CCB Magazine

Stephan Bohle: “ We need to get going now ”

Photo: © Kerstin Jana Kater

An entire society is adapting to sustainability. But how does a company switch to sustainability? Stephan Bohle from futurestrategy has been advising on this for years. We spoke with him.
 

INTERVIEW   Alison Winter    andJens Thomas

CCB Magazine: Mr. Bohle, how long have you been working as a consultant focusing on sustainability?

Stephan Bohle: I studied communications in the 1990s, and at some point the question came up: How can we position ourselves for the future? How can we become more sustainable? That's when I decided to make sustainability my focus. Today, we agree that something needs to be done. It's really only a question of how sustainability will be achieved, no longer a question of whether. That wasn't the case for a long time.

CCB Magazine:You advise companies that want to switch to sustainability. How do you do that?

Stephan Bohle:We always start with an analysis: Where does the company stand? What does the competition look like and what are key fields of action in the context of sustainability? I advise everyone to take a holistic and thorough approach here and not to do things halfheartedly. If you want to become sustainable, you have to transform your entire business model: Processes, structures, the company's mindset, culture and values. This is not a sprint. It's a marathon. Companies need to be clear about that.

CCB Magazine:Which companies do you advise and what do you offer them specifically?

Stephan Bohle:I advise medium-sized companies and corporate groups. In a first step, I usually apply the so-called N-compass method. This implies a comprehensive analysis on the question of what impact the company has on the environment and society and, vice versa, what impact the environment and society have on the business activities of a company. Other practical standards would be SAFE (Sustainability Assessment for Enterprises) or the environmental management system EMAS, or EMAS Easy. But not all of them are equally suitable for everyone. EMAS certification, for example, is aimed primarily at technically focused companies, engineering firms or the manufacturing industry. The certificate ensures that all environmental aspects, from energy consumption to waste and emissions, are implemented in a legally compliant and transparent manner. This is less relevant for creative professionals. I would recommend creative companies to work along the contents of the very well established German Sustainability Code (DNK Code). The DNK Code has been in existence since 2011, listing 20 criteria in four areas - strategy, process management, environment and society. The Code was developed by the German Council for Sustainable Development as a cross-sector transparency standard for reporting corporate sustainability performance. However, it can also be based on the GRI standard of the Global Reporting Initiative. This is a set of globally recognized international standards on sustainability that creates transparency and comparability by listing specific key figures and indicators.

CCB Magazine:Can you give a practical example of a company that has successfully switched to sustainability?

Stephan Bohle:Take Vaude, a family-run company that has been carbon neutral at its headquarters since 2012. In 2015, Vaude also became the first company in the outdoor industry to publish a public good balance sheet. On a point scale of -2,850 to +1,000, the company scored 502 points. Vaude scored particularly well in the areas of "ecological design of products" and "reduction of ecological impact", and even very well in "ethical procurement". The common good balance is about the common good of society, not about financial performance. The focus is on human dignity, solidarity, ecological sustainability, social justice, democratic co-determination, and transparency.

CCB Magazine:Does switching to sustainability cost companies more money, or do they end up saving something?

Stephan Bohle:I would ask the question differently: How can I as a company ensure that I will still be able to operate successfully in ten years' time? In the future, I will no longer be able to avoid sustainability standards. Since sustainability always has something to do with saving and reducing the use of resources in terms of efficiency, money can certainly be saved in many places. In principle, unfortunately, companies that operate sustainably are often still at a disadvantage because they internalize their environmental and social costs to a greater extent rather than outsourcing them to society and the environment. This principle will hopefully change soon, for example via the CO2 price introduced since January 2021, which starts at a low 25 euros per ton. In the next few years, the CO2 price will certainly rise sharply. Companies that emit a lot of CO2, for example in production or services, will be charged more. Another regulatory driver for greater sustainability could be the Supply Chain Act passed in June 2021.

CCB Magazine:In what way?

Stephan Bohle:The new Supply Chain Act obliges companies with more than 3,000 employees to stop violating human rights and environmental standards through their supply chains. At the European level, the EU Commission has stipulated that from 2024 companies with a size of 250 employees must in principle report on sustainability aspects on a mandatory basis. And from 2026, small companies with ten or more employees will be added to the list. This will then also apply to the creative industries.

CCB Magazine:Creative companies often differ from big business in the sense that they put social and environmental standards first that big business doesn't even think about. If everyone has to become sustainable in the future, won't that rob creative companies of their business basis?

Stephan Bohle:I don't think so. Creativity, inventiveness and new narratives will still be needed in the future. The question is how we want to live, work and be mobile. Almost all products and services need to be "redesigned". For this, we need new messages, compelling stories and visuals of sustainability. This is where I see great potential for the creative industries.

CCB Magazine:Mr. Bohle, what needs to happen from a political perspective for the socio-ecological transformation to succeed?

Stephan Bohle:We must favor those who act in an ecologically and socially sustainable manner. What is bad for the environment and the climate must be sanctioned. We still have subsidies in Germany that promote what is bad. According to a study by the German Council for Sustainable Development in May of this year, the proportion of strict sustainability-oriented companies is only 0.15 percent of all German companies. That is clearly too low. However, I would not only hold companies and politicians accountable. We as consumers also have a responsibility. And the trend shows that 52 percent of all consumers now pay attention to sustainability when making purchases, and recent studies even put the figure at 70 percent, including an increasing number of younger people. In the long term, this will also change corporate culture. And those who neglect the issue of sustainability will eventually no longer be able to get money from banks or will have to pay high interest rates. For all of us, the point is: we need to get on the road now. We only have a time horizon of a few years left.

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Category: Knowledge & Analysis