ILF Sustainability Report 2021

CHANGING MOBILITY PATTERNS
We have furthermore committed to taking many additional
steps to improve our carbon footprint. When it comes to
travelling, we deliberately avoid taking short-haul flights
and instead favor travelling by train where and whenever
possible. We are gradually exchanging the vehicles in our
company car fleet for battery electric vehicles, and at some
of our offices we have installed roof-top PV systems in
order to generate our own electricity for our computers and
electric cars.
REDUCING WASTE
Whereas the use of plastic bottles for water and boxes for
food was standard practice in many geographies a few
years ago, their abundance has today been reduced in
practically all of our offices, cutting down on plastic waste.
An additional area of significant waste in the past was
paper; by going digital with all of our internal processes
and by using a variety of communication technologies to
collaborate with clients and business partners, we are
significantly reducing our paper consumption as well as
increasing our efficiency.
COVID-19 AND ACCELERATED CHANGE
In the face of increased rates and varieties of COVID-19
infections in 2021, our business model proved to be
surprisingly resilient as we have been able to continue
supporting our clients without any interruption to our
services. In fact, the pandemic has boosted our ability to
collaborate virtually – something which was previously
unimaginable! Since March 2020 most of our internal and
external meetings (those with our clients and business
partners) have been conducted virtually. As a consequence,
the number of business trips has been significantly reduced,
as have our costs and our ecological and carbon footprints.
Alongside this we have also gained valuable time, which
was previously spent travelling.
Another challenge which we faced in 2021 was how to lead
our distributed teams remotely. Although we still see the
need for further improvements in this regard, some
significant progress has been achieved. Due to the positive
experiences made with the hybrid work model – which
enables us to work from varying locations, enhances our
flexibility and allows us to serve our clients around the globe
to the best possible extent – working partially from home
will remain part of our business model for years to come.
TARGET SETTING
With this, our first sustainability report, we have recorded
and evaluated our status quo with regard to sustainability
and have initiated our corporate transformation in this respect.
In order for us to contribute to the shaping of a future
characterized by sustainable development, we are not only
setting ourselves sustainability-related targets in many
different areas, but will also be making every attempt to
meet these targets and will be closely monitoring our
progress in the future.
We are not just doing this and all of the
above because we have to – but because
we want to! …because we are deeply
convinced that it is necessary!
Klaus Lässer, CEO
ILF Sustainability Report 2021 /
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