The challenge of sustainability - an interview with Amir Roughani and Ulrich Feuersinger
24.01.2019 - What does sustainability mean for companies today? What competitive advantages does it bring and do CSR investments even pay off in the age of digital change? Dr Martin Roos, business journalist and author from Düsseldorf, spoke about this with Amir Roughani, founder and CEO of Vispiron GmbH Munich, and Ulrich Feuersinger, Managing Director of Steinbeis Papier GmbH Glückstadt.
Looking at sustainability not only through the lens of returns
How do two such completely different companies live and shape an agenda to which they feel similarly committed? Taking responsibility for the use of resources, making an active contribution to environmental and climate protection, ensuring the preservation of ecological diversity and being economically successful at the same time? That there is no large market for sustainability in Germany is an opinion that can be heard time and again, especially in profit-driven companies. Likewise, that significantly more impetus, holistic concepts and, above all, subsidies are expected from politicians. The discussions surrounding climate protection, the energy transition and resource justice show how much these topics are determined by national, lobbyist and economic interests.
Whether analogue or digital - sustainability transcends borders
The companies Vispiron and Steinbeis Papier do not want to wait for politicians to act or for a global consensus to be reached. They are consistently implementing their concept of an ecological, sustainable corporate and industrial model. Sustainability requires an entrepreneurial attitude that goes beyond profit targets and thinks about safeguarding resources for future generations. Vispiron, a company of the digital age with 600 employees, and Steinbeis Papier, a company rich in tradition (founded in 1911) and operator of one of the most modern ecologically integrated recycled paper mills, which is located more in the analogue corporate landscape, show an astonishing common ground in their sustainability goals and measures to reduce their carbon footprint. There is also a great deal of agreement in their thoughts on an ecological market economy and the need to shape the future responsibly.
But listen for yourself to an exciting and informative interview. You can listen to it as a podcast and the interview is also available as a video on YouTube and on Facebook.
Author: Klaus E. Jopp
https://www.jopp-communications.de/
