in “companies with 1,000+ employees” category

· Sustainability as an integral element of company strategy

· Poised to emerge as the global sanitary sector’s most sustainable company by 2020

Grohe AG, the world’s leading provider of sanitary fittings, received the CSR Award of the German Federal Government 2017 in the “companies with 1000+ employees” category on 24 January. The decision by the eleven expert judges expressly lauded the role taken by GROHE’s management team who have made sustainability a top management issue, acting as role models and trailblazers both for their own workforce and for other companies. Other nominees in this category included Unilever Deutschland GmbH, Flughafen München GmbH, Ford-Werke GmbH and FRoSTA AG. The award was presented by Professor Josef Wieland, juror and expert in business ethics at Zeppelin Universität in Friedrichshafen.

“Sustainability is our passion and remains deeply rooted in our DNA. We are delighted to see the world around us acknowledge our enthusiasm for, and commitment to, corporate social responsibility (CSR). Our 360-degree approach to sustainability embraces our employees, suppliers, factories, processes and our contribution to society in equal measure. Seeing our policies being accepted as a standard of reference for our industry and inspiring others as well, we feel vindicated and honoured at the same time,” said Grohe AG CEO Michael Rauterkus when receiving the award at the event in Berlin’s Humboldt Carré.

Products for a sustainable future – Championship ‘Made in Germany’

The sustainability strategy pursued by this global company is primarily reflected in its products. One example is the GROHE Blue Home water system, which transforms tap water into a filtered, chilled and great tasting – and even bubbly – refreshment. This system obviates the need for bottled mineral water and the associated processing, bottling and transport activities. According to a study conducted at Georg-August-Universität in Göttingen, GROHE Blue Home contributes approximately 60 percent less to a household’s carbon footprint compared to conventional bottled water.

Management Board member Thomas Fuhr explains: “Our understanding of quality and our advances in terms of sustainability are very much driven by our commitment to manufacturing in Germany. In order to secure our company’s competitiveness going forward, we continue to invest heavily in our German locations, which set the standards for our international factories. As of 2011, we have launched regularly our GROHE Sustainability Trophy as an internal competition between our manufacturing sites. This trophy acknowledges our employees’ efforts and incentivises them to continue working on their ideas and solutions for even more sustainable production processes and even more resource efficient manufacturing of a given product.”

Beyond day-to-day business

GROHE’s belief in corporate citizenship is encapsulated in GROHE Dual Tech, a programme jointly undertaken with Don Bosco Mondo e.V. The two partners have teamed up to offer professional training for disadvantaged youths in emerging economies. Three training workshops in India and the Philippines assist young people in improving their life chances by learning a trade in the sanitary sector. This makes them eligible for employment in an industry with great promise and will even enable some of them to set up their own businesses in the future.

Moving forward with clearly defined sustainability targets

GROHE has set itself the target of raising energy efficiency by 20% and shrinking its carbon footprint by 20% by the year 2020. Among other things, this will be achieved by two new cogeneration plants commissioned in Hemer and Lahr and by converting lighting equipment to LED operation. Another milestone on this journey was marked in December when the company’s energy management system was certified to ISO 50001; it will be instrumental in improving the overall energy efficiency on a sustained basis. Moreover, the company has committed itself to becoming the global sanitary industry’s sustainability leader by 2020.

GROHE’s stance and actions on sustainability are laid out in greater detail in the company’s sustainability brochure. Titled “WATER ENJOYMENT – A CLEAN CONSCIENCE WITH EVERY DROP”, it can be downloaded from http:// www.grohe.com/sustainability

25.01.2017

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About the CSR Award of the German Federal Government and its presentation

The German government launched its CSR Award in 2013 to highlight companies’ activities in the areas of responsible company management and CSR measures in the areas of marketing, workplace design, environmental protection and corporate citizenship. The objective behind this scheme is to laud fair business practices, employee-oriented human resources policies, economical use of resources, climate and environmental protection activities, corporate citizenship on a local level as well as responsibility in the supply chain and to propagate the nationwide adoption of best practice.

The award ceremony on 24 January 2017 was preceded by a three stage process comprising a management survey, a stakeholder survey and the decision by the award judges on 15 September 2016 to nominate five, or six, respectively, companies for each company size category and the special prize category. The presentation of the CSR Award of the German Federal Government concluded a best practice day with panel debates and workshops attended by some 220 representatives of companies committed to sustainability. The keynote speech was delivered by science journalist and TV personality Ranga Yogeshwar.

About GROHE

GROHE is the world’s leading provider of sanitary fittings and a global brand, dedicated to providing innovative water products.

For many decades, GROHE has been committed to the brand values of technology, quality, design and sustainability that all illustrate GROHE’s commitment to creating exceptional experiences and to delivering “Pure Freude an Wasser”. With its engineering, innovation and design activities firmly anchored in Germany, GROHE products bear the badge of quality “Made in Germany”, ultimately strengthening the customers’ confidence in the brand. All plants of the GROHE manufacturing network make use of high-precision production engineering to ensure compliance with consistently high GROHE standards. This way GROHE ensures that its products live up to the most uncompromising demands in terms of workmanship and functionality.

Over the past ten years alone, the success of GROHE has been confirmed by more than 240 design and innovation awards as well as several top rankings as one of “Germany’s most sustainable major companies” and the CSR-Award of the German Federal Government 2017. Numerous high-profile projects around the globe are fitted with GROHE products, testifying to architects’, designers’ and developers’ preference for the brand.

GROHE is part of the LIXIL Group Corporation, a publicly listed company on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. LIXIL is the global market leader in the sanitary ware industry, managing a broad portfolio of well-known household brands such as GROHE, American Standard, and INAX. It is also Japan’s leading provider of housing and building materials, products and services.

GROHE

Feldmühleplatz 15 40545 Düsseldorf Phone: +49.(0)211/9130-3000 www.grohe.com

Media contact: HERING SCHUPPENER

Unternehmensberatung für Kommunikation GmbH Berliner Allee 44 40212 Düsseldorf, Germany

Phone: +49.(0)211.430 79-266/-289 E-Mail:

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