1DOWNPASS STARSR IB E C O
O n t h e wa y t o c l i m a t e n e u t r a l i t y

In Kaltenkirchen, a 30-minutes’ drive from Hamburg, there is the headquarters of Richard Behr & Co.
GmbH. Founded in 1917 and now managed by the fourth generation, the family-owned company isproud of its traditional Hanseatic approach of still offering customers and partners the "old-fashioned"
personal service as the basis of a good working relationship. With great attention to detail, continuous
innovation management and a willingness to change, Ribeco, a bedding supplier to major retail groups,
has consistently moved towards climate neutrality since the 1980s. At the product level of the environmentally friendly bed, this goal has already been achieved.

Downpass talked to Christoph Habertag, managing director at Richard Behr & Co. GmbH.
As a family business, Richard Behr & Co. has been around since 1917, and today you are one of the European market leaders. Your vision is a climate-neutral, environmentally friendly bed that is manufactured
according to the highest social standards. How do you put this vision into practice in your day-to-day
business?
The climate-neutral bed has long since ceased to be a vision for us, but rather a concrete everyday reality:
we avoid CO2 wherever possible. What cannot be avoided in the supply chain, we can offset - and will do soPhotos: © Richard Behr & Co. GmbH–1–

DOWNPASS STARS: RIBECO

completely for our product range in our online shops from the end of this year.
Already in the 80's we started our production according to the latest standards, years ago we converted to our own combined heat and power plant;
compressed air power generation, GreenLight program, green electricity for
all our forklifts, the conversion of our company vehicles to electric drives, heatgeneration by means of solar thermal energy in our Chinese joint venture, or asolar-powered heat pump for our new distribution center, as well as climateneutral delivery by electric runabout are only a few highlights that help us to
avoid CO2 on a daily basis. The next step to complete climate neutrality is notvery far.
You work primarily for large retail partners - including discounters such as Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd, Norma,
Netto or Jysk and the Otto Group as retail groups. How have purchasing
agents’ requirements in terms of sustainability and ecology changed in recent years, and what are you doing to meet them?
Our major partners are often pioneers of ecological trends before they become the focus of public discussion. As a supplier, we are at the forefront ofmany of these developments.
In most cases, we solve issues that smaller, local manufacturers are only confronted with years later. And sometimes we are even so far ahead that ourproposals - for example, on sustainable packaging or climate-neutral products- are well received by our customers and partners, but then rejected by thepurchasing department for economic reasons.
Christoph HabertagManaging Director
Richard Behr & Co. GmbHSo far, however, none of our developments have been in vain: at some point,
everyone will fall in line, and we will then have an advantage in the market.

Richard Behr's product portfolio includes many bedding products whose fillings are made from animal ingredients. What is your animal welfare policy and how closely do you work with animal welfare organizations on these issues?
It is our declared company policy to increase the proportion of vegan products. In our own online shops, we already register over 50% vegan products
in terms of sales. In every segment, we strive for a completely sustainable
Photos: © Richard Behr & Co. GmbH–2–

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offering - from plastic-free alternatives where vegan materials are used; and with "closed loop" recycling
and reuse where we still use synthetic materials.
For us, products with animal ingredients are animal welfare products, where the "five fundamental freedoms of animal welfare" are taken into account: Freedom from hunger or thirst by ready access to fresh water and a diet to maintain full health and vigour, Freedom from discomfort by providing an appropriate environment including shelter and a comfortable resting area, Freedom from pain, injury or disease by prevention or rapid diagnosis and treatment, Freedom to express (most) normal behaviour by providing sufficientspace, proper facilities and company of the animal's own kind and Freedom from fear and distress by ensuring conditions and treatment which avoid mental suffering.
Animal welfare organizations are our benchmark with their positive and negative lists, according to which
we even exclude certain suppliers. And all products and raw materials are subject to our general guidelines,on the avoidance of chemical products and additives, on sustainability, and on social criteria.

How important are independent certifications foryour success, and why do you rely on the DOWNPASS label as a sign of animal welfare & quality?
Our work is only successful if we can also communicate it to the final consumer. The attention
span of the end user is getting shorter and shorter- with labels like DOWNPASS we can communicate
a complex topic visually in a short and precise way.
DOWNPASS is therefore an elementary element for our animal welfare guideline, both for efficient external
communication, but also for efficient measurability of the supply chains. Only with uniform standards industry structures and global supply chains can be aligned in the long term with where we all need to be: a climate-neutral bedding, sustainably and socially produced, committed to animal welfare. If our work with theDOWNPASS also provides other suppliers with structures that we can all align ourselves with, we will haveachieved a great deal.
Source: Downpass e.V.

Photos: © Richard Behr & Co. GmbH–3–