At the QLab Think Tank, we address the following SDGs:

No. 4: Quality Education: Various times a year, we gather students from Universities worldwide in a virtual five-week design sprint. The teams explore challenges in the complex of Liveable Cities through Green Architecture, Infrastructure, and New Mobility. We do educate young professionals in the field of innovation and agile work.

They develop user-centered ideas to solve various problems nature and people face. These ideas are evaluated and tested by potential clients of companies and institutions we work with.

During the sprint, the team conducts various interviews with stakeholders on the whole value chain, which helps us support SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals. 

Our overall approach helps us address SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth and SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities. 


Mark as done to participate

Join the Teams Challenge

Join our Time for Climate Action campaign

Calculate the right amounts to ask for 

Set up funds to drive your sustainable initiatives

Find trustworthy partners for carbon-capturing

Test different formats

Set the transparent communication 

Introduce donations at the checkout to support climate causes

Appoint a member of the executive team to be responsible for your commitments

Appoint a member of leadership team to be accountable for commitments

__Set your company’s measurable “big” goals for the current year. Some examples:__
- become climate neutral on Scope 1 and 2,
- become climate neutral including Scope 3,
- reduce your carbon footprint by __% this year compared to the previous year,
- improve your CO2 emissions per revenue, or CO2 emissions per employee ratio, etc.
Get a bit of inspiration for what climate-related goals the [US’ biggest companies](https://youtu.be/PvSGMiIA4CQ) and [many others](https://sciencebasedtargets.org/companies-taking-action/) have.

__It’s even better if you can make these targets [science-based](https://www.unglobalcompact.org/library/5652).__
Science based targets are goals set by companies to reduce GHG emissions in line with the latest climate science suggestions to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement (limit global warming to 1.5% above pre-industrial level). These targets can be externally verified by signing up to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) which is a collaboration between the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), World Resources Institute (WRI), and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Understanding your carbon impact across your full value chain will be a key part of setting your target. This must extend to Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions.

Every quarter, plan specific OKRs or KPIs to implement some climate-positive actions, such as initiatives that you can find in the current action plan. Set the process to measure your footprint quarterly to track dynamics and make the right decisions. 

In addition, __you can use an environmental management system (EMS)__ to systematically set targets and monitor progress. It measures the impact of your business (input, output, and everything in between), identifies areas and assets that have a significant impact, assigns a point score to each, and creates a list of targets to work toward. 

Set specific climate-related goals and OKRs

If you are ready to reconsider your business model, appoint a transition team.
This team will set a new strategy for the business, which includes setting science based targets and steps for implementing changes to the business model. External input might be required if your in-house capability is limited. 

1. Start by identifying areas of conflict, or potential conflict, between your core business model and factors of potentially negative environmental impact (e.g. production of or reliance on fossil fuels or other finite resources). 
2. For each conflict, review ways in which the negative impact identified could be altered to become positive. In many cases this will require some radically creative thinking and a workshop environment.
3. Facilitation by an outside expert could be useful. For example: If your company manufactures washing machine components, and you identify that your (finite) raw input material is likely to become scarcer (therefore more expensive) over the next 10 - 20 years, you could consider a move to a leasing model whereby you retain ownership of the component, lease it to your customer, and recover it for remanufacturing or reuse after it has reached end of life. 
4. It is vital to identify where your business has the biggest carbon impact. These departments should then be considered a priority. Remember, your biggest impact could be outside of your head office.

Business model transformation

A “Green” team is a group of people working on reduction measures throughout your company. In most cases it’s their additional area of work, aside from their regular work. They are driven by personal values and interest in climate topics. 

How to organize the team’s work:
- conduct meetings at least once a month, 
- offer anyone to join, but ask for a commitment to actively participate,
- invite senior-level colleagues, representing departments which influence your carbon footprint the most to this team, 
- if more than 10-12 people want to participate, build smaller sub-teams,
- set objective goals and work on actions that have the biggest impact on your carbon footprint, 
- let all employees know your green team's plans and successes transparently and regularly.


Set up a “Green” team 

- Develop and implement formal, and job-specific, training on key sustainability issues for all executives and employees, and facilitate coaching, mentoring, and networks for sustainability knowledge sharing. 
- Educate employees about the structure of your footprint and how they can reduce it.
- Make sure that all new employees go through an induction process and training program to get them involved in your vision of sustainability strategy. It gives everyone a good grasp of what they’re here for and how they can contribute. 

Once everyone buys into the vision, you can quantify the environmental impact of various things and bring them to people’s attention. 
Teams start to see that there are budget implications, staff implications, environmental implications, and resolving this one issue could potentially improve the situation.

Develop internal sustainable management course/standards

Mark this action as done if you conduct regular sustainability workshops with external experts/consultants at least once a year. It’s important to stay updated with new industry solutions and use external inputs to drive inner projects.

Sustainability workshops for your team

Consider linking part of employees’ bonus compensations to performance of carbon emissions. 

Bonus for sustainable achievements

Compose your company’s Code of Ethics. Sometimes called a Code of Conduct or Code of Business Standards. 
This is a formal document that establishes behavioral expectations for the organization and the people who work there. The cultural aspects of the organization need to align with the behaviors and beliefs congruent with tackling the climate emergency. Integrating the right language when talking about this topic is key. Companies must focus on the positives of taking climate action while communicating with organization members, and avoid using ‘frightening’ or ‘threatening’ language as it can be demotivating and make people increasingly skeptical.

