Arvato’s Green Value Chain

Bertelsmann companies at 58 locations in 17 countries recently hosted their "be green Days" - a day to inform employees about protecting the climate, the environment, and natural resources and motivating them to behave in an environmentally responsible way. The responsible use of energy, water, raw materials and space is not only one of the key challenges in the fight against climate change; it also offers Bertelsmann companies opportunities. "The idea is to analyze promising markets for media and service offerings in this area and to identify potential growth opportunities," said Rabe. Arvato has already taken this step and has developed a package of "green" services to help other companies make their processes more sustainable and environmentally friendly. A business with great potential - demand for eco-friendly business models, services and products is growing enormously.

There are obvious reasons for a company to increasingly include environmental considerations in its decision-making processes. "Companies are feeling more and more of a duty to act responsibly towards future generations," says Bernhard Lembeck, Vice President of the Arvato Competence Center Logistics and Corporate Real Estate. "And of course they also see the economic potential – more efficient processes reduce resource consumption and hence costs. Even small measures have an immediate effect here." Committed companies also use this to positively set themselves apart from the competition.

Climate-neutral services for every industry

The perfect place for such companies to turn to: Arvato, where they can get a package of solutions for a complete "green" supply chain. "We basically offer all Arvato services as emission-neutral," says Detlev Braun. "For example, our range includes carbon-neutral print production, environmentally friendly packaging for data carriers, as well as carbon-neutral logistics and warehousing, 'green' webhosting – the Arvato and Bertelsmann websites were recently converted – and the green e-commerce that results from this." In general, however, he says that climate-neutral services are conceivable in any industry, whether in finance, marketing or customer services.

Once the Arvato experts are hired by a company, they begin by examining the work processes and measuring what quantities of which resources are consumed here. "On this basis, we come up with a number of measures to help reduce this consumption," says Bernhard Lembeck. At the same time, Arvato draws up a customer-specific energy and carbon footprint, which shows the greenhouse emissions resulting from this consumption in ‘CO2 equivalents’. "We also help the companies switch their energy supply to green power – from wind power, for example – certified by the internationally recognized Renewable Energy Certificate System (RECS)," says Lembeck. Arvato also invests in new plants for renewable energy for its customers.

"Finally, the fourth step consists of neutralizing any inevitable CO2 emissions through offsetting schemes certified by the Certified Emission Reductions and Verified Emission Reductions Gold Standards - the only standards that meet the demanding criteria of the WWF, the UN and the Kyoto Protocol," says Braun. This, he says, supports environmental projects in developing countries. "Among other things, the projects help the local population and economies in these countries," says Braun. An external audit firm verifies "green" Arvato Services, and a seal labels the service as eco-friendly on shipments, invoices, mail-outs, websites, and so on. "After a year we issue our customer with a certificate of exemption for all of their CO2 emissions, which they can use in their external communications."

Arvato units work hand in hand in many parts of the ‘green value chain’. For example, Arvato Systems uses software it developed itself to analyze CO2 emissions. "It maps all the relevant standards and guidelines," says Bernd Jaschinski-Schürmann, Head of SCM Consulting at Arvato Systems. This allows all the climate-related data to be calculated for buildings, a fleet or a product, for example. "Our customers come from many industries, ranging from retail and pharmaceuticals to automotive and energy. There is, of course, a focus on the logistics service industry, as transport companies in particular are especially affected by the ever-increasing demands of climate protection," says Jaschinski-Schürmann.