Climate change is the greatest challenge of our time. That's why we aim to keep putting it on the agenda through our reporting. But that's not enough for us. We want to take change into our own hands and improve as a company step by step. For us, this means acting in an ecologically, economically and socially responsible manner - our basis for making a real contribution to society and a sustainable future.
Environment
In close cooperation with our parent company Hubert Burda Media, we analyse our emissions in detail - and derive measures. Our aim is to drastically reduce our emissions and to operate in a more environmentally friendly way by using our resources consciously.
Balance & reduce
As part of the "getting better" programme, Burda has been carrying out a detailed assessment of CO2e emissions since 2020. This involves calculating all greenhouse gas emissions, i.e. not only CO2, but also methane and fluorinated gases, for example. On the basis of this balance sheet, targeted measures are continuously derived and implemented for the entire Group in the four core areas of energy, resources, mobility and education.
PlanetForward
Advancing sustainability and thus contributing to the preservation of our planet: at the grassroots initiative "PlanetForward", a team of different colleagues is committed to making us more sustainable as a company - on a large and small scale. To this end, they use the balance sheet figures collected as a basis and ensure that sustainability is also firmly anchored in the company's organisation. As part of the initiative, for example, sustainable and meat-reduced event catering has been established throughout the company.
Sustainable mobility
With good technical equipment and the experience gained from many years of mobile working, we are able to significantly reduce business trips and commutes. We attend appointments and travel in person if they represent real added value compared to the virtual setup. With offers such as the BurdaBike, a discounted leasing programme for bicycles, as well as charging stations for electric cars at our locations, we create additional incentives for our colleagues to get around sustainably.
Circular Economy & Refurbishing
In our work, we rely on mobile devices that consume a lot of energy and resources in their production. By working with our partner Everphone, we ensure that smartphones are returned to a sensible cycle after use by our colleagues. This means that the devices are repaired and reused in 95 per cent of cases. Unrepairable smartphones are professionally recycled.
Promoting biodiversity
We reward commitment to the environment: For every advertising campaign with a focus on sustainability that appears on our FOCUS online Earth and EFAHRER.com brands, 500 square metres of blossom paradise are created. Thanks to our cooperation partner Netzwerk Blühende Landschaft, valuable habitats are created for bees, bumblebees, butterflies and more - and at the same time we contribute to preserving the biodiversity of our homeland.
Social
We are responsible for the health of the people who work for us. That's why we support them with personalised and flexible offers to help them balance their work and private lives. A good working atmosphere and an open and non-exclusionary corporate culture are essential for us. That is why we are committed to inclusion and diversity and specifically promote social projects.
Live & work flexibly
We want to be a healthy organisation with healthy people. That is why we support our colleagues in harmonising their professional and private lives. Our contribution to this are flexible working time and part-time models, sabbaticals, workation, mobile office and freedom in the choice of work location, for example. We also offer mental health services, customised solutions for individual life situations and support for families. This is why we subsidise childcare, for example, and provide services for family carers.
FamilyForward
During parental leave, mothers and fathers are often far away from their jobs. Some of them feel left behind and find it difficult to return to work afterwards. Our "FamilyForward" programme is aimed at those who temporarily leave their job for family reasons, such as the birth of a child. For those who want to, this platform gives them the opportunity to stay informed about important movements in the company and to exchange ideas with other colleagues. This keeps us together and leaves no one behind.
Mission Female
As a media partner of the "Mission Female" network, we publish specialist articles by inspiring women on our high-reach portals FOCUS online and BUNTE.de. In these articles, the women not only describe how they have made a career and founded companies, but are also ruthlessly honest about the things they have failed at or the taboos they have had to break. By giving these women the big stage, we hope to encourage many more.
Governance
Every month, we reach 40 million people with our editorial content. As one of the largest opinion-forming media in Germany, we put the climate crisis on the agenda - transparently, relevantly and constructively.
Knowledge as the basis
We are a learning organisation. With our in-house talent factory, the BurdaForward Academy, we build on our strengths and acquire new skills. We also hold regular workshops and information events on sustainability and constructiveness - always with the aim of equipping our colleagues with the knowledge they need to shape the organisation sustainably.
Constructive journalism
Constructive media coverage is a matter close to our hearts. We don't just want to talk about problems, but also about solutions that can set an example for our society. We enrich our articles with fresh ideas, surprising facts and new perspectives. In this way, we want to move away from the perception that everything is bad - and away from news that consumers avoid because it is incriminating.
Constructive World Award
"One Purpose - many Faces" was the motto of the Constructive World Award, which was presented by FOCUS online for the first time in 2023. The aim of the award is to give visibility to outstanding critical and constructive media contributions as well as their creators and protagonists. The tandems honoured in this way are role models for how we can better position ourselves as a society to overcome crises and challenges.
FOCUS online Earth
On the young FOCUS online Earth brand, we are constantly reporting both critically and constructively on the climate crisis. We deliberately opened our office in the Ahr valley for this purpose. We "came here to stay" - because the dramatic developments of climate change are hardly more evident than in this historic location. Around 70 renowned guest authors from science, politics and business are part of the network of experts with whom we look at climate change from all sides - comprehensively and always with a solution-orientated view to the future.
EFAHRER.com
An idea becomes big: when it was founded in 2018, EFAHRER.com was the first online portal to focus exclusively on e-mobility, electricity and renewable energy. Today, the e-mobility portal welcomes several million users every month who come to find out more, share their experiences and find and buy the right e-car or e-bike. With a view to our environment, it is a double pleasure that the number of interested parties is increasing - and here they can find well-founded analyses, model comparisons and tests to help them make their decision.
Circular Republic
Based on the conviction that circular economy is a real success factor for environmental and climate protection, we are cooperating with CIRCULAR REPUBLIC. In this initiative, UnternehmerTUM, Europe's largest start-up centre, pools all the forces surrounding the circular economy and enables companies and start-ups to develop new sustainable business models. As part of the partnership, we are reporting explicitly on the first CIRCULAR REPUBLIC FESTIVAL on FOCUS online Earth and giving start-ups, experts and established entrepreneurs a chance to have their say.