Environmental Protection
Environmental & Energy Management System according to ISO 14001 & 50001
As a globally operating company, we feel a strong responsibility to align our corporate activities in an environmentally friendly way in order to preserve nature for future generations. Our goal is to protect biodiversity and preserve existing ecosystems by using natural resources responsibly and increasing our energy efficiency.
The ISO 14001 Environmental Management System (EMS) and the ISO 50001 Energy Management System (EnMS) are therefore valuable tools for our internal environmental and energy policy, because:
- it enables us to reduce our negative environmental impact
- it helps to minimise our energy consumption to a minimum within economic and technical feasibility
- it ensures a continuous improvement in environmental and energy performance
In 2018, we commissioned our modern energy center, which consists of a combined heat and power unit (CHP), an adiabatic cooling machine (AKM) and a storage tank.
You can find more information about our certificates for download on the official website of GUTcert: https://www.gut-cert.de/zertifikate/firma/token/9zyaw4.
Support for verified climate protection projects
In order to meet our responsibility in the area of greenhouse emissions, we have been making an annual financial contribution to support verified climate protection projects in the Global South since 2016.
In 2021, we invested our CO2 offset* in the climate protection project Clean Drinking Water in Kono in Sierra Leone.
Two billion people in the world have no access to drinking water. Many families have no other option than to boil water on an open fire. This not only encourages the deforestation of ever larger areas, but also generates CO2 emissions. The climate protection project Clean Drinking Water supports the communities in the Kono region in re-commissioning 57 wells. By improving the supply of drinking water to the population, the project aims to avoid boiling water, which produces harmful smoke and greenhouse gas emissions. In cooperation with the local population, damaged boreholes are repaired and regularly maintained, which secures the regional drinking water supply in the long term. The project is certified according to the VER Gold Standard.
We made our contribution from 2018, 2019 and 2020 in the Togo project and the Gola Rainforest National Park climate protection project in Sierra Leone.
*We believe that simply offsetting our emissions will no longer be sufficient in the future to meet our responsibility to protect the climate. We are therefore currently exploring various concepts to direct our "offset payment" per metric ton of CO2e into more effective emission reductions at the site or in the supply chains.
Packaging
We use environmentally friendly packaging as much as possible, whereby we always strive to meet our customers' requirements.
The topic "enviromental friendly" packaging is very complex and challenging, therefore we work hard to optimise the packaging with regard to its environmental friendliness. The goal is to reduce the volume of materials, using materials that are made in a resource-saving way and that are completely recyclable or biodegradable - while securing optimal product safety.