Environmental management
As a service provider for sustainable development, GIZ has set itself demanding environmental targets based on Germany’s National Sustainable Development Strategy. GIZ works to the highest level of certification.
GIZ has set out its environmental targets in its Sustainability Programme and Environmental Programme, which are based on targets set down in Germany’s national Sustainable Development Strategy. The Environmental Programme also incorporates the results of several rounds of GIZ’s Stakeholder Dialogue on Sustainability.
In Germany, GIZ uses the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), the world’s most exacting certification for corporate environmental management. EMAS provides environmental management incentives for GIZ and requires ongoing improvements in its environmental performance. Outside Germany, environmental management is organised on a decentralised basis and is the responsibility of country directors and project or programme managers. It is implemented using the Corporate Sustainability Handprint® (CSH).
Additional information
Certifications and awards
In 2011 GIZ won two awards in the ‘Office and Environment’ competition organised by the German Association of Environmental Management (B.A.U.M.) and the German Environment Ministry (BMU) – the company as a whole won first prize and in addition our head offices in Bonn and Eschborn won an award for their sustainable office management.
In 2010 GIZ was rated as ‘Germany’s most cycle-friendly employer’ in a competition organised by the German Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development. Several offices, including Berlin, Eschborn, Bonn and Mannheim, have been certified as cycle-friendly.
In 2011 GIZ’s Feldafing office received a certificate from the integrated environmental technology project ÖKOPROFIT; this was the third time its corporate environmental management had been recognised in this way. The head office in Eschborn also received a certificate in 2011.
Environmental performance worldwide
Egypt: Here swapping desktop computers for laptops has not only reduced electricity consumption but made staff more mobile. Resource consumption has also been reduced by introducing central printers and scanners and an electronic document filing system.
Germany: To reduce our energy consumption, we are replacing the servers and storage devices in our computer centres with more efficient systems. The existing photovoltaic and solar thermal systems in Eschborn are being expanded. At Friedrich-Ebert-Allee in Bonn, energy-efficient LED lamps have halved electricity consumption in the underground car park. By 2014 all the German offices and centres will be using green electricity. New buildings at our head offices comply with the standards of the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB).
Cambodia: The GIZ office in Phnom Penh carried out its second environmental audit in 2011. Consumption of water, paper and energy has been reduced. In addition, rechargeable batteries are now being used in place of disposables, toner cartridges are being refilled and old computers are being donated to non-governmental organisations or second-hand shops.
