“Our activities in 2008 were mainly aimed at the continued implementation of sustainability in our operating businesses and in customer- and consumer-relevant concepts. We have systematically anchored our focal areas in our Company-wide standardized innovation process, because we know that we can only fulfill our commitment if our focal areas are integrated into our innovation process from the very beginning. All new products contribute to sustainable development in at least one focal area.

The visible results of our work in 2008 include the launch of the new household cleaners brand Terra Activ, the first cosmetic products to carry the ECOCERT label, and the Environment Award of the Federation of German Industries (BDI) for our metal pretreatment product Bonderite NT. Our sustainability management as a whole was also recognized externally in 2008: In December, at the first ever German Sustainability Congress, the award for being Germany’s “Most Sustainable Brand” went to Henkel.

Taking fiscal 2008 as a whole, the increases in the prices of energy and raw materials reinforce our determination to continue to pursue our Company-wide sustainability targets for reductions in water consumption, energy consumption, and waste by 2012. All of our business sectors have launched projects for attaining these targets. Achievement of the targets will pose a particular challenge to the sites that already operate highly efficiently due to the use of modern technologies. The skills and creativity of our employees will play a major role here. The worldwide restructuring program and the integration of the National Starch businesses have also presented our employees and our companies with major challenges.

This Sustainability Report covers the main developments in 2008. Since we joined the United Nations Global Compact in 2003, our Sustainability Report has also served as the basis for the required annual progress report.

We are taking numerous initiatives in 2009 to further expand our sustainability leadership. In particular, we will be concentrating on the areas of water, education, and sustainable consumption. We wish to inform our customers and consumers even more effectively in the future about the added value resulting from the combination of quality and responsibility. One of the top priorities will be continued improvement in transparency throughout the supply and value chains.“