Sustainability at HLB Stückmann
The topic of "sustainability" is very close to our hearts at HLB Stückmann. We feel obliged as a company and part of society to protect and preserve the environment. In order to promote the sustainability of our company, we have already taken measures and become active - with success: We are co2 neutral! It is important to us to focus even more strongly on the topic of "sustainability" in the future.
Carbon
footprint
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A decisive lever for more sustainability is to cause as little CO2 as possible or even none at all. Together with Fokus Zukunft, a certified company, we have determined our own carbon footprint. The positive result: at 166 tonnes, our current CO2 emissions are already extremely low. In an interview, Peter Frieß, founder, owner and managing director of Fokus Zukunft, explains how this excellent result came about at HLB Stückmann. // Interview with Peter Frieß
We are climate neutral!
In the interview with our two managing partners Dietmar Engel and Alexander Kirchner in October 2022, this was already a tangible goal for 2023. Now we have achieved it and were awarded the "climate neutral" seal. You can read about how the project gained momentum at HLB Stückmann in the following excerpt from the interview:
What is new in this long history is that you are dealing with the topic of sustainability. How did this come about?
Dietmar Engel: It was triggered by a client of ours who asked us while discussing their sustainability report: What are you yourselves actually doing in this respect? Are you aware of your CO2 emissions? I had to pause for a moment. I was able to say: we use 100 per cent green electricity, we have an e-charging station. But we didn't actually know how high our company’s carbon footprint was. And that made us take a closer look at it.
*We have been climate neutral since 1 January 2023.
In the end, a very good value was achieved as a result of the carbon footprint determination. Was that what you had been expecting?
Dietmar Engel: I didn't really have a clear idea of how we would do. When you consider that as a "private" person you "emit" about 11 tonnes of CO2 per year and we as a company ended up with a mere 166 tonnes, we were very pleased. Of course, as a service provider we are not a major polluter, but by using 100% green electricity, purchasing sustainably produced district heating, offering so-called job tickets and many other actions, we have evidently been moving a great deal in the right direction.
Alexander Kirchner: We simply took advantage of the opportunities that presented themselves to us in the past. But not as a project, not conceptually, but instead rather more spontaneously. Today we are happy about the value, but we also know that we still want to accomplish a whole lot more. Our goal for 2023 is therefore quite clear: we want to be climate neutral.* This includes, for example, digital control of heating, air conditioning and lighting. But if we take an honest look at our company, we will obviously not manage to reduce all emissions to zero. But where we cannot cut back, we want to compensate for it.
Dietmar Engel: We now know our carbon footprint, but we would simply like to offer this to our staff as well. That raises awareness. But what we want as a company is to achieve the climate neutral seal. That is now our goal for the new year.* In addition to a few small adjustments, we will also acquire climate certificates in this respect and we are currently selecting which ones these will be.
That is what Alexander Kirchner meant by "compensate". It is important to us that the selected projects are suitable for us. We will not, for example, support a project that converts a wood-burning stove in Nepal to gas, but if anything, we want to promote a genuine, sustainable exchange, such as swapping gas for wind energy. We always want to mix this commitment with regional issues, such as strengthening the Bielefeld forest, which is very close to our hearts.
How do your clients deal with this issue?
Dietmar Engel: The legislator has ensured that there is an obligation to draw up and publish sustainability reports. We have set up a task force to deal with this - two partners and a total of almost ten staff are working on this important, current topic in order to be able to provide support in this respect.
What is your overall outlook for 2023?
Alexander Kirchner: We have set up an ambitious plan based on our existing and continuously growing team. In times of crises, a company needs an adviser more than ever, so we expect to have another challenging but successful year ahead of us. We are therefore optimistic about our company, but also attentive to what is going on in the world around us. And we have aligned our service portfolio in such a way that, in addition to our standard activities, we can offer and provide everything from crisis support to tangible restructuring advice: We will respond appropriately to the questions that our clients put to us. Of course it sometimes happens and will also happen in the future,
that clients occasionally find themselves in the midst of a crisis, that they need a federal state guarantee, for example, or that subsequent financing needs to be clarified. We can then provide support quickly, work much more closely together over a period of weeks and ensure the necessary transparency of payments.
Dietmar Engel: But it is also important to emphasise that a crisis always presents an opportunity; not only for us, but also for our clients. New product lines and new M&A projects suddenly open up. Such pressure to change can and will also have positive effects. It is our task to take up these opportunities and, together with our clients, to ensure that crisis thinking does not only lead to negative thinking. A pessimistic mood can be very dangerous. That is why we prefer to take an optimistic approach to 2023 and see good reasons for doing so.
Our steps towards greater sustainability
As a company, we are aware of our responsibility in society and want to become more sustainable. This starts with everyday life and in small steps, for example, with the purchase of green electricity and environment-friendly generated district heating, the more conscious use of consumables and ecological food. In addition, we have also set ourselves more ambitious goals and are documenting them for greater transparency.
2022
100 % green electricity // By switching our electricity supply contracts to green electricity, we are strengthening the use of renewable energy.
JobTicket // With the so-called JobTicket from moBiel, our staff have the opportunity to get to work in a more environment-friendly, cheaper and stress-free way by bus and train.
E-charging station // Those who drive an electric or hybrid car can fill it up with environment-friendly green electricity at the wall box charging station in our car park.
2021
Digital law firm // With new home office regulations and standardised equipment with laptop and smartphone, we enable our staff to work from home in a sustainable way - without needing any second IT equipment. We have been awarded the "Digital DATEV Law Firm" label for the third time in a row.
HLB Community Day // 1,000 m² of flower meadow for our native bees is the goal of this HLB Community Day. For this purpose, we are sending numerous seed bags to our clients.
2020
Paperless office // Goodbye to 90% of our printers and fax machines! This will bring us a huge step closer to the paperless office.
2019
1,000 euros donation for the city forest // With the help of the donations, trees will be planted to create mixed forests dominated by deciduous trees at various locations in and around Bielefeld.
2018
Bike leasing // Taking the bike to work: We are supporting the purchase of company bikes and thus offer our staff an alternative means of transport to the car.
Our service for companies: Advice on sustainability
Today, sustainability plays a central role in the orientation of entrepreneurial action and determines the long-term success of a company. Many fail to recognise the impact that the current requirements for more climate protection and sustainability have on their company. But if you want to remain competitive in the future, there is no way around sustainable action.
We will help you to achieve your sustainability goals: Advice on sustainability.
