The long-established family business takes its responsibility for climate protection seriously and has been working with myclimate in various areas for many years. Griesser’s measures focus on three main areas:
- The development of energy-efficient solutions and continuous reduction of avoidable CO2 emissions
- Raising employee awareness of environmental issues
- Offsetting unavoidable CO2 emissions by means of myclimate carbon offset projects
At Griesser, developing an ambitious climate strategy is an important instrument for a long-range and effective commitment to climate protection. On the one hand, the company is thus addressing the question of what entrepreneurial risks climate change poses. On the other hand, the blind manufacturer has discovered tangible opportunities in the area of climate protection by intensively addressing the issue – not only in terms of corporate responsibility, but also in relation to product innovation and business development.
Mr. Neuhauser, why is Griesser committed to climate protection?
Sugar-coating problems and waiting to see what happens is not how we do things. We are aware that climate protection is necessary and that it will take committed private and commercial initiatives to solve the biggest challenge of this century. It is our mission to lead the way in our industry in this regard.
What does sun protection and shading have to do with climate protection?
A great deal, as we were initially astonished to discover. Using external thermal protection, it is possible to reduce cooling energy requirements by up to 40% in summer. In winter, targeted heat input can save up to 25% of heating energy. Intelligently and automatically controlled blinds thus achieve a significantly smaller carbon footprint despite the aluminium used.
Does this mean that your products “are” climate protection?
You could say that. But that’s not enough for us. We can do more to protect the climate. For example, with an emission-free fleet of vehicles, we intend to reduce our annual diesel consumption from one million litres to zero – we aim to achieve this by 2030 at the latest. With myclimate’s support, we have developed a comprehensive climate vision for Griesser with the goal of making our company climate-neutral by 2050.
To what extent would you consider climate protection an opportunity for business development and product innovation?
As far as product innovation is concerned, climate protection is stimulating new research and development. We are likely to see an increasing number of new materials and manufacturing methods in the coming years.
The ever-increasing range of electric vehicles has inspired us to restructure our service fleet and place it closer to the customer. This protects the environment and brings us potential for additional orders.
While I can only speak for Griesser, we have long underestimated the benefits of climate-oriented product and service development. We have meanwhile recognised this potential and can now benefit from it in many ways as a company.
How important is climate protection in your industry?
On the one hand, we see many initiatives and activities in the area of climate protection, which is definitely very good and valuable. However, I sometimes have the impression that certain commitments are rather superficial and the will to adopt really effective measures is not the same everywhere. But let’s be fair; the important thing is that things start to happen at all and that we set the ball rolling. Every major commitment starts with small step.
What role did myclimate play in the development of Griesser’s climate strategy?
myclimate and Griesser have been working together for many years. For example, in the climate-neutral disposal of dismantled blinds during building renovations. For me, it was an obvious step to also use myclimate’s expertise to analyse our value chain and our products. From today’s perspective, it’s undeniably a success story that has significantly helped us as a company to develop our climate vision
What did you particularly appreciate?
It was important for me that we were able to work out a comprehensive vision as a basis rather than implementing individual measures. myclimate’s support was very valuable here. In addition to the analytical competence already mentioned, I particularly value the wealth of ideas and inspiration.
Mr. Neuhauser, thank you very much for the interview.
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