The environmental dimension of sustainability

We want to play our part in respecting planetary boundaries: this includes limiting global warming, preventing pollution and conserving natural resources. This is what guides our project work and our operations.

We work to prevent pollution systematically and use scarce resources such as energy and water economically. Protecting biodiversity and promoting material cycles is therefore just as important as complying with statutory regulations.

EMAS: an environmental performance benchmark

In Germany, we use the ambitious European Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS). We thus improve our environmental performance measurably each year and publish the results in an environmental statement

Corporate Sustainability Handprint

Outside Germany, our teams work with GIZ’s own Corporate Sustainability Handprint (CSH) , a management tool that systematically records environmental performance. We make a distinction between:

• Footprint: records energy and water consumption, etc.
• Handprint: shows active contributions to sustainability – e.g. solar panels, car pooling, fair procurement

In this way, we promote sustainable site development worldwide.

We support our partners in our countries of assignment with climate action – and, at the same time, work to improve our own climate performance. 

Our basic principle is:

Since 2021, we have been working to the standards of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). We set ourselves ambitious emissions reduction targets up to 2025. And we are looking to build on this with short-term targets up to 2030 and long-term targets up to 2050.

Information about our previous SBTi targets up to 2025 and our target achievement status can be found in the Integrated Company Report. We publish our climate and environmental data on an annual basis and update it retroactively,  as required.