Your contact:
Stephan Ohanian
Phone
+49 211 9068-232
E-mail
s.ohanian@klueh.de
Sustainable corporate governance
A family-owned company, Klüh is a #zukunftsleister (service innovator) and digital pioneer in its industry, systematically pursuing the path to more sustainable management. In this process, it is continuously developing innovative solutions for clients to reduce the use of natural resources, cut CO₂ emissions and avoid soiling and waste. Some extracts from our sustainability targets show which actions we have implemented recently and which are planned in the future in Germany.
Sustainable corporate governance is a central aspect of Klüh’s strategic focus. In connection with the European Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), the company is engaged in a targeted further development process for its sustainability management and reporting.
As part of this, sustainable corporate governance is based on established and recognised management systems, standards and external assessment tools, including management systems certified in accordance with ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 50001, ISO 45001 and ISO 27001. In addition, sustainability performance is regularly assessed by external initiatives and ratings agencies including EcoVadis, ZNU certification for sustainable business operations, CDP and NQC.
These existing pillars and the systematic preparation for CSRD reporting are the practical and organisation basis for the future alignment of sustainable corporate governance.
Beyond Klüh’s diverse sustainability activities, the company’s employees also dedicate their personal time to sustainability projects.
At Klüh, the digital transformation is a key aspect of corporate strategy. As the #zukunftsleister (service innovator), the company develops digital solutions providing added value for clients at the Center of Digital Excellence (CoDE) established in 2018.
Klüh’s Eco System for Smart Services enables 360-degree facility management and is the basis for all of the company’s digital offerings. It functions as a service and communication platform, providing customised dashboards for rapid data evaluation and individual on-demand services.
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Showcase for the energy transition: The EUREF-Campus in Düsseldorf
The new EUREF-Campus in Düsseldorf already meets Germany’s climate targets for 2045. Klüh’s three main divisions are represented there and the company’s digital unit CoDE has a showroom. Klüh Security ensures the building’s security, Klüh Cleaning provides cleaning services for almost all the tenants and for the impressive dome and Klüh Catering operates a modern canteen that meets the highest expectations. Klüh Catering is also a shareholder in EUREF-Event Düsseldorf GmbH.
Intelligent security management in the alarm receiving and emergency service centre
Based on state-of-the-art AI, the Internet of Things (IoT) and 24/7 surveillance, Klüh Security offers its clients a digital security and service model from the new alarm receiving and emergency service centre in Meerbusch.
It receives any alarms triggered at the premises of our clients, triggering the measures that have been agreed with them.
Taking building-related services to the next level
At Klüh, digitalisation and sustainability go hand in hand. The Eco System for Smart Services is our 360-degree concept for optimally tailoring our services to meet our clients’ individual needs.
This has already enabled Klüh’s Cleaning and Clinic Service divisions to increase cleaning quality and efficiency and implement resource-saving processes. Using EcoServ, Klüh is making its clients’ buildings smart and adapting the cleaning process to meet individual demand.
Learn more on our EcoServ-Landingpage!
In the Catering division, Klüh is reducing CO₂ emissions by providing alternative dishes and using a digital waste management system and reusable packaging. The Cleaning division contributes to achieving the company’s targets by using alternative rubbish bags and recycled materials.
The company’s actions are rounded off by the use of alternative forms of energy and changes to the vehicle fleet. Many of these activities not only contribute to reducing CO₂ emissions and the consumption of water and energy but also to avoiding waste and protecting animals.
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Preventing Legionella without wasting water
Legionella are the invisible enemy in all water systems and represent an unseen risk. That is why water systems should be flushed regularly. Until now, this flushing and its documentation have been performed manually on site. Klüh has developed a digital solution that replaces handwritten lists, avoids errors and creates seamless verification.
Transparent metrics in the sustainability dashboard
Reliable data are making facility services increasingly sustainable. Installing sensors and digital applications in buildings created a digital nervous system that visualises utilisation, requirements and condition, thereby creating the basis for a digital twin that translates the information into usable knowledge and presents consumption metrics transparently, consistently and in real time in a dashboard.
Switching to green electricity
On its path to climate neutrality, Klüh is taking a highly effective and pragmatic approach when it comes to its own properties by switching to green electricity, with the focus on the company’s headquarters and branches in Germany. The climate impact of the measures is made transparent using consumption and emission factors, resulting in a reduction of some 84,472 kilograms of CO₂ – or around 84.4 tonnes per year.
Washable rubbish bags
Disposing of waste without generating further waste – Klüh Cleaning has achieved this using washable rubbish bags as an alternative to conventional single-use plastic bags. They are made from 100 % polyester with a water-repellent acrylic coating. Introduced in summer 2024, almost 3,113 were already in use at the end of the year 2025.
Promoting plant-based food
Alongside our WE LOVE GREEN menu line, our plant-based promotions introduce the diners in our clients’ canteens to the topic of sustainability in nutrition. The Whole Cooking programme in September 2024 was about using the entire vegetable. The Mushroom Festival at the end of 2024 focused on the circular economy. Mushrooms are grown on straw, wood shavings or animal dung, which are worked into the soil after the harvest.
