We stand up for human rights, social justice and sustainable development. For us, sustainability is not just an ecological issue, but also a social and economic one. Fairness and justice today and for future generations are in the foreground. Sustainability must not be an aloof topic that merely concerns a few. For the FES, sustainability must be feasible for all.
With the challenges of climate change and scarce natural resources under difficult conditions, advocacy for sustainability and change towards a sustainable organization is a question of credibility and an opportunity to
shape change together. Our concrete advocacy for greater sustainability is not just about climate justice, but connects to our feminist, decolonial, and peacebuilding ways of working.
We want to initiate an honest debate and get into action. As an organization, we are taking responsibility and make various adjustments: we operate our buildings in a more environmentally friendly way, we design our educational events to be more resource-efficient and inclusive, and we strengthen our organizational and work culture both at home and abroad.
To begin with, we are addressing these areas in four projects and gaining valuable experience for the further implementation of our own sustainability strategy. In this way, we are taking important steps toward fairness and justice – today and for future generations.
Making Events More Sustainable
Whether public evening events, seminars for employees, workshops for young people or offers for scholarship holders – with our political education events, we reach more than 100,000 people every year. We aim to contribute to a more just and livable future. Sustainability plays a major role in this. This starts with the event: Should it take place on-site or digitally? What needs to be considered when choosing a conference venue? How can sustainability be incorporated into the event as a topic of discussion? To provide orientation for employees of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, we developed a guide for sustainability in event management.
From Planning to Impact
The guide is based on the three pillars of sustainability: environmental protection, social impact, and economic criteria.
With introductory texts and checklists, it offers practical assistance for everyday work, covering three areas of event organization:
In an interactive infographic, we offer recommendations and impulses for more sustainable event management (only available in German).
More caring, equitable and just: A Country Office Sets out on its Journey
How can we make our work more sustainable? To us at FES Johannesburg (the national office South Africa and the regional FES Trade Union Competence Centre), the social dimension is particularly important.
Beyond being more ecologically sensitive, working more sustainably means being caring, equitable and just. It is about living up to our values, being more feminist and also addressing questions of decolonialization.
To achieve this, we initiated processes with regards to working conditions, project work and partner relations as well as facility management and mobility. We are reducing our ecological footprint, for example, by using solar energy and more rainwater, and by reducing our plastic consumption and the CO2 emissions of our vehicle fleet. When awarding contracts, we consider social and environmental criteria such as compliance with social and environmental standards.
Zero Tolerance for Violence and Discrimination
In the interest of social sustainability, we defined feminist minimum standards for our project work and events, which are now also the subject of all our agreements with partner organizations. We also pursue a zero-tolerance policy against all forms of violence and discrimination. For example, we introduced a strategy for dealing with sexual and gender-based harassment and a corresponding complaints procedure.
To enable more people to participate in our events, we are reducing barriers and expanding childcare options. We also developed internal tools to support employees in their care work and promote their mental health and personal development.
Change inspired by Feminism and Decolonialization
From a decolonization perspective, we take a critical look at our role and how we shape our partner relationships. For us, this means, among other things, moving away from the donor role and towards co-creating with partner organizations. In addition, as a team we are looking at how we can improve our internal relationships, especially between German directors and the rest of the team. In office and team management as well as in strategic planning, we are making decision-making processes more inclusive. We are strengthening the roles of team members and their visibility, and are working on a comprehensive feedback culture with a particular focus on feedback to leadership. Together, we are trying out and learning a lot - with the aim of living up to our values more consistently.
Facility Management for the Climate
Facility management plays a significant role in creating a more sustainable FES. After all, the building and construction sector is a major player, accounting for nearly 40 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions in Germany. We operate two office and event buildings in Berlin. We conserve resources and protect the climate by reducing energy consumption and using alternative energy sources.
Energy Powered by the Sun
We produce electricity with solar panels on our buildings' green, flat roofs. There are 340 modules on a total area of more than 1,500 square meters. The electricity that is not immediately consumed flows into two batteries to be used later. With around 92,000 kilowatt hours per year, the systems cover around 8 percent of the building's energy requirements and save approximately 54 tons of CO2.
We plan to implement sustainable resource management for the older of the two buildings. Based on a data survey, we worked out appropriate strategies in conjunction with a consulting firm and the central services of the FES in Berlin. The focus was on district heating. According to current certificates, about 90 percent of district heating is based on fossil fuels. We have developed short- and medium-term goals and measures to reduce this dependency.
Saving Heat and Electricity
By mid-2024, we want to have reduced heat consumption by 10 percent and electricity consumption by 8 percent. We will accomplish our goals by, for example, no longer relying on centralized hot water, optimizing the ventilation system and heat supply systems, and switching off unused cooling systems. In the medium term, we aim to reduce heat consumption by around a quarter using a reversible heat pump that cools in summer and heats in winter. We are also investigating whether geothermal energy can cover a quarter of the heating needs.
These measures will significantly contribute to operating our buildings more sustainably and economically. They can also be implemented in other organizations. Public advisory services and financing options can be of help. They can also be implemented in other organizations.
Sustainable Development of our Employees
We at the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung focus on our employees and their personal development by including sustainable personal development options. We aim to support each employee as individually as possible. What skills do they have? What do they still need to perform well in their jobs? We specifically concentrate on transferring knowledge and skills that help everyone progress – our employees, the FES as an organization, and the people at the core of our work.
Tailor-Made Additional Training
The human resources department of the FES understands sustainable personnel development as a continuous process.
To this end, we keep an eye on current trends in the world of employment while considering the FES's competence needs. On this basis, we regularly adapt our personnel development strategy and learning formats. When developing seminars, we evaluate employee, department, and unit feedback. In addition, seminar leaders ask participants in advance about their wishes and expectations. This allows us to offer customized training for individual colleagues and teams, enabling them to develop their full potential.
The FES offers an extensive range of education courses. In this way, we support employees in strengthening the expertise and skills required for their roles and tasks. To this end, we combine existing offerings into a continuing education program for all colleagues, with topics such as project management, innovation, communication, and conflict management. In this way, we support employees in strengthening the expertise and skills required for their roles and tasks. This way, we aim to optimize our work processes and make them more sustainable.
Learning Together
At the FES, we combine a wealth of expertise on various social issues. We want to make even greater use of this in the future, for example, by further intensifying cooperation and exchange between colleagues in the various departments. In this way, we want to ensure that more specialist knowledge is passed on to each other in the future. We offer training courses on methodical and didactic content transfer to promote this. For us, sustainability also means learning with and from each other.
In our interactive infographic, you can click from room to room to view our suggestions and download the corresponding guide and checklists. The goal here is not perfection right out of the gate. We want to set out together to act more sustainably.
Unfortunately, the infographic and materials are only available in German.