With the drop of the primary energy expenditure, the greenhouse gas emissions dropped last year. While the total in 2012 amounted to approx. 2,700 t of CO₂ equivalent, they amounted to barely 2,500 t of CO₂ equivalent in 2013. Of those 2,500 t of CO₂ equivalent, 80 percent were caused by the consumption of electricity, 13 percent by the consumption of natural gas, and 7 percent by business trips.

The greenhouse gas emissions per staff member (SM) and year dropped from 10.8 t of CO₂ equivalent/SM in 2011 to 10.1 t of CO₂ equivalent/SM in 2012 and 8.1 t of CO₂ equivalent/SM 2013.

The greenhouse gas emissions caused by business trips amounted to 0.75 t CO₂ equivalent/SM in 2013. Overall, 60 percent of the business trips were conducted via railroad (41 percent) and the public transport system (19 percent). In 25 percent of the business trips, a company car was used, and in 15 percent an airplane. Despite the dominating utilization of the railroad, almost half of the kilometers were spent on air travel. The reason for this is that some projects required business trips to South America and Asia. The utilization of fuels leads to greenhouse gas and nitrous oxide emissions. In 2013, approx. 200 t CO₂ equivalent and 590 kg NO_x were emitted across all modes of transportation. The NO_x emissions (444 kg) caused by air travel are significantly higher than the NO_x emissions caused by other modes of transportation. Therefore, the objective is to reduce the number of domestic flights and to increasingly use the railroad.

We plan to switch the power supply of our institute to green electricity.