Discover how idealo is taking climate action

At idealo we believe that sustainability should successfully combine profitability, ecology and social commitment. We aim to promote a more conscious lifestyle and advocate responsible use of our world’s limited resources. Wether it is organising a volunteering day or reducing our carbon footprint, at idealo we don’t just talk about doing something for others and the environment, we get on and do it! We tackle the problems where help is needed the most, rather than where we can attract the most attention, and in doing so, we encourage our employees to get involved. “When our colleagues contribute to strengthening society, it is important that we, as a business, encourage this commitment,” Albrecht von Sonntag, CEO.

Together with our GREENteam, we strive to make idealo together a little greener, every single day. The GREENteam consists of employees from various departments who act as ambassadors for the cause both within their own departments and throughout idealo as a whole. Thanks to our GREENteam we have achieved great results in the past few years. We purchase exlusively organic or Demeter-certified food for our office. So whether it’s muesli, fruits, vegetables, coffee or milk, our dedication to leading a more conscious lifestyle enables us to promote the responsible management and sustainable selection of food and consumer goods.

Since we switched to green electricity in 2013, we have been able to continuously reduce our CO₂ footprint through energy-saving measures. We compensate the rest completely with high-quality climate protection certificates. This means that all the greenhouse gases we emit directly or indirectly are saved elsewhere. This works by investing in climate protection projects. We work with the partner myclimate to offset our greenhouse gases and support the construction of energy-efficient kilns in Kenya. This commitment is also certified by TÜV. At the same time, we are working every day to further reduce our emissions, because avoidance and reduction always come before compensation.

Being climate-neutral is not enough for us. As a large company, we also have an impact on the climate through our employees. Whether it's pension, health or unemployment insurance, employers pay half the costs. Our society sees these safeguards as important. We think: This must also apply to climate protection. That's why we offset 50 percent of the CO₂ footprint of all idealos. To kick things off in 2020, the figure was as high as 100 percent. We call this "survival insurance". To offset the footprint of all idealos, we implement climate protection projects that save the CO₂ that our employees emit in their individual lives. In 2019, we made a start by initiating the revitalization of a marsh together with the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. By restoring the drained Lüttwisch moor to a near-natural state, around 12,000 tons of CO₂ can be saved over the next few years. These 12,000 metric tons of CO₂ will thus offset the entire CO₂ footprint of all idealos in 2020. Every year, we implement or invest in new projects to continue to systematically invest in survival on earth by offsetting 50 percent of the CO₂ footprint of our employees.

We have been working with Planetly since 2021 to calculate our footprint. Planetly's software helps us determine our footprint even more precisely and identify potential savings. From now on, the calculation of the CO₂ footprint no longer only takes into account emissions that occur directly at idealo. Indirect emissions that occur in the company's value chain are also measured (Scope 3). These include, for example, emissions that occur when employees commute to work or when external services are provided. Although consideration of Scope 3 emissions is not mandatory in order to be considered climate neutral, idealo would like to voluntarily assume even more responsibility with this step. As a result, our CO₂ footprint has increased significantly compared to the previous year. A large part of the CO₂ footprint is attributable to our infrastructure, which we need to operate our business - for example, for servers or cloud services. Unfortunately, we have no influence on their electricity and heat consumption, but it is included in our footprint. However, we only use green electricity in our Berlin office and data centers. In addition, we purchase energy-saving technology to further reduce our energy consumption. By switching to green electricity, we were able to save over 1,000 tons of CO₂! But the commutes of our idealos also account for a not inconsiderable share of our CO₂ emissions. That's why we encourage all idealos to come to work by bike, rely primarily on climate-friendly rail travel for business trips, and work continuously to reduce our energy consumption. However, our CO₂ footprint does not include the production and shipping of the products sold via our platform. This is because we neither manufacture nor ship these ourselves. However, we don't want to rest on this advantage. We definitely want to do even better in the future and encourage our retailers to become more climate-friendly as well.

The commitment of individual actors is not enough to save the climate. That's why we regularly take to the streets with our employees for an effective climate policy. We made a start in September 2019 for the first Global Climate Strike: we temporarily took our website offline and accepted a loss of sales in order to draw attention to the climate strike and thus reach a large target group. Covid-related, the next Global Climate Strike took place online. Under #NetzStreikFürsKlima, our employees went on strike on social media to make a statement. With the #TrotzdemFürsKlima campaign in September 2020, we wanted to get even more people excited about the cause: everyone should take action for the climate, no matter if you drive a car, eat meat or take flights to go on vacation. Shortly before the 2021 federal elections, we took to the streets of Berlin together with EntrepreneursForFuture #EntschiedenFürsKlima to campaign for climate protection to be given its rightful place on the political agenda of the new federal government and in our society.