We wouldn’t be able to achieve our sustainability goals if it weren’t for the many small steps

Erika Kauz, an employee in the Corporate Services department, reports on the measures that zeb is taking to become more and more sustainable in the areas of purchasing and energy.

How does zeb ensure the sustainability of the electricity, products and services it procures?

Erika Kauz: It takes many, often small, steps, but in sum they make a considerable difference. As a big step towards “paperless business”, we have digitalized many of our processes, such as our travel management: the entire process from booking to expense report is completely paperless. We procure electricity from renewable energy sources at all zeb offices, except in Warsaw, where we have not yet been able to arrange this with our landlord. We have also switched to LEDs at all our offices where this is technically feasible and instructed our cleaning service providers to use biodegradable cleaning agents. As another measure, we have installed drinking water dispensers for our employees at almost all offices to avoid the use of plastic bottles. This improves our carbon footprint as it helps us reduce both plastic waste and transport.

What do your colleagues say about these efforts, are they committed as well?

Erika Kauz: Yes, the response has been very positive, which also makes it easier for us to raise all zeb employees’ awareness of the importance of small steps. Little stickers remind our colleagues to switch off their lights and monitors when they leave a room. Whenever a colleague places an order with our office supplier in Germany, they are automatically reminded about any recent deliveries of similar products, so they can check their supply closet before submitting the order. This solution could be implemented fairly easily, as we have been procuring all of our supplies (at least for our German offices) from one central provider since 2021 for sustainability reasons. We have installed charging stations for electric cars at our Münster and Munich offices – and another one will soon follow at our Vienna office. Of course, this is also a clear signal to our company car users as to where we’re headed in terms of drive systems.

So climate protection is both about the big picture and the small things? 

Erika Kauz: We wouldn’t be able to achieve our goals if it weren’t for the many small steps. At the end of the day, even small – or rather: seemingly small – measures can make a big difference. For example, our paper consumption decreased by 143 kg between 2021 and 2023, and our 2023 carbon emissions from company car travel were 27% lower than in 2019 – thanks in part to our charging stations. Moreover, we have already managed to procure 100 percent of the electricity we need for our German offices from renewable sources. These figures show how much can be achieved with small steps in large numbers. We will continue along this path and, of course, intensify and expand our efforts even more.