Charta Sustainable Digitalisation

A Framework for Orientation and Action

What is the Charta Sustainable Digitalisation?

A Framework for Orientation and Action

The Charta is a framework to guide and inspire small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to proactively work and evolve towards digital and sustainable transformation. This double transformation touches on the most important issues SMEs face today, be it attracting new talent, strengthening the resilience of their value chains or innovating business models to shape a sustainable future.

The Charta project was funded by the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU) and has been developed by the CSCP with broad stakeholder involvement from civil society, business and academia.

Why the Charta?

Your Starting Point for Action

Faced with multiple challenges simultaneously, it is often difficult for SME leaders to take a step back from day-to-day business and ensure that that the course taken will allow the company to navigate successfully through times of transformation. The Charta has been developed with this in mind. It focuses on the most important fields of action at the intersection of sustainability and digitalisation in the SME context and offers a framework for orientation and action. As such, it is a starting point for SME leaders to identify challenges and opportunities based on their business profile and create a strategy based on individuals strengths, experiences, and ambitions.

What does it include?

The Charta: Principles, Fields of Action, and Factsheets

The Charta is designed as an interdisciplinary living document to be adjusted and updated together with SMEs and other relevant actors. In its current stage, the Charta 1.0 is a cumulative document comprising three core elements:

  • the principles – which provide orientation for sustainable digitalisation,
  • the fields of action – which provide the minimum scope for a company-specific materiality assessment, and
  • the factsheets – which zoom in on the outlined fields of action.

The six factsheets cover the following topics:

  • shaping the working world of tomorrow;
  • accelerating the transition to a Circular Economy;
  • protecting recourses, the climate, and biodiversity;
  • promoting sustainable consumption and lifestyles;
  • embedding sustainability in the supply chain and
  • creating digital trust.

Would you like to talk to an expert, discuss your ideas, and explore what your starting point and journey could look like? Reach out to our sustainable digitalisation expert, Arne von Hofe!

Would you like to read through the Charta and get back to us with questions later? Download the cumulative Charta document, including the factsheets, here!

Charta Factsheet

Shape the Working World of Tomorrow

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we work now and it has provided new impulses on the way we want to work in the future. Digital technologies are crucial to a new work experience that allows companies to save resources and attract talents by providing the necessary room to combine professional ambitions with individual lifestyles. However, there are also challenges that need to be addressed, for example, the impacts of remote working on the physical, emotional, and psychological wellbeing of employees.

Discuss with our expert Thomas Wagner!
Download the factsheet!

 

Charta Factsheet

Accelerate the Transition to a Circular Economy

The transition from a linear economy to a circular one is imperative for a sustainable future. Digital technologies are key enablers, especially when it comes to collecting and distributing relevant data, indicating needs for repair or enabling circular design. For SMEs, this strategic shift opens up a breadth of opportunities along the circular value networks in terms of cost-saving and income generation.

Discuss with our experts Thomas Wagner and Arne von Hofe.

Download the factsheet!

Charta Factsheet

Protect Resources, the Climate, and Biodiversity

From digital tools that help to reduce CO2 emissions and boost resource efficiency to digital biodiversity impact assessments, everything that can be measured in order to carry reduction or optimisation measures is a natural habitat for digital technologies. There are many examples of small and medium-sized enterprises that already employ such technologies, providing inspiration and useful information for other SMEs to follow.

Discuss with our expert Patrick Bottermann!
Download the factsheet!

 

Charta Factsheet

Promote Sustainable Consumption and Lifestyles

Ever more people want to consume and live more sustainable. This is why companies need to rethink their products and services in order to not only meet consumer demands but also become real enablers for sustainable lifestyles. Digital technologies are an important lever when it comes to developing and expanding sustainability-oriented product and service portfolios and supporting customers and stakeholders in their sustainability-journey.

Discuss with our expert Rosa Strube!
Download the factsheet!

Charta Factsheet

Embed Sustainability in the Supply Chain

Regulation on supply chains is getting more complex, especially with regard to human rights and environmental criteria. As of 2023, the new German Supply Chain Act will require companies to carry more due diligence in order to address issues such as difficult working conditions and environmental pollution (particularly in the early phases of the supply chains). In early 2022, the European Commission also issued the proposal for a directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence, demanding larger companies to account for the social and environmental impact of their supply chains. In addition, there is growing pressure from consumers and civil society actors. Digital technologies allow businesses to meet the new requirements effectively and efficiently, such as by documenting their due diligence activities in a traceable and transparent manner, creating legal certainty, and building trust among customers and stakeholders.

Discuss with our expert Cristina Fedato!
Download the factsheet!

Charta Factsheet

Creating Digital Trust

Broad media coverage of ethically-questionable and potentially illegal data collection practices have put the issue of digital trust in the spotlight. The recently adopted Digital Services Act aims to create a safer digital space and protect user rights. Yet, for users it is still challenging to understand what kind of data is collected, how is it processed and passed on, and how are they protected from disadvantageous or improper use of their own data. Digital trust labels and according practices allow SMEs to gain competitive edges over competitors.

Discuss with our expert Mike Tabel!
Download the factsheet!

Contact Us!

Reach out to our experts and let’s talk sustainable digitalisation now!

"CSCP introduced us the concept of life cycle assessment. This was the much wider and comprehensive scope as compared to our earlier services. Working with CSCP also strengthened us on the concept and practices of sustainable consumption and production. These two value additions by CSCP enable our professionals to offer higher order of services and solutions to the industries in Pakistan."

Azher Uddin Khan, Chief Executive Officer, Cleaner Production Institute (CPI) Pakistan

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