We make comprehensive considerations and take practical steps to optimise our own ecological balance sheet. We want to avoid emissions - and only reduce and offset them as a secondary priority. We offset unavoidable emissions via the church's "Klima-Kollekte" compensation fund:

Last year, we supported carefully selected climate protection projects with 38,425 euros, offsetting 1,537 tonnes of CO2 emissions. This means that we are well on the way to working as climate-neutrally as possible.

We have been working in accordance with the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) since 2006. The first external audit took place in December 2012. Important steps towards improving our environmental footprint in recent years:

• Sustainable purchasing
• Recognising waste as a recyclable material
• Economical use of water and electricity
• Meat-free catering
• Sustainable power supply
• not unnecessarily fuelling the climate with heating
• making the journey to work climate-friendly
• Travelling by land instead of air and using public transport

Business trips outside Europe account for a large proportion of our CO2 emissions. We plan these trips to be as environmentally friendly as possible and offset unavoidable emissions. It is very likely that the further course of the pandemic and the increased use of digital communication channels will have an impact on future travel behaviour.