A great project reaches its degree!

The integrated management systems team at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences has been addressing the challenges and opportunities of climate management in business practice for years. As part of a project funded by the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU), we have supported 10 companies from various industries in developing a roadmap to climate neutrality.

A key tool and outcome of our two-and-a-half-year project is the so-called roadmap: It outlines the necessary steps and measures to achieve the goal of climate neutrality by a specific date. By breaking the process down into individual, more manageable sub-goals, uncertainties and potential scenarios are also taken into account. This resulted in a clear and actionable path for all companies, enabling them to pursue the ambitious goal of climate neutrality in a planned and systematic manner.

To this end, project staff developed a GHG accounting tool as part of the project that tracks not only the companies’ GHG emissions but also their climate actions.

As part of our final workshop in late January 2025, we worked with the participating companies to review the status of the project goals and, in a workshop, reflected on the success factors and challenges companies face on their path to climate neutrality. It became clear that the most important success factor was the intensive and continuous collaboration between the companies and the university’s project team. Whether it was individual one-on-one support in using the GHG tool, informative workshops on new political and legal developments, or up-to-date information on state-of-the-art climate protection measures—the exchange of ideas and shared knowledge were the key to success. Without this project—as all the companies agreed—they would never have reached where they are today in terms of climate management.

As a special highlight of our closing workshop, we were able to present our 10 proud companies with their individual climate roadmaps, the GHG accounting tool we developed and which the companies completed, and their personal certificates of participation.

Even if the path to climate neutrality remains a major challenge for many companies, we have been able to lay an important foundation stone with this project. The companies are now equipped to continue on this important path with determination and independence.

The project managers Prof. Jana Brauweiler and Prof. Jakob Hildebrandt would like to thank the project team Sarah Barth, Markus Will, Lucas Wenzel and David Horsch for their excellent and tireless work.

Special thanks go to the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU), which funded this project and thus made it possible in the first place, and to Dr.-Ing. Jörg R. Lefèvre, Environmental Technology: Environmentally and Health-Friendly Processes and Products, for the regular professional exchange throughout the entire duration of the project.

Photo: Tom Richter