Together we help

Community engagement at Linde Material Handling concentrates on supporting social and humanitarian projects. Education and research are also promoted alongside environmental protection.

Sustainability targets Community engagement1

  • Making community engagement systematic

1 Operationalisation of the sustainability targets defined in 2014 can be found in section “Development of a sustainability strategy”

Principles of corporate citizenship

The Donation Policy of the KION Group regulates the principles of community engagement across the Group. The following key guiding principles provide a decision-making framework for all donations:

  • They are intended exclusively for charitable purposes, individuals and profit-making organisations are not sponsored.
  • They are a unilateral benefit, without any expectation of a service in return
  • They are in harmony with the values and regulations of the KION Group and do not infringe the applicable statutory legislation.
  • They are made transparently and are carried out in accordance with uniform principles.

The guideline also regulates the focuses of the commitment of the KION Group (see also the following world map below), as well as responsibilities and decision-making processes. All donations amounting to € 5,000 and more must be approved by the Group Executive Board.

Germany – Oak saplings and robust support

As part of a sales campaign for the diesel forklift truck in the H20-H50 EVO series, Linde Material Handling donated 3,500 oak saplings to the nurseries of the Bavarian state forests. They were planted in the Schollbrunn forestry region – not far from the Linde Headquarters in Aschaffenburg. The forestry staff received a lot of support from employees, interns and apprentices in the Company who provided assistance for planting the oak wood covering 5,000 square metres by hand.

Engagement of employees worldwide

Social projects, fast humanitarian aid for catastrophes and preserving our environment – these are the focus of engagement by Linde Material Handling. Employees often also make a big commitment in providing support. This world map of engagement highlights a number of examples.

Italy Sweden United Kingdom Czech Republic Germany France China USA
China United Kingdom

USA

Aid for the victims of Typhoon Haiyan
Super Typhoon Haiyan severely devastated the coast of the Philippines in 2013. The typhoon also affected the family of Angie Doriott employed with KION North America, whose house was destroyed. Many of her colleagues supported Angie’s family with generous contributions towards rebuilding their house. As of January 2015, they were able to finish the front porch

USA France

United Kingdom

Work for people with learning disabilities
Paid work gives people dignity. One of the CSR commitments by Linde in the United Kingdom followed this principle. The organisation Loddon Social Enterprise Ltd gives people with significant learning difficulties or disabilities the opportunity to have a job in paid employment. Employees of Loddon Social Enterprise handle large postal consignments for Linde Material Handling UK.

United Kingdom Italy

France

Mission Handicap
Fenwick-Linde has set up a CSR programme in order to give people with a handicap the opportunity of taking up work – in the Company itself but also by integrating suppliers who have people with disabilities among their own workforce. The broadly based programme takes into account the four dimensions of equal opportunity: appointment process, security of employment, communication and suppliers.

France Germany

Italy

Technical partners of Banco Alimentare
For almost 20 years, shortly before Christmas, the Italian charitable organisation Banco Alimentare collects donations – mainly of food – for people in need throughout the country. Since 2014, Linde Italy has been an official technical partner for Banco Alimentare and provides industrial trucks for handling the goods that have been collected. Linde’s workforce also answered the appeal for donations from the food bank and more than 400 kilograms of food were collected.

Italy Sweden

Germany

ForkliftCup helps
Every year Linde Material Handling holds the German Championship for forklift drivers. In 2008, employees of Linde founded the ForkliftCup Association. Since then donations have been collected with a Charity Tombola during the championship weekend, which is planned and organised by apprentices, and also from other charity events and special campaigns. The donations are used particularly to help children, teenagers and older people. The association also holds a Talents Contest which confers awards on young artists. Lots of celebrities are committed to the association.

Information: www.staplercup-hilft.com

Germany Czech Republic

Sweden

Fulfilling heart’s desires for sick children
Linde Sweden has adopted the motto of donations instead of Christmas presents for customers. Donations regularly support the Barncancerfonden Foundation for children with cancer and the Swedish Heart and Lung Foundation.

Sweden China

Czech Republic

Barrier-free bus
In 2014, a donation from Linde Czech Republic was made to the charitable organisation Jedlicka Institute and Schools (JÚŠ), which helps young people with physical disabilities. This financed the acquisition of a barrier-free bus.

Czech Republic USA

China

Logistic aid for earthquake victims
In 2013, a serious earthquake shook the Chinese city of Lushan (in the Province of Sichuan). Linde FLT responded quickly with logistic aid to establish a local catastrophe aid centre. Apart from transporting urgently needed goods, the Company also paid for aid to help the victims.

Corporate Volunteering with a big impact

In 2007, Linde Material Handling Ibérica launched a Corporate Volunteering Programme to help people with disabilities and this is now exerting a big impact. The branch offices in Madrid and Barcelona started the initiative “Linde Solidaria”. They were followed by Lisbon in 2008 and Seville in 2012. The original idea was for Linde Ibérica to make donations to local charities rather than sending Christmas gifts to customers. The initiative also gets employees and family members involved. The annual campaign days for the individual branch offices – the “Fiestas Solidarias” have meanwhile become well established. In 2014, more than 300 Linde employees and around 80 family members took part voluntarily with the selected charities and collected donations of things and money. The concept of Linde Solidaria envisages long-term joint ventures with the selected institutions, which will be monitored every year to ensure that financial contributions are well managed. The concept has proven to be an excellent idea and it has made a big contribution to fostering team spirit and indeed customer loyalty because after these activities Linde Ibérica communicates with its customers through a Christmas Newsletter to thank them for putting their trust in the brand and highlight the fact that this makes it possible to carry out these activities.