Sustain­ability

The first full year since the outbreak of the Corona pandemic and the associated positive impact on our emission levels was awaited with particular excitement. We used the time to continue working on our footprint – with success. Despite a signif­icant increase in the size of our team, we were able to keep the figure stable or even reduce it slightly.

The reasons were signif­icant energy savings, fewer trips and the further profes­sion­al­ization of our remote working skills. On the other hand, there were increased heating values (mainly due to additional locations) and emissions caused by the procurement of devices. Overall, we remain a low-emission company that actually overcom­pen­sates for its emissions. As in previous years, we offset 10% more than our own emissions: For 2021, this is 22.5 t CO₂.

We aim to reduce our environ­mental footprint and actively contribute to achieving climate targets. That’s why we have intro­duced the “train over plane” policy. We ask our employees to switch to trains whenever possible when traveling within Europe. Excep­tions are only permitted in cases of extreme time pressure or if the desti­nation is not acces­sible by public transport. In addition, we would like to encourage our employees to make greater use of rail travel in their private lives as well, so that together we can have a positive impact on the environment.

Effective, sustainable and regional. positerra brings together two strong players to achieve this: Farmers and companies. We work together to cultivate humus in the fields which is one of the most effective ways of capturing green­house gases from the atmos­phere and reabsorbing emissions. After all, if we want to protect the climate sustainably, we must not only slow down the further release of CO2, but also reabsorb emissions that have already been released. Only if we act together climate-positively can the Earth’s natural climate gas balance, the “net zero,” be achieved and climate change halted.

More about Positerra

Working digitally offers numerous advan­tages and also helps to save paper and thus conserve resources. However, we should not forget that digital­ization also has ecological conse­quences. The increasing use of energy and resources for the production of technology, as well as the disposal of electronic waste, are just a few examples.

It is therefore important that we consciously address the ecological conse­quences of digital­ization and develop strategies to minimize them. This is why we pay attention to energy-efficient devices, extend the service life of electronic equipment, and rely on energy-efficient and green electricity-powered data centers for cloud use.

People are the main focus at elaboratum: sometimes they are our customers, sometimes they are the customers of our customers, but always our employees as well! That’s why we do every­thing we can to create a positive working environment in which everyone can develop according to their strengths. Every year, this is also recog­nized by third parties: In 2023, we were once again awarded three top rankings in the “Great Place To Work” compe­tition: 3^rd place in the “Kleiner Mittel­stand” (small and medium-sized businesses) category, 2^nd place in the “Consulting” category and 2^nd place in “Bayerns beste Arbeit­geber” (Bavaria’s best employers)!

As a company that often operates in indus­tries that are male-dominated and that has an all-male partner board, we are aware of the respon­si­bility and challenge of promoting diversity every day. Our internal equalo­ratum team organizes trainings, reviews and optimizes processes, informs and raises awareness. Even though we are making continuous progress, we are not yet where we want to be.

Our code of conduct defines elaboratum’s ethical and moral principles and is binding for all employees. It ensures that we act in accor­dance with legal require­ments as well as our own values and standards and provides our team with clear guide­lines on how to act in various situa­tions. We live an open corporate culture anyway, but in excep­tional situa­tions it proves useful if all employees follow the same code.

Charta der Vielfalt e.V. is the largest employer initiative to promote diversity in companies in Germany. At its heart is the “Charta der Vielfalt” (Diversity Charter), which was estab­lished to recognize and include diversity in work culture. elaboratum has signed this charter expressly endorses the values formu­lated in it, as have more than 4,900 other companies.