GIZ Environmental Audit 2014: majority of targets achieved; mobility still a challenge

How has GIZ’s consumption of energy, water and paper developed? Has the company met its targets? We have been producing environmental audits for almost all our offices in Germany since 2010. In the audits, we report on the development of our environmental management system and publish data on environmental key indicators for our self-defined targets. In addition, we provide information on emissions from mobility and other environmental factors.

The figures show that we have met almost all of our targets and have even surpassed some by quite a significant margin. This meant that we achieved carbon neutrality in Germany for the first time. We managed this by lowering our energy consumption and switching to green electricity at all of our German offices – which reduced our carbon dioxide emissions – and also by purchasing climate certificates. We are delighted to be so successful in one of our most important fields of action.

But we are not planning to rest on our laurels now: mobility in particular will continue to be a central topic and key challenge for us as a company working in the field of international cooperation. Using our Corporate Sustainability Handprint^®, we aim to gather data on our environmental performance – including carbon dioxide emissions – around the world by the end of 2016.