Artificial intelligence in company canteens
Reducing food waste and making company canteens more sustainable are at the top of our agenda. Increasingly, we are deploying artificial intelligence to achieve this. For example, an image recognition technology enables us to record the food left on plates, calculate food waste and develop optimisation and reduction measures.
In 2025, 19 company canteens already used this technology to avoid overproduction.
Animal welfare
As an important food service provider in Germany, we bear responsibility for our stakeholders. The issue of animal welfare is an important part of our sustainability strategy. We support the European Broiler Initiative (EMI) to ensure animal welfare in the long term and have committed to implementing 100% of the EMI requirements together with our suppliers by 2026. In addition, we are introducing our diners to conscious meat consumption and a plant-based diet as part of campaign weeks such as "Glücksgeflügel" and "Veganuary".
Responsibility as an employer
One core focus at Klüh is social responsibility in all its many facets. We do everything we can to be an attractive employer and work continuously to improve our employer branding. And we are successful in this. Last year, we received recognition for our recruiting measures. In addition, our employees expressed their appreciation for the training and development opportunities provided by our in-house Klüh Academy.
Equal opportunities and diversity also play an important role for us as an international company. Employees from 122 nations contribute their origins, religions, world views and values to our daily work and collaborate in arespectful and prejudice-free working environment in line with the requirements of Germany’s General Act on Equal Treatment.
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Development perspectives for managers
With its two-stage ‘Making champions’ development programme, Klüh is investing specifically in managers who already hold responsibility and will be given a greater role in the future. Mach 1 is for people entering management, for example, as building, operational and branch managers while Mach 2 is for experienced managers such as regional managers
Occupational health and safety
We take responsibility for the health and safety of our employees. Our comprehensive health management system is audited internally and externally at regular intervals - in 2024, for example, we were recognised by the VBG for implementing "systematic health" in the company. We also provide training at the Klüh Academy with seminars on occupational health management and offer a company pension scheme and supplementary health insurance in the form of the Klüh pension and the Klüh Plus Card.
Sustainable training at Klüh Security
Our own Security School provides advanced protection and security training for all our employees, preparing them for Chamber of Industry and Commerce examinations. This is unique in Germany.
Our DigiLearn platform also allows employees to learn whenever and wherever they want. The GreenUp Award we received in 2024 demonstrates that we are setting standards with our training and development programmes.
I won't work for everyone
In personnel-intensive industries like ours, it is important to be an attractive employer when there is a shortage of qualified labour.
Our employer branding campaign under the motto ‘I won’t work for everyone’ is an expression of respect and appreciation for our employees’ work that is sadly so often undervalued. For us, it is more than just a marketing concept – it reflects an attitude. Its success is proving us right.
Diversity and inclusion
We have signed the "Diversity Charter" and maintain an organisational culture that is characterised by mutual respect and appreciation. Acceptance and tolerance are therefore part of our corporate culture.
With their cultural, gender and age-related backgrounds and experience, Klüh employees from 122 nations play their part in enabling us to successfully offer different services for many different industries worldwide.
Social Responsibility
Our company has been firmly rooted in Düsseldorf since 1911 and has a long tradition of commitment to a wide range of sports, art and cultural projects within the region and across Germany. Each year, for example, the ‘Wir für Düsseldorf’ initiative established by Josef Klüh supports selected associations and projects. The Klüh Foundation sponsors innovation in science and research on an annual basis, providing both practical and financial support.
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‘Wir für Düsseldorf’ initiative 2026
Social participation does not end when people retire – it simply takes on a new form. This is precisely where the ‘Wir für Düsseldorf’ initiative, launched by company owner Josef Klüh, comes in with its focus for this year, supporting 2026 charitable projects with a focus on initiatives that help older people to actively participate in social life, maintain social contacts and remain involved.
Klüh Foundation
Established on the occasion of the company's 75th anniversary, the foundation for the promotion of innovation in science and research provides annual funding and honours sustainable projects and personalities. Most recently, the scientist Prof. Dr. Jutta Gärtner was honored for her groundbreaking research in the field of neurometabolic and neurodegenerative diseases in children and adolescents.
UN Global Compact
In January 2023, we became a participant in the UN Global Compact, a worldwide network of more than 21,000 companies and public sector, government and academic organisations. On the basis of its Ten Principles and Sustainable Development Goals, the network aims to enhance the social and environmental compatibility of globalisation, thereby ensuring a more inclusive and sustainable future.
Düsseldorf Climate Pact
As a committed company, we have joined the Düsseldorf Climate Pact with the business community in January 2024.
By signing the climate pact, we are committing to our city and will actively contribute to the goal of climate neutrality in Düsseldorf by 2035.
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Jennifer Wolczyk cleans up the banks of the Rhine
Jennifer Wolczyk completed an apprenticeship at Klüh and has been the assistant to the Managing Director of Klüh Cleaning since 2015. For her, acting sustainably is not just restricted to the workplace context. That is why, in September 2025, she and her family took part in the RhineCleanUp campaign, tidying the riverbank.
