More and more freelancers and agencies want to work sustainably. But what does that actually mean? And which measures are best suited? Stephie Keilholz and Philipp Stakenborg from the agency Das Gute Ruft tell you more in our interview.

As a creative agency for sustainable companies and projects, you want to set a good example. What are the most important levers in your office or at work to do good yourself?

There are many smaller and larger steps that companies and organizations can take on the journey to sustainability. The good news is that the journey is a hell of a lot of fun, is good for the world and gives employees a greater sense of purpose than, for example, a fancy office with table football.

Optimize website sustainably

Our office runs on green electricity, just like our climate-friendly hosting with Raidboxes. Data protection is important to us, which is why our website does not use any trackers, cookies or data octopuses. A positive side effect: only around 0.46g of CO2 is emitted per page view, which is 76% better than the average (see the Website Carbon Calculator).

We avoid plastic waste, unnecessary new purchases and are big fans of recycling. As a starting signal, we can recommend that other companies take part in monthly challenges such as Plastic Free July. This puts climate protection in the focus of all employees.

One very important factor - even if it only indirectly affects our office work - is nutrition: we eat a purely plant-based and largely regional diet. Since this year, we have even been growing some of our food from our own vegetable garden. However, the first harvest was still quite small. If you want to start small, you can introduce a plant-based Thursday and discover vegan dishes together as a team. Companies can also opt for purely vegan catering at events. Ideally, this should also be low waste, i.e. with little packaging waste.

Business trips are another major factor in the CO2 footprint: 21,400 such activities take place every hour in Germany alone, i.e. almost 187.5 million business trips per year. Flying is the most climate-damaging way to get to a business meeting. It is therefore worth traveling by train. A digital meeting is also suitable for many meetings.

Business trips as leverage

This is not only good in terms of sustainability, but also relieves employees of too much travel stress. In 2017, we ourselves decided to stop flying for business and pleasure. In the summer, we launched a campaign to this end: www.lovingtheatmosphere.org.

Companies should support their employees in choosing sustainable means of transportation and provide incentives for more sustainability. For example, special leave for employees who forego business flights and take the train instead.

How employees get to work every day also has a major impact on their carbon footprint: daily commuting by train or bicycle is much more sustainable than by (company) car. Home office days or full-time remote work can also reduce emissions.

Tip: Working remotely or from home brings with it a number of challenges. You can find out more about this in our blog post Working remotely: Advantages & disadvantages for employees and companies.

The topic of further education can also be charged with "green". Attending events in the eco-social cosmos regularly gives us new impetus. And it promotes the transfer of knowledge in our own sustainability efforts.

Those who already have the aforementioned levers in the focus of their own entrepreneurial activities can also join initiatives such as Entrepreneurs 4 Future. Or sign the Sustainable Web Manifesto, for example.

Last but not least, we would like to encourage all agencies, freelancers, companies and employees to take to the streets for climate protection. Fridays for Future is calling for the 4th Global Climate Strike on November 29. We'll be there too, of course!

Select suppliers

It's not always easy to find good sustainable suppliers. For example, we spent a long time researching what has a better environmental footprint: Cloth towels vs paper towels vs reusable towel rolls for employees. How do you go about finding the "greenest" solution in each case?

Research is not always easy, as there are still many "non-sustainable solutions" out there. We would be thrilled if suppliers, tools and products would indicate their ecological footprint. But that is probably still a vision of the future at the moment.

We always keep our eyes and ears open for manufacturers that are already pioneering today. Trade fairs also bring us into contact with good service providers. For example, the Green World Tour.

Tip: Can there even be a sustainable internet? And how "green" is WordPress? Read more about this in our article on WordPress and sustainability.

Some criteria help us with the selection:

• Does the company use green electricity?
• Has the company prepared a common good balance sheet?
• If it is a physical product: where does it come from, how long is the journey? Under what conditions was it produced? How durable is it?
• Are really sustainable materials used? This point in particular is tricky, as there are many seals and certifications, not all of which necessarily indicate that products are actually ecological.
• Can the product also be bought second hand?
• How do others who have similar sustainability requirements to us do it?

And of course the question is always: do I really need it? Because it is most sustainable when something doesn't have to be produced in the first place.

Does ecological and social action actually lead to higher costs, so that smaller companies are at a disadvantage here? Or is this a bogus argument?

No, ecological and social action does not necessarily lead to additional costs:

• Sustainable providers of online services or products are not necessarily more expensive
• Sustainable products are generally more durable than conventional products
• Paying attention to sustainability in all areas of the company can be very economical: producing less marketing material, avoiding disposable products that have to be bought again and again, energy-saving lighting, etc.

If you consider that the actual costs (working conditions, ecological destruction, etc.) are not taken into account by most providers, then we should always opt for an eco-social provider, even apart from the money factor.

Green Hosting

You rely on the climate-friendly hosting of Raidboxes. How did you come up with this? And how satisfied are you with it, apart from the ecological aspect?

We are super satisfied with Raidboxes, even more enthusiastic: performance, support, company values - with you we have found our absolute favorite hosting provider. Good things get around: We came across you via a recommendation from our eco-social network. They were impressed by your dashboard, your performance and your affiliate system.

Das Gute Ruft is an eco-social creative agency. Who are your clients?

Our customers include, for example, the petition platform Change.org, the Social Entrepreneurship Network Germany(SEND e.V.), the engagement platform vostel and the Wiesbaden Environmental Agency. What these projects have in common is that they address the pressing issues of our time. And that they strive for positive change on a social and/or ecological level.

Select customer projects

Do you select your customers yourself? Or do you also reject projects if they do not meet your criteria for sustainability?

We are a value-driven agency and work exclusively with ecological or social projects. To check whether a new project request suits us, we first take a look at the organization's mission and vision. And we take a closer look at the website and the product or service.

We clarify which of the 17 goals (SDGs) are being pursued, the framework in which the project is taking place and who the partners or sponsors involved are. This gives us a good feeling as to whether we are the right agency for the project. If it is not the right fit, we reject the request: We only offer what we are convinced of. And we don't support anything that doesn't help the world or our customers.

There are already enough agencies out there that put profit at the top of their business goals. We believe that more value-driven agencies are needed. Because as creative service providers, we can play a direct role in improving the status quo.

A few words about you and your team?

Behind Das Gute Ruft are Stephie Keilholz and Philipp Stakenborg. After years of working in conventional marketing jobs and agency projects, we founded our eco-social creative agency in April 2018. To focus our work on organizations that are working for a better world.

We firmly believe in the transformative power of design and good marketing. Both disciplines have the ability to simplify communication, improve experiences, appeal to people and inspire them.