Based on the initial carbon dioxide balance statement for 2006, Cortal Consors Germany launched its Carbon Strategy project, aimed at gradually reducing our corporate carbon footprint. In order to reach our goals, a special project group introduced a variety of green steps and commitments.

By giving incentives for public transport tickets, car-pooling or offering electric bicycles, we generally tried to encourage an ecological sensitivity among our staff.

Additionally, several actions aimed to reduce the electricity consumption were implemented. These included the installation of copiers with a control timer, which automatically shut down the machines in the late evening, as well as a reduction of the use of fluorescent tubes in lamps.

The data centre, the main consumer of electricity, is also constantly working on reduction plans—by virtualisation of the servers, for instance.

All our efforts paid off quicker than expected…to give you an idea, we were able to reduce our emissions from about 3.1 tonnes in 2007 to 1.7 tonnes in 2009! In addition to the group effort made by our employees, a large portion of this CO₂ reduction resulted from of an improved mix of the electric power we obtain locally from our energy partner, which has delivered to us up to 43% of energy from renewable sources.

Additional measures are planned to further minimize detrimental environmental impacts of Cortal Consors Germany in 2011. This will include an automatic shut-down of our office PCs overnight, as well as giving our old PCs and notebooks to a social business rather than throwing them out…All gestures that will continue to build a bridge between the company’s environmental and social commitment.