Governance: Embedding Sustainability Across Our Organization 

Sustainability is a cross-functional team effort that requires a robust governance structure. Our central sustainability function, reporting directly to the CEO, drives our overall sustainability strategy and sets targets in collaboration with key business functions. 

To ensure alignment and execution, this function is supported by: 

• The Sustainability Sponsor Board (SSB), composed of senior leaders, ensures cross-functional coordination and sustainability integration across the company. 

• The ESG Regulation Board, established in 2022, keeps us ahead of evolving ESG requirements for disclosure, due diligence, and product compliance. 

• Our Social & Environmental Affairs (SEA) team monitors the social and environmental compliance of our suppliers, reporting to the CEO through the General Counsel, who serves as our Chief Human Rights Officer.

Policy Influence: Upholding Impartiality, Transparency, and Compliance 

At adidas, our engagement with governments and parliaments around the world is guided by our principles of impartiality, transparency, and compliance. Based on principles laid out in our Compliance Policy and Charitable Giving Guidelines, adidas does not support any local, regional, or national political parties, campaigns, or candidates.  

We are also transparent about our political engagement and uphold this by: 

• Disclosing our lobbying activities in Germany and the EU regularly in the German Lobby Register and the European Union Transparency Register, including public grants we receive from the German government and the EU.  

• Registering our lobbying activities in the United States with the U.S. Congress on a quarterly basis, according to the U.S. Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995. These disclosures are published on the official website of the U.S. House of Representatives.   

Our Fair Play Code of Conduct and Compliance Policy define strict guidelines for engaging with governments, authorities, and public officials. In addition, we have an internal Government Affairs Policy in place that sets clear guardrails for engaging with governments, authorities, and public officials.   

Policy development:

adidas actively supports human rights and environmental protection. Therefore, our concerns over violations of human rights and negative environmental impacts, and the potential risks that these would pose to adidas, require our close engagement with governments in a host of different countries. 

adidas is also impacted by several policy areas including trade, intellectual property, and sustainability. We engage in lobbying efforts only after careful evaluation, ensuring alignment with our values. Where changes in the relevant policy areas concern us, we engage in the formal decision-making process, such as consultations, primarily through our industry associations and according to our Fair Play Code of Conduct.

Industry associations 

We engage with a selected number of organizations across the globe including national and international chambers of commerce, industry and business associations, and multi-stakeholder initiatives. These associations serve as a platform to collaborate with peers and stakeholders, monitor regulatory and economic developments, and voice policy interests. These organizations focus, amongst others, on advocating for free trade, ensuring intellectual property protection, monitoring national legislation, setting sustainability-related industry standards, and providing for exchange and networking. 

Our membership in these associations is guided by our Association Membership Policy, Government Affairs Policy, and Compliance Policy. In addition, memberships are coordinated globally and reviewed on an annual basis. As we are committed to transparency, we further disclose all relevant memberships in this table, including a brief description of the organization. In 2024, our contributions to all industry associations amounted to €1.4 million. Mandatory memberships as well as fees and payments that are subject to confidentiality were not included.

Engagement Approach: The Channels We Use 

We seek to enter in dialogue with stakeholders through various channels to inform them and gather their input:  

• Ongoing Dialogue: We hold stakeholder dialogues with workers, unions, NGOs, and suppliers. Internally, we engage employees through surveys and open forums, while externally, we respond to media, investors, and consumer inquiries. 

• Long-term Partnerships: We work through industry associations, multi-stakeholder initiatives, and collaborations to co-develop solutions and drive systemic change. For more on these partnerships, see below. 

• Focused engagements: These include sporting events that bring global visibility to our brand. adidas engages with stakeholders about its sustainability practices, especially related to bigger sporting events where adidas is a sponsor. We have arranged – and actively participated in – several events to raise attention to labor and human rights issues.  

• Transparency and Reporting: We publicly disclose our sustainability performance through the adidas Annual Reports, and participation in voluntary disclosure benchmarks (e.g., Business and Human Rights Resource Center, CDP).

From Concerns to Action: Stakeholder Engagement in Action 

The following examples illustrate how we engage with stakeholders, the challenges we address, and the impact achieved.