"The first step is to dare"

A landscaping company on the way to a more sustainable future Erhardt Garten- und Landschaftsbau GmbH (in German) is one of the first two companies in the gardening and landscaping sector to publish a comprehensive sustainability report in accordance with the DNK standard (DNK = German Sustainability Code). Managing Director Philipp Erhardt talks about the process, his motivation and the challenges and opportunities of the topic in an interview with the German Federal Association of Gardening, Landscaping and Sports Field Construction (BGL).

What motivated you to dedicate yourself to the topic of sustainability in your company? Was there a decisive event?

Erhardt: Sustainable management is part of our corporate principle and is firmly anchored in our corporate strategy. My curiosity to tackle the topic on a larger scale was aroused by various association processes. For example, as a company, we took part in the "Corporate Carbon Footprint" (in German) pilot project organised by the Baden-Württemberg Gardening, Landscaping and Sports Ground Construction Association, in which the company's own carbon footprint was determined. I also took part in the BGL's sustainability working group. The dialogue there made me realise that there is much more to the term "sustainability". It's not just about doing business in a climate-friendly way. Making a company sustainable is an opportunity to put it on a new footing.

Submitting a sustainability report is not yet mandatory for the gardening and landscaping sector. Why have you nevertheless decided to publish a sustainability report now?

Erhardt: Publishing the report was rather secondary. For me, the sustainability report is more of a working document that we can use to regularly measure the status quo and our goals regarding sustainability in our company. As a company, this keeps us on the ball to continuously optimise our corporate processes. However, some interesting side processes in the social and economic area have emerged during the preparation of the report (in German). For example, we have started to draw up an internal code of conduct.

How did you go about preparing the report?

Erhardt: In October 2023, we held a workshop with ten employees with Mr Meyer from the management consultancy Kullmann und Meinen GmbH. That was the key event. We looked at our company from a social, economic and ecological perspective and set goals. The management consultancy then set out our results and the resulting areas for action in the published sustainability report. We don't have the time to do this ourselves in the company. The professional support and guidance provided by the management consultancy's experts was a huge relief for us. They took on a large part of the work, both in terms of time and organisation.

In which areas of gardening and landscaping do you see the greatest potential for sustainability?

Erhardt: As our company is at home in the project business, we only have very limited influence on the choice of materials. That's why the ecological area offers us the greatest potential – especially transport. This is where we can be most sustainable by avoiding process emissions. But there is also room for optimisation in the social sphere. We are therefore in the process of drawing up a code of conduct. As a company, we want to be as diverse as possible. This should also be communicated to the outside world by the team.

"We first have to sensitise customers to the use of local products."

And in contrast: In which operational areas is it more difficult to implement sustainable work processes?

Erhardt: The upstream and downstream process emissions are difficult. Unfortunately, we still know too little about the materials we use in terms of their carbon footprint. Although there is already a large selection of domestic products, particularly in the area of natural stone, these are often considerably more expensive than natural stone from the Far East. We first need to sensitise customers to the use of domestic products (in German).

What organisational issues need to be considered when working on a sustainability report?

Erhardt: As the head of the company, I have made sustainability a priority for myself. Of course, implementing sustainable company processes is a team effort. It doesn't work without the cooperation of our colleagues. We invested around two working days in the company itself. The management consultancy did most of the work, such as preparing the sustainability report. The processing of the company data was also very professional.

How would you like to promote the topic of sustainability in your company in the future? Is there anything you are still planning in the medium or long term?

Erhardt: A timetable or specific dates for realising our goals are already defined in the sustainability report. We regularly review the achievement of our goals based on the report. In the long term, we want to achieve all the defined goals and then set ourselves new ones. We will certainly organise another workshop for this purpose.