Industrie: Mercedes-Vorstand: „Gewinne der Verbrenner finanzieren Investitionen in Nachhaltigkeit“

Düsseldorf - Mercedes-Benz aims to align its sustainability strategy more closely with its vehicle offerings, according to Olaf Schick, who oversees integrity, governance, and sustainability within the company's executive team. Speaking to the Handelsblatt, Schick emphasized that Mercedes-Benz possesses the greatest lever to accelerate decarbonization through its vehicles.

In his first year in the role, Schick has streamlined the company's sustainability strategy, emphasizing a stronger focus on the automobile, forging more partnerships, investing more strategically, and making the sustainability bodies more efficient.

Mercedes-Benz has been grappling with dwindling profits and sales figures for years, with the challenge recently exacerbated by the critical market of China. To address this, the company has tightened its cost-cutting measures, with Germany being particularly affected. Despite these difficulties, Schick insists that sustainability can be afforded even in lean times. However, he stresses the need to strike the right balance between sustainability and economic success.

The company's innovation and decarbonization efforts are reliant on its financial strength, as Schick explained: "The profits from combustion engines fund our investments in sustainability." Currently, Mercedes-Benz is expanding its electric vehicle lineup significantly. This, however, is putting additional pressure on margins, as the company still earns less from electric vehicles due to the high cost of batteries. Full parity in margins is expected to be achieved by the end of the decade.