It is obvious that the effects of the climate crisis have caught up with us all: we are experiencing unbearable summer temperatures and forest fires in many countries in southern Europe, or we are seeing the other extreme, heavy rain and flooding, as we have just seen in Slovenia. In this country, we are currently lucky to be spared from such disasters. Nevertheless, we have no time to waste: we have passed the global Earth Over-shoot Day on August 2, 2023, and the one for Germany already on May 4 this year.
For us at Alpha IC, it means that we continue to strengthen our efforts to work and do business in a sustainable and climate-friendly way. We are passionate about helping our clients achieve their sustainability goals in their real estate portfolios. In addition, we are engaged in re-sharpening our own climate strategy: since 2016, we have been constantly actively striving to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. Measures included switching to green electricity at our six sites, business travel by rail, eliminating flights, reducing printers, sustainable purchasing, and introducing the Jobbike.
Over time, we have become increasingly precise in our data collection and have refined the determination of our Scope 3 emissions. Up to 2021, we succeeded in steadily reducing our consumption - despite increasing employee numbers. Last year, however, we experienced an increase for the first time since 2017. This surprised and dismayed us, and we looked for the reasons.
We were able to determine that home office and commuting activities account for a significant portion of our greenhouse gas emissions. In order to take all factors into account as much as possible, we have been applying a flat energy consumption rate per mobile working day for home office work since 2021. However, the free choice of work location is part of our agile way of working. We are working on possible solutions, but we cannot influence these factors directly.
Do you know this problem? We are always open for ideas and exchange!
Of course, we still focus on reducing our emissions, this has to be a central part of any climate strategy. According to scientists, every company should reduce 90% of its emissions (source: Science Based Targets Initiative). Ambitious? Definitely. Impossible?
It must not be! For a future worth living, we must all set high goals and achieve them together. For ourselves, for our children. What do we do with the rest? Despite all our efforts, there is still a residual amount of greenhouse gases. So far, we have voluntarily offset this portion, formerly through ClimatePartner and then through Forliance, because offsetting our footprint is important to us. We believed that the certificate would enable us to work in a climate-neutral manner. Critical comments from colleagues and the current public debate recently prompted us to rethink this strategy. What we don't want to wait for, however, is to get involved in a great climate protection project - because what matters to us is real, transparent and long-term impact.
Therefore, we would like to address the following question to our network - to you, to you. Which climate protection project can you/ can you recommend ? Or are you planning such a project and looking for motivated partners ?
Feel free to write me your questions, your project proposals and your experiences to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in your company. I am looking forward to the exchange:
Andrea Ekker, Lead Corporate Social Responsibility
Telefon +49 151 422 294 60 ∙ Mail a.ekker@alpha-ic.com
