Sustainability at NATURSTROM

Sustainable products for communication and office

Our printing products are produced as climate- and eco-friendly as possible. Amongst other things, we are careful to use recycled paper, plant-based colours, green power and a climate-neutral dispatch. Concerning office supplies and material for the external use, we also attach great importance to a high climate and environment compatibility. Thus, for instance, we buy products made of recycled or renewable resources whenever possible. In our employees’ kitchens, fair trade organic coffee and tea as well as fresh organic fruit are available for the staff.  

naturstrom sustainability group

To continuously improve sustainability in our day-to-day business, we established the naturstrom sustainability group. It works out sustainability measures and puts them to practice across locations.  

Sustainability in the IT division

When buying electrical appliances, we increasingly opt for resource and energy efficiency. The naturstrom web page and the internet portal “energiezukunft” run on green power. Concerning our IT support, we cooperate with a green IT company that gets naturstrom. Many of the sustainable companies that deliver to us get naturstrom and thus produce their products with climate- and eco-friendly power.    

Sustainable mobility

Whenever possible, we go to business meetings by train or our company-owned electric cars, which of course are charged with naturstrom. Employees can get to work in an eco-friendly way thanks to the company ticket for public transportation. For local meetings and lunch breaks, naturstrom bikes are available.

Global NATURSTROM commitment

Combining renewable energies and development aid

Climate change doesn’t stop at frontiers and the poorest countries are the ones suffering most from climate changes. naturstrom has taken part in numerous projects in the past, which sensibly combine renewable energies and development aid, like for example in Gambia and Bangladesh.  

Solar lights for villages in Bangladesh

Since autumn 2008 we cooperate with the ANDHERI HILFE Bonn. It installs solar plants in remote villages in Bangladesh that are not connected to the electrical grid. That way, the living conditions of people in need are improved: The plants generate electrical light and replace health- and climate-damaging paraffin lamps. The expenses of the fuel for these lamps strongly burden the families financially. Moreover, by means of a solar plant, each family can save approximately 600 kg CO2 annually. So far, more than 3.000 solar plants have been commissioned, not least of all because of numerous naturstrom clients that decided to contribute to the project by way of a bonus in our member-get-member programme.  

Solar power for a clinic in Gambia

In 2012, a clinic in West African Gambia got equipped with a solar plant by naturstrom. Its 44 modules generate about 12.000 kWh green power a year, enough to supply the clinic premises and the water pump with energy. Thanks to a special battery system, the energy supply is secured around the clock. This project demonstrates the opportunities inherent in renewable energies for remote regions in developing countries. Through so-called off-grid systems (autonomous systems for the energy supply without connection to the public electrical grid), solar power can be used directly on-site to cover the own energy requirements.

Awards and Prizes

Top marks for product and service

In September of 2016, the magazine ÖKO-TEST rated our energy product naturstrom in the test “Green power tariffs” SEHR GUT (very good). It had already gained that mark in the years 2010-2015. naturstrom also came in first at a customer survey on the customer orientation of 32 energy suppliers, carried out by the analysis and consulting firm ServiceValue GmbH in the summer of 2016. The overall evaluation is composed of single valuations in the categories “tariff”, “customer consulting”, “customer service”, “sustainability and responsibility” as well as “price-performance ratio”. For each of these, naturstrom obtained the mark “very good”. In 2013, the Deutsches Institut für Service-Qualität (DIS; German Institute for Service Quality) gave naturstrom the quality valuation SEHR GUT (very good) in the study “energy providers 2013” for the section “telephone customer service” and GUT (good) for the section “service”. In 2008, the DIS named us best energy provider available in all of Germany. Stiftung Warentest (Foundation Goods Quality Test) certified us a “very strong” environmental commitment and “good” tariff conditions in their last green power test (issue 2/2012). In 2009, it named the company “test winner in consulting” and especially emphasized the customer-friendliness.  

Prizes for sustainability and brand management

The naturstrom AG got voted one of the five most sustainable brands in Germany by the Deutscher Nachhaltigkeitspreis (German Sustainability Prize) at the end of 2016. The jury justified their decision with sustainability being the credible and central brand core since the foundation of naturstrom. The category “Germany’s most sustainable brand” honours companies that pay attention to sustainability aspects in their brand management in an exemplary manner. We got a further prize for our brand management in 2015: naturstrom was awarded one of the German “Marke des Jahrhunderts” (Brands of the Century) in the category “sustainable energy supply”. This prize, existing since 2003, gets awarded to products and companies that are emblematic for their kind or have left a significant mark on the development of an entire line of business.  

naturstrom commitment for the extension of renewable energies honoured

In the same year, we were honoured for our long-standing commitment to the energy transition: The naturstrom chairman Dr. Thomas E. Banning received the B.A.U.M.-Umweltpreis (B.A.U.M. Environmental Prize) in the category “small and medium-sized companies”. In their justification, the jury stresses that Dr. Banning has left a significant mark on the development of the green power sector with naturstrom. At the same time, he stands up for a decentralized, citizen-friendly energy transition with great commitment. Furthermore, the naturstrom AG is front runner concerning economic sustainability among select energy providers. The evaluation is based on a study by the Institut für Wirtschafstprüfung (IWP; Institute for Auditing) of the Saarland University. Among other things, it emphasizes naturstrom’s transparent publication policy and the supply of all customers with 100 per cent green power. In July of 2014, we won the renowned Lammsbräu Nachhaltigkeitspreis (Lammsbräu Sustainability Prize) in the category “company”. We got the award for our long-standing and consistent commitment concerning the decentralized and citizen-friendly energy transition.  

Pioneering role in supplying customers with 100% renewable energies honoured

For the pioneering role in the system integration of renewable energies in power trading, we received the Europäischer Solarpreis (European Solar Prize) in 2013. A year before, we already got honoured for our pioneering role: In October of 2012, naturstrom was among the winners of the Nachhaltigkeitspreis der Ethikbank (Ethical Bank Sustainability Prize). In its reasons, it stresses our consistent support of the extension of renewable energies, our particularly high share of German wind and hydroelectric power plants in the energy supply and our commitment in developing countries. Shortly after the company founding, naturstrom already got its first award: naturstrom was available on the deregulated electricity market for the first time in 1999, when we got the Deutscher Solarpreis (German Solar Prize) – for our pilot function as provider of an energy tariff that comes 100% from renewable energies.