Since the beginning of 2022, we have been calculating our emissions based on the GHG Protocol, a standard for preparing greenhouse gas balances. The figures are validated by an independent external auditor. In this way, we find out how many emissions our business activities cause and in which areas there is potential for savings.

Any emissions caused are fully offset by carbon compensation programs such as tree planting initiatives. Our aim is to save energy wherever possible, to rely on renewable energy sources and to use the resources available to us as sparingly as possible.

At the beginning of last year, we calculated our emissions for the past financial year for the first time. The result at the time: our business activities in 2021 caused 90 tons of CO², mainly through electricity and heat use as well as business travel. The second round has now begun with the balance sheet for 2022. As the acute phase of the coronavirus pandemic subsides in 2022 and the associated increase in business and therefore travel activities, emissions were expected to rise compared to the previous year. And in fact, we recorded an increase of around two thirds in the number of kilometers covered on business trips compared to 2021.

Just under a fifth of total emissions were attributable to business trips and journeys by company car. We traveled more than two thirds of the kilometers by train (a quarter by car and 7% by plane). However, these rail journeys caused just a quarter of the emissions generated by business travel. The largest share of emissions is generated by car journeys, around 40%. Flights cost around 10%. 20% of the emissions caused by business trips were attributable to overnight stays. In 2022, an average of 75g of CO² emissions were generated per business trip kilometer (…roughly equivalent to the emissions of an ultra-low emission car). In 2021, it was still more than 100g per kilometer.

By far the largest proportion of emissions in our balance sheet, namely just under 40%, are attributable to the manufacture of the fixed assets we use. Fixed assets here mainly refers to the hardware that we use as an IT service provider (laptops, screens, mobile phones, etc.). As part of the balancing process, we take into account the emissions caused during the respective product life cycle phases according to the manufacturer’s specifications. For all appliances, the largest share of emissions is attributable to the production of these goods. We break down the emissions to be taken into account for the period under review into the respective year based on the product service life.

In addition to the production of tools, which we take into account in the balance sheet, another lion’s share is accounted for by energy consumption. A quarter of our total emissions in 2022 were attributable to the use of energy for electricity and heating. We calculate a further 5% of emissions for the estimated energy consumption in the home office.

Just under 5% of our emissions are attributable to hosting services used. Compared to the previous year, we were able to reduce the emissions attributable to this area by a third. This is mainly due to the fact that our hosting providers are also increasingly relying on energy from renewable sources for their services.

As a result, we were able to keep emissions in the area of business travel stable despite the massive increase in travel activities. We also succeeded in doing this at overall company level. Emissions were also 90 tons of CO² in 2022.

We expect the measures introduced in the course of 2022 to optimize energy consumption at our locations to be reflected in the next balance sheet for 2023. Until then, we will continue to evaluate and implement measures to improve our carbon and environmental footprint.