Protecting our planet is very important to us. We go the extra mile not only for our guests, but also for our planet and future generations. We continue to push ourselves in this area without compromise, and are always developing and implementing new, more sustainable ideas.
Almost all of our FREIgeist Hotels – and our sister hotel the Hardenberg BurgHotel – have been climate-neutral since June 2022.
In concrete terms, this means that we worked with ClimatePartner to record all emissions from our products and our company. We calculated all CO2 emissions – from heating our hotel rooms, preparing our dishes in the restaurant, electricity consumption to the kilometers driven by our staff to the hotel. We offset all unavoidable emissions through internationally recognized climate protection projects and began supporting clean wind energy in Brazil this year.
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Greenhouse gas emissions such as CO2 inevitably arise in the operation of a hotel: for example, through heating, electricity or through catering. We keep our footprint as small as possible: We use only green electricity, reduce our resource consumption through paperless reservation systems, modern lighting concepts help us save electricity, we support regional crafts and farmers from whom we buy part of our food. We are a member of the Göttingen Fair-Bio Genossenschaft and thus support sustainable development outside our company as well.
In addition to avoiding and reducing emissions, offsetting is an important component of holistic climate protection. In this context, we support an internationally recognized climate protection project for wind energy in Brazil, which has been proven to save CO2. It also contributes to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), for example combating poverty or improving living conditions in emerging and developing countries.
It's true what they say: local is better! Healthier and better for the environment. In our kitchens, we buy regionally and seasonally and know all of our suppliers by name. From game from our own forests, to milk from the organic dairy farm, to vegetables from the organic farmer around the corner.
In addition, with our restaurant WALDWERK & the HERBARIUM Bar, we are part of the FairBio Genossenschaft - an initiative of organic producers, farmers, traders and consumers with a passion for the natural food and organic market.
We like individuals interested in new perspectives, new ideas, new people, new stories, new experiences, and new opportunities for development. Anyone looking for