Develop code of Ethics

Develop sustainable management principles 

Make sure that:
- you have a company-wide recovery and recycling program that includes: paper, cardboard, plastic, glass, metal, and composting
- you recycle waste not only from the kitchen but also all papers in your working spaces, cartons at your warehouse, etc.
- your utility service works with all types of waste after you separate it, so it goes into the correct waste sorting centers.

Ensure proper waste separation

What you can do to print less:
- implement electronic signature systems where possible
- instead of printing reports before business meetings, use more screens in meeting rooms
- decrease the amount of pages by reducing font or page border sizes of regularly printed documents: contracts, agreements, etc.
- add a reminder to print less in your corporate signatures
- as a default setting, double-sided printing in black and white is recommended.

Plus, you can recycle your printer cartridges using a free recycling box from [Caritas](https://www.caritas.de/spendeundengagement/andershelfen/caritasbox/caritasboxstartseite). 

Adopt a sustainable printing policy

Mark this action as completed if you will buy office supplies made from recycled materials, produced and delivered in an eco-friendly way from now on. 

Recycled paper is 100% made from used paper, saving resources and water. Although the recycled paper is no longer pure white, it is also free of peroxides, sodium carbonate, and sodium hydroxide. These chemicals are used both in the production of fresh fibre paper and for bleaching paper. Recycled paper has two to three times lower energy consumption during production. 

At [Memo](http://www.memo.de), [EarthHero](https://earthhero.com/product-category/home/office-supplies/), or [GreenPicks](https://www.greenpicks.de/en/office-supplies-stationery/) you can find all of your sustainable office supplies.

Use eco-friendly office supplies

One of the projects where you can find cleaning products and soap without microplastic: [Zero Waste Era](https://www.zerowasteera.com)

Mark this action as completed if you will buy only eco-friendly cleaning products and soap for your office from now on. 

Use eco-friendly cleaning products

Our aim here is to minimize the delivery footprint and support local businesses.
Only purchase food and drinks with verified environmental standards. 


 Buy local, organic and seasonal food and drinks

These purchases can influence your carbon footprint significantly. 
- implement a repair-first policy: it's better to fix a laptop than buy a new one
- regularly calculate and check the footprint created by your equipment purchases (some companies, such as [Apple](https://www.apple.com/environment/pdf/products/notebooks/13-inch_MacBookPro_PER_may2019.pdf) and [Dell](https://i.dell.com/sites/csdocuments/CorpComm_Docs/en/carbon-footprint-latitude-7490.pdf), share data about their products’ footprint on their websites)
- when you need to buy things for your new office, don't just pay attention to them being made of ‘natural’ materials, but also to their production footprint
- utilize old and broken equipment in specially designated places.

Ensure responsible use of office equipment

Here are some ideas on how to make your marketing materials more eco-friendly:
- at conferences, fairs, and festivals, consider digital ways to interact with potential customers: screens, VR & AR, QR-codes, projections, e-business cards, and catalogs, etc.
- if you do choose to produce some giveaways, opt for materials with less of an end-of-life process
- order production locally to avoid causing additional emissions through deliveries
- improve your planning process to minimize waste after events.

Minimize giveaways of t-shirts, flyers, and stickers

What you can do:
- encourage your colleagues to order food delivery less: organize lunch in your office, subsidize lunch in the nearest cafes, or arrange food delivery in reusable containers,
- make sure you use glasses in your office and wash them instead of one-use plastic cups,
- buy beverages in returnable glass bottles,
- buy office snacks in bigger packages with less plastic.

Reduce plastic waste

Install low-flow faucets, toilets, and urinals in your office. 
Low-flow should meet or exceed the following EPA WaterSense standards: faucets use a maximum of [1.5 gpm](http://www.epa.gov/WaterSense/products/bathroom_sink_faucets.html), toilets - [max 1.28 gallons per flush](http://www.epa.gov/WaterSense/products/toilets.html).


Conserve water

Make your office more sustainable

Customize your microsite

Add the badge to your website and link to the microsite

Implement our “We Take Climate Action” badge and microsite

Spread the word about tools that empower personal action

Support strikes

Educate about the carbon footprint

Educate and engage your customers in climate action

Organize a Hackathon for good and engage your engineers in positive action

Share your service for free with non-profits and people, countries in need

Use technology for good

There are many established as well as new banks that offer similar services to their traditional competitors, except for one important difference: They invest your money according to high sustainability standards.

Assess your current bank's credentials

Decide on your approach

Your corporate finance can influence the climate more than you think. Use this power:
- Look at how the company capital is secured, such as where it gets its project financing and loans. Where possible, move this business to [banks](https://www.triodos.co.uk/about-us) that refuse to invest in businesses dependent on fossil fuels.
- Talk to your accountants. They can help set up systems to measure and manage climate related externalities. They can support your finance team in raising and allocating the funds your organization needs for transition and adaptation, embedding greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions within your organization’s decision-making processes, and accurately tracking and reporting performance against reduction targets. 
- If your company operates in the financial sector, ensure your financial investments support [low carbon initiatives](http://fossilfreefunds.org).

Change your bank

Apply pressure on your current bank

Share with your stakeholders

Join public campaigns

Influence your partners and suppliers

Switch to a sustainable bank 

A green, sustainable business model means that you are creating a net positive impact on our climate while making money (or being financed through donations). 

Identify areas of impact

Identify innovation opportunity spaces

Get external help

Your company creates a net positive impact on the climate while growing its business? Then this checkbox is for you.

Discover how QLab Think Tank GmbH is taking climate action

QLab Think Tank GmbH joined forces with hundreds of others to take immediate, collaborative, and transparent action to fight climate change.

Raising the bar on climate leadership