03.02.2025
In our increasingly digitalized world, the rapid development of an ever-increasing variety of technologies that shape our everyday lives, our working lives and our society is an unstoppable reality. Companies have an immense responsibility for how they use technology and the impact this has on their customers, employees, the environment and society as a whole.
This is where Corporate Digital Responsibility (CDR) comes into play: corporate responsibility and sustainability management in the digital age.
Benjamin Desche has been working strategically and operationally with digital media, platforms and advertising opportunities since founding a digital marketing agency in 2012, supporting SMEs with a wide range of opportunities to achieve great commercial success. Over time, however, the idea that digital activities of companies on the Internet also entail energy consumption also matured. As climate change worsened and he started a family, it became clear to Benjamin that digital marketing had to become more efficient and therefore more climate-friendly. This laid the foundation for ELECTREEFY.
The start-up ELECTREEFY from Aschheim near Munich increases the efficiency of websites and online stores and reduces energy consumption in the process. By optimizing the volume of data, the ecological CO2 footprint is reduced by up to 80%.
Benjamin, what motivated you to combine digitalization and sustainability?
Anyone who is economically successful digitally and generates their sales online should also take responsibility for the other side of value creation in the company. So if the success of a digital business is based on the power consumption of your customers' end devices, then this has an impact on the store's ecological CO2 footprint.
This realization forms the CDR foundation of my start-up and accompanies me in every conversation about ELECTREEFY. This principle applies not only to stores and websites, but also to content marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, SEM & Co.
My goal is to offer a simple tool, including advice, that enables companies to transparently scrutinize the impact of their website on the climate. I want to educate and positively change the landscape of websites, stores and landing pages.
The digital responsibility that arises from the duty to consider the common good is very important to me. Young generations have just as much right to experience the world as we did.
What concrete measures can companies take to improve their digital responsibility? How can ELECTREEFY help here?
Companies should ask more questions before taking operational action. Whether it's about digitalization, the use of AI or other digital technologies, the first questions should always be: What do we want to achieve with the deployment? How can we proceed as precisely as possible and monitor success? Are there ways to reduce/avoid the amount of data generated?
ELECTREEFY stands for the recording, reduction and compensation of CO2 emissions in digital marketing. In the first step, the current status quo of energy consumption is determined via an individual audit, after which optimization measures are implemented to reduce consumption by up to 80%. In the final step, the unavoidable emissions are offset via Gold Standard certificates in connection with Germany-wide forest projects (forest protection, reforestation & forest conversion).
What challenges do you see in the implementation of CDR in companies and how can these be overcome?
Transparent data on the ecological and social basis of technologies, tools, etc. is not available in all digital fields of application. A consistent view of the potential impact on deployment decisions is often difficult at present. Nevertheless, SMEs should ask for and collect data on data volume, data security and social impact in order to increase the pressure for transparency.
What role does technology play in promoting sustainability and responsibility in the digital age?
Technology in the digital age is both a challenge and a solution for a more sustainable future. It offers countless opportunities to optimize processes, conserve resources and develop new business models that make both economic and ecological sense.
In order to maximize the positive aspects such as energy savings or data analysis and minimize the negative ones such as energy consumption and electronic waste, the technology must be used responsibly. This includes, for example, companies using technology in the context of sustainable development, observing ethical principles and focusing on the common good of society. Sustainable action also offers advantages in terms of regulatory compliance, cost efficiency and market position.
With ELECTREEFY, you are an absolute CDR pioneer and have won the CDR Award. How has the award influenced your future strategies and goals?
Winning the award has confirmed my business model and my approach to a certain extent. The experts on the jury evaluated ELECTREEFY objectively and recognized my idea - that was a great success and gave me a lot of motivation to continue refining my business model and developing ELECTREEFY further. The award also gave me visibility and reach and brought me into contact with many people. Since then, I have been an active part of the CDR community and pass on my knowledge of CDR as a trainer, speaker and author.
CDR Award - We show digital responsibility
Together with the Bundesverband Digitale Wirtschaft (BVDW) e.V., Bayern Innovativ 2021 has launched the first German-language CDR Award to recognize achievements in the field of Corporate Digital Responsibility (CDR). The aim of the CDR Award is to raise awareness for the responsible design of digital products, services and business models and to recognize and highlight outstanding examples of CDR practice. Many organizations are already taking responsibility for the impact of their digital activities.