Jürgen Sturm is creating a viable forest
Drought, storms and pests are causing extensive damage to native forests, something that Jürgen Sturm, Head of Operational Excellence and a member of the Klüh Catering management team, is well aware of. He owns a private forest in Germany’s Swabian Jura region that he is transforming into a climate forest.
Markus Gaudlitz preserves Swabian meadow orchards
The Head of Business Development at Klüh Cleaning dedicates his free time to an unusual project. He has a small part-time farm in the Swabian Jura region that was established years ago on the basis of a single meadow orchard.
Marcel Prußeit is a volunteer cook for people in need
Marcel Prußeit is the Klüh Catering manager at the AWO Parkheim home for the elderly in Hemer. Every other Saturday, the trained chef and business graduate volunteers in the kitchen of the Caritas charity in Iserlohn, cooking for people who are experiencing a life crisis.
The international career of Jiji Francis
An international career is not an abstract concept for Jiji Francis but something he experiences every day. He has worked for the Klüh Group for around 16 years. As the Chief Operating Officer at Berkeley Services UAE, he is a good example of how economic sustainability at Klüh provides career perspectives for the company’s employees.
Corporate responsibility, value-oriented action and consistently high quality of our services – that is important to us! That is why Klüh Multiservices sets high standards along the entire value chain that go beyond legal requirements – especially in the areas of social, ecological and economic sustainability. Of course, we also adhere to these standards in our communication with all stakeholders: credibility, relevance and transparency are essential here.
In the flyer series ‘Sustainability at Klüh: structured and transparent!’, we provide topic-related information on the current status of our sustainability path.
| Certification according ZNU standard for sustainable management | Download PDF |
| Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) | Download PDF |
| Corporate data protection | Download PDF |
| Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG) | Download PDF |
| International Labour Organization (ILO) | Download PDF |
| Information security | Download PDF |
| The Supply Chain Due Dilligence Act (SCDDA) | Download PDF |
| Reporting on sustainabilty | Download PDF |
| Rating agencies at a glance | Download PDF |
Sustainability targets achieved in 2025 (extracts)
Klüh Catering has almost fully achieved its procurement targets set for 2025. In the staff canteens, the aim was to switch at least 50 per cent of the purchase value for milk to organic milk. Across all sites, at least 90 per cent of the purchase value for bananas was also to be accounted for by organic and Fairtrade-certified products. Both targets were met, apart from minor system-related deviations.
Klüh Cleaning increased the proportion of single-use bin liners with carbon offsetting to 74 per cent in 2025, thereby almost reaching the target of around 75 per cent. At the same time, the use of washable bin liners was further expanded. With a total of 3,113 units by the end of 2025, the target of 3,000 units was exceeded. The increased use of reusable bin liners is intended to reduce the consumption of single-use plastic.
Klüh Cleaning was able to further expand the use of the EcoServ cleaning concept in 2025. A total of twelve customers were newly acquired, re-acquired or switched to EcoServ. This meant that the original target of 20 customers was not quite achieved. At the same time, new business developed positively and exceeded the financial targets for 2025.
In 2025, Klüh made progress in the areas of employer branding, internal career development and health promotion.
The employer branding campaign was recognised with both the German Brand Award and the PEPP! Marketing Award.
At senior management level, 33 per cent of newly filled positions were filled by internal talent.
The uptake of health-related benefits also developed positively, although the targeted increase of 5 per cent compared with the previous year was not fully achieved.
Sustainability targets set for 2026 (extracts)
Klüh Cleaning aims to increase the number of reusable bin liners in use to 3,750 by the end of 2026, in order to further reduce the use of single-use plastic in its cleaning services.
Klüh Catering plans to purchase and deploy at least ten indoor farming systems – known as ‘indoor gardens’ – at selected customer sites by 2026. These will be used to grow, harvest and utilise fresh herbs and microgreens directly in the staff canteens under controlled conditions and largely independent of seasonal weather conditions. On-site cultivation is intended to shorten transport distances and reduce packaging materials for the products in question. At the same time, the indoor gardens will give guests and staff an insight into the production of fresh food.
As part of the renewed EcoVadis assessment, Klüh Cleaning aims to at least retain its Silver rating in 2026 and, if possible, achieve the Gold rating.
Based on the sustainability dashboard developed in 2025, Klüh Cleaning is planning a complementary digital information service that will give customers better access to information about Klüh Cleaning’s sustainability measures.
In 2026, Klüh is pursuing further objectives in the areas of health promotion, recruitment and the development of young talent.
The launch of a health app is intended to provide staff with an easily accessible resource offering information and tips on health and wellbeing in everyday life.
In the area of recruitment, Klüh aims to improve on its result in the ‘BEST RECRUITERS’ study compared with the previous year, as well as to secure a place amongst the top three highest-rated companies in its own sector.
In addition, the launch of a sustainability project for apprentices is planned. Participants will be encouraged to develop their own ideas and implement concrete measures within the company. The aim is to promote engagement with sustainability issues and to foster the apprentices’ sense of initiative.