Climate change is man-made and will have devastating consequences for people and the environment if the main cause of greenhouse gas emissions are not radically reduced immediately. The flood disaster in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate this summer and the most recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change leave no doubt about that. One of the central tasks of the federal government emerging from the climate elections on September 26th must therefore be to transform the German economy as one of the key factors in the long term. The Federal Association for Sustainable Economy and Berlin's Greentech Plan A show how this can be achieved, presenting a specially developed, free and publicly accessible CO2 emissions calculator for companies.
The emissions calculator, which can be called up at www.plana.earth/bnw-emissionsrechner, now offers companies the opportunity to obtain an initial realistic assessment of their emissions profile. To do this, the tool asks a series of questions about the company's activities - from employee commutes to expenses for electricity, heating or other services - and thus collects the necessary data across all relevant emission areas. The greenhouse gas emissions are then calculated and compared with industry values.
The methods on which the calculation is based correspond to the internationally recognized standard of the "Greenhouse Gas Protocol" and are therefore scientifically sound - this was officially certified by TÜV Rheinland Plan A at the beginning of September 2021.
Lubomila Jordanova, CEO of Plan A: “It takes decisive action and decisive action to decarbonize our economy and make economic growth sustainable. And not at some point, but now. Politicians must immediately create the framework conditions for this. It is therefore up to the next federal government to pursue an ambitious sustainability agenda and drive the transformation process forward. The tools are already available to us. We are therefore very pleased to be able to go live with our emissions calculator, which we developed in cooperation with the BNW, in order to be able to offer local companies a reliable image of their footprint as the first step on their sustainability journey.”
dr Katharina Reuter, Managing Director of the Federal Association for Sustainable Economy: "Many small companies want to reduce their emissions sustainably. A carbon footprint is the first step. We are therefore very pleased that, in cooperation with Plan A, we can offer a free emissions calculator that gives an initial overview of the company's emissions values. Together we can still turn things around and avert the climate catastrophe. This requires political guidelines and efforts from all of us.”
