Anchoring sustainability through shared responsibilities

Although passionate staff are involved throughout the organization, in general Techem’s approach to sustainability is built on three primary pillars: 

• Techem Research Institute on Sustainability (TRIOS): Has the main responsibility in the Techem Group for collecting data and for the methodology for determining the CO₂ footprint, the research, analysis and implementation activities for consumption transparency, energy efficiency and CO₂e reduction, as well as the monitoring and reporting of the results.

• Finance: Ensures compliance with regulatory, investor, and capital market requirements, as well as ensuring the quality of all necessary documentation.

• Human Resources, Legal and Claims: Oversees implementation of employee  policies, including collecting and analysing relevant data. 

Techem also takes care to conduct robust assessments of the materiality of its efforts. This process comprises identifying impact, opportunities, and risks, conducting interviews with external stakeholders, collecting assessments from internal stakeholders, and validating and implementing the results.

Fields of action and Sustainability Program

The content of our Sustainability Report is based on the ESG criteria: Environmental, Social, Governance. 

At Techem, we have bundled our sustainability activities along these criteria into three main areas:

Sphere of impact

We also understand that our sustainability efforts have implications well beyond our walls, and as we set our programs in place, we remain aware of three crucial spheres of impact.

The climate and the environment

Our products and services improve the energy efficiency of buildings equipped with Techem’s digital solutions, helping them abate CO₂e emissions and transition to renewable energy sources. We have also implemented programs in our own operations to conserve resources and lower emissions. Together, these efforts support the goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2045.

The individual and the community

Our commitment encompasses the individual, our employees, who receive the best training and development opportunities, and includes creating mentally and physically safe working environments, including the enrichment brought by diverse workplaces. More broadly, we work with our clients to ensure they are satisfied with our solutions, as well as striving to develop innovations that contribute to our local and global communities.

Ethical business conduct

A modern, value-oriented corporate culture is essential to our commitment to sustainability and an ethical environment. Among the components of our focus on long-term value creation are fair competition, a transparent pricing policy, ethical behaviour, and sustainability all along our supply chain.

Techem Research Institute on Sustainability (TRIOS)

The Techem Research Institute on Sustainability (TRIOS), headed by Dr. Arne Kähler, is our flagship effort for research and analysis of topics relevant to sustainability across the group’s offices in 18 countries.

TRIOS was founded in 2022 to help us advance our efforts toward increased energy efficiency and reduced CO₂e emissions. Through collaborative efforts and analysis, we will contribute to creating a low-emission society with a stable and affordable supply of energy and other resources.

Driving decarbonization

TRIOS research focuses largely on using renewable energy supplies, increasing the energy efficiency of our processes, and reducing CO₂e emissions. The results also help lower the carbon footprints of the building stock equipped with our solutions.

Through our research we have created a rich database that allows us to not only calculate the CO₂e footprint of the Techem Group, but also to determine the consumption patterns and CO₂e characteristics in our clients’ buildings. The institute also standardizes our device technologies and billing bases, handles patent management, and takes the lead in discussions and partnerships with social stakeholders, scientific institutions, and other relevant organizations.

This multi-pronged approach has strengthened the environmental dimension across our organization.

Techem Atlas for energy, heat & water

A hallmark of the scientific research conducted by TRIOS is the Energy, Heating and Water Atlas (formerly known as the Consumption Figures Study), which we regularly publish. To protect privacy, the study is based on anonymized data on energy and water consumption and the associated costs of around 1.2 million apartments in Germany in more than 110,000 residential buildings.