“Nature is the largest economic sector and our most important service provider,” says Dr Frauke Fischer, one of Germany’s leading biodiversity experts. Some 60 percent of the world’s gross national product can be attributed to services associated with our ecosystems. And while climate change and the need for decarbonisation are issues that affect how the world will live in future, biodiversity determines whether we will have a future at all. Protecting ecosystems is therefore a matter of crucial environmental, social and economic importance.
As a construction and service company, GOLDBECK has a direct influence on biodiversity – a fact we are well aware of. That is one of the reasons why we integrated the design of open spaces around our construction projects into our planning years ago. We want to take a closer look at the impact and interdependencies of our business activities along the value and supply chain, the opportunities and risks that they present for natural environments and our company, and how we can manage them strategically. To help us with this, we have brought on board Dr Frauke Fischer and her agency auf! as an experienced partner from the scientific community. Together, we are conducting a fact-based analysis of the interdependencies between construction and biodiversity and developing an action plan.
Alongside the development of our strategy, we are looking at our sites and production processes through the lens of biodiversity – and have already started to get digging in many areas of the company. At the central GOLDBECK site in Bielefeld, for example, we are currently creating biodiverse outdoor spaces in accordance with the strict guidelines of the German Sustainable Building Council. “It’s important to us to create added value for nature and the people at our sites while also taking business considerations into account. Certification allows us to obtain external confirmation of our expertise,” says Dr Kati Herzog. Specific measures therefore include not only planting a wide range of different plant species, using materials that are typical of the location and providing shelter for local fauna, but also creating green social areas for our employees – including a barbecue area that was proposed by our apprentices and designed and produced in our training workshop. Another focus during the planning phase was on restoring the natural water balance. The result is that the amount of water flowing into the public sewer system is lower than the amount draining naturally, which not only benefits the environment but also saves money thanks to lower rainwater charges. “We’re also making exciting progress at other locations – for example in Avignon and Lyon,” adds Dr Kati Herzog. “These locations are currently undergoing one-year biodiversity audits that include test facilities for measures to promote biodiversity, among other things.”