Arvato And Bertelsmann’s ‘Climate Neutral’ Websites

It takes a lot of power to run a web server that provides content for numerous websites – and generating this power produces greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide (CO2). Arvato and Bertelsmann have now rendered their websites, hosted by different service providers, "carbon neutral" by supporting a certified environmental project that helps cut CO2.

Arvato began by measuring the power consumption of the more than 30 sites that make up its network of websites. "Defined CO2 emission factors were then used to draw up a carbon footprint, which indicate how many climate-damaging greenhouse gas emissions are actually produced during the operation of the web servers," says Sonja Gross, Marketing Manager at Arvato. Bertelsmann AG took the same approach for their website and BENET. These emissions are now being offset by a climate-protection project in Africa.

A water treatment project in Kenya was chosen, which improves environmental sustainability as well as the health of the local people. "Experts feel it is most effective to carry out these projects in developing and emerging countries, where the greatest reductions in emissions can be achieved," says Gross. "As in many other poor regions of the world, many people in Kenya have no clean drinking water so they have to boil it." For this they need firewood, which has led to deforestation and the environmental destruction of entire regions, she says. But in many places people have to dispense entirely with disinfecting their drinking water. Rampant disease and increased mortality are the inevitable consequences.

The project supported by Arvato and Bertelsmann and certified by the First Climate Group is one of the largest water treatment projects in Kenya that doesn’t rely on government or public-sector funding. "The water filter project is designed to reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat disease and ensure local, ecological sustainability," says Gross.