Sustainability at the Robert Bosch Stiftung

The climate crisis is increasingly threatening our livelihoods, and its effects often impact particularly those who have hardly contributed to its emergence. Since 2020, we have established a dedicated Climate Change funding topic. We focus on contributing to sustainable and climate-resilient land use in Europe and selected countries in West and East Africa. From our work in the Global Issues funding area, we are conscious of the multiple interactions between climate change and, for example, migration, inequality, or peace.  

To become more sustainable as an organization, we at the Robert Bosch Stiftung have decided to focus on the ecological dimension of sustainability in our own actions and to reduce the Foundation's carbon footprint to a minimum. Our goal is to become a net-zero organization by 2050. This means that, with the exception of unavoidable residuals, we will avoid, reduce or offset all emissions – in that order of mitigation (avoid first, then reduce, then compensate). And we will reduce our offsets more and more over time. A first important step for us is to achieve climate neutrality (including offsets) by 2025.

To determine our emissions, we have been compiling a corporate carbon footprint (CCF) for our business activities in accordance with the global standard Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol since 2019. We have derived measures based on the results and developed a roadmap for achieving targets. In this context, the CCF 2019 represents our base year for formulating targets and measuring the progress of our CO2 reduction. 

We determined greenhouse gas emissions (CO2 equivalents, abbreviated CO2e) in all three scopes of the GHG Protocol. The scopes distinguish between direct and indirect emission sources. Direct emissions (Scope 1) occur directly at the organization level (e.g. buildings). Indirect emissions (Scopes 2 and 3) are those that arise from the organization's activities but are not directly owned or controlled by the Foundation. 

Our emissions from Scopes 1-3 amounted to 998 tons of CO2 in 2019. The majority were in Scope 3 and were mainly a result of business trips and overnight stays. 

In 2020, there was a significant decrease in CO2e to 357 tons, mainly due to a sharp reduction in travel and event activities of the Robert Bosch Stiftung during the pandemic. 

In 2021, we experienced a slight increase in emissions of 7% to 382 tons of CO2e compared to 2020. The main reason was a rise in travel and on-site work at our locations as pandemic restrictions were eased. For 2022, we expect a temporary increase in our emissions due to renewed mobility. However, our goal is to reduce this footprint continuously and permanently. 

To firmly anchor sustainability in our own organization and in the philanthropic sector, we also seek exchange with others. The Robert Bosch Stiftung was one of the first German foundations to sign the "International Philanthropy Commitment on Climate Change." Together with philanthropic organizations from around the world, we are publicly signaling our commitment to greater engagement in tackling the climate crisis.