Retarus offsets carbon footprint for services

The energy consumed by the Munich-based provider of cloud services comprises roughly 80 percent electrical power and 20 percent fossil fuels, the latter mainly dedicated to heating the company’s offices. The Criterion office building at Aschauer Straße 30 is predominantly heated by way of district heating, the production of which is not entirely climate neutral. For 2023, it is estimated that the emissions for the company’s share of total heated floor space will amount to around 52 tons of CO2 equivalents. Retarus is compensating for these unavoidable emissions by purchasing carbon offset certificates from the Stadtwerke München (Munich’s municipal utilities company). In this way, the company’s consumption is offset by emission-reducing activities elsewhere. Retarus has already been obtaining the energy it consumes exclusively from renewable sources since 2007, drawing its green energy from certified hydroelectric power plants. To the greatest possible extent, the company’s external data centers also already run on renewable energy. As Retarus is not able to have an influence on the energy mix in all cases, the company has taken the additional step of purchasing 15 percent more offset certificates than the calculations strictly require.

Supporting the shift to renewable energy in Germany and around the world

In detail, Retarus is supporting four projects: establishing photovoltaic systems in India, constructing wind power facilities in India, aiding reforestation in Panama, and improving energy-efficiency in Ghana. These projects are thoroughly certified in accordance with “Gold Standard” and all certificates are ex-post, meaning that the reduction in emissions has already taken place. The CO2 savings are credited exclusively to Retarus – there is no double counting. All the projects are of a long-term nature. Retarus is also involved in local projects through SWM, which are focused on the construction, operation, and/or maintenance of renewable energy facilities.

“After already opting exclusively for green power for over 15 years and having always run our data centers as efficiently as possible in terms of power consumption – for instance by using energy-saving geothermal heat pumps – we are now also compensating for the emissions over which we have no influence,” says Martin Hager, founder and CEO of Retarus. “In this way, we ensure that our customers are not only benefiting from our powerful, secure, data protection compliant services, but also conduct their business communication with suppliers and customers in a climate neutral manner.”

About Retarus

Retarus offers Enterprise Cloud solutions for Messaging, Email Security, and Business Integration. At the highest service level, with top performance, security, compliance with data protection regulations, and global availability. Retarus' services are successfully used for cloudification and securing messaging and email infrastructures, as well as for the intelligent automation of business processes and workflows. Retarus, headquartered in Munich, was founded by Martin Hager in 1992 and has been owner managed ever since. The company employs around 500 people in 19 offices on four continents. Over 40 percent of the companies listed in the S&P Global 100 rely on Retarus. More information: www.retarus.com