Growing Sustainability
The visible and tangible depletion of our natural resources, the surpassing of our planet's limits, and the dramatic decline in biodiversity make it clear that a shift towards a circular economy is essential for our future and that of future generations.
We firmly believe that, as the German Design Council, we can play an active role in shaping an ecological, social and economic world. Founded on the initiative of the German Bundestag, we see it as our duty to not only participate in the sustainability debate but to enrich it with solutions from a design perspective.
Our Goals
How Did We Get Started?
How can sustainability be implemented in the workplace? To turn words into action, we decided in October 2021 to take a pioneering step in this direction and start with some concrete measures. This not only affects our internal office organisation but also our services, awards, and events. Additionally, we put a special emphasis on social sustainability and raising awareness. We have set up working groups that are actively researching, discussing, and implementing their respective topics to this day.
What are we doing?
Our measures focus on four areas of action: Climate protection and mobility, waste and circular economy, corporate culture and impact through services. The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (17 SDGs) serve as our guiding framework.
We are reducing our carbon footprint and resource consumption
We ...
- measure our ecological footprint and analyse where the greatest savings potential lies
- use renewable energy and reduce office energy consumption
- have eliminated company cars
- use public transport, supported by a job ticket
- evaluate the necessity of each business trip and, where possible, use the train
- predominantly use plant-based, regional, and where possible, organic food
We use products for as long as possible and reduce waste
We ...
- separate kitchen waste and use reusable containers
- use recycled paper and reuse packaging whenever possible
- reuse stands and setups at events as often as possible
We create a sustainable corporate culture and foster mutual respect
We ...
- are open to people with a wide variety of backgrounds and needs and create the conditions they need - be it in the form of time, accessibility or other requirements. We value diversity in our interdisciplinary teams. Our proportion of women is well over 50% and our management team is also 50% female.
- emphasise the compatibility of family and career
- offer the opportunity for further professional training
We care for human working conditions
We ...
- adhere to Universal Human Rights and the core principles of the International Labour Organization (ILO)
- collaborate with service providers who share our values
- combat all forms of corruption and bribery
Our events support young design talents
We...
- organise youth programmes like German Design Graduates and German Design Award Newcomer
- connect young talents with established companies
- support the activities of the German Design Museum Foundation, such as their nationwide education and culture initiative for children and young people, "Discover Design"
Our products and services are customer-oriented, economically successful, and support sustainable business practices
We ...
- ensure that our projects and services (competitions, conferences and seminars, research projects, consulting, library) remain attractive
- recognise design solutions for a circular economy, or example, with a special category at the German Design Awards
- maintain a data and IT infrastructure that is secure and compliant with legal requirements
CO2 balancing
Carbon footprint
Climate protection is one of our sustainability action areas. In order to better understand where greenhouse gas emissions are generated in our organisation, we have calculated our corporate carbon footprint. We will calculate and analyse our corporate carbon footprint every two years. The carbon footprint of the German Design Award 2023 competition is currently being calculated.
Climate footprint 2022
For the year 2022, we have calculated the amount of approx. 122 tonnes of CO2 equivalents. This is roughly equivalent to the CO2 footprint of 14 Europeans. One person in Europe produces an average of 8.7 tonnes of CO2 per year. As is typical for service companies, the majority of emissions are caused by employee mobility - travelling to work and business trips - followed by printed products, heating, cooling and the procurement of IT equipment. For events and exhibitions, catering, waste management, exhibition set-ups and logistics are added to mobility. We have based our guidelines on the "Guidelines for the sustainable organisation of events" published by the German Federal Environment Agency.
Corporate carbon footprint 2022
AXA-Climate School
Sustainable transformation concerns everyone, both in our private and professional lives. Understanding the environmental and climate challenges is a basic prerequisite for our actions.
In order to deepen our internal working groups and measures for greater sustainability, the German Design Council has entered into a partnership with Climate School. All employees have the opportunity to learn more about sustainable transformation with the help of Climate School's learning programmes and to integrate relevant measures into their area of work.
Climate School is an online learning platform consisting of over 150 interactive learning chapters. The individual chapters are divided into two main areas: "Understanding" lays the basic scientific understanding of the topic of sustainability. "Act" teaches the green skills required in day-to-day work, relating to the respective corporate divisions of Communication & Marketing, HR, Legal, Accounting and Purchasing.
The Climate School was founded in April 2021 by the AXA insurance group with the aim of training companies and employees in environmental issues.