46 3 Our tools If you want to know how our economy works look no further than the supply chain This ap plies equally to cars T shirts and coffee beans Where in this world a production step takes place is often a question of how low the local wages are followed by how strictly or how laxly environmen tal regulations are enforced Price pressure on the supply chain is the greatest hindrance to the production of sustainable products Conversely the supply chain is the deciding factor that can change a regular product into a sustainable one If a textile manufacturing plant uses renewable energy for the lights in its canteen that s all well and good but it doesn t compensate for using non organic cotton a crop that gets drenched with pesticides like hardly any other We welcome the growing interest in supply chains on the part of consumers policymak The supply chain what determines the sustainability of a product ers and the media Because where there is interest there is usually more willingness to pay a decent price for a good product The focus of inter est mainly lies on good and fair working conditions social accountability standards and increasingly on climate protection But this very focus is problematic Sustainability is a multidimensional issue Everything is in terrelated For example We strive to make our business activities as carbon neutral as possible We offset unavoidable CO 2 emissions by purchasing climate certificates from our cultivation partners Ambootia and Sekem They are issued climate certificates for using a highly innovative form of compost ing that removes CO 2 from the atmosphere and permanently binds it in the soil in the form of carbon The kind of farm management practiced by our cultivation partners produces soil that is rich in humus retains water bet ter erodes less and produces more reliable yields than less fertile soil This virtuous circle shows how good ideas local knowledge and an understand ing of materials can sustainably shape very complex global supply chains precisely as prescribed by the United Nations 17 Sustainable Develop ment Goals see p 10 f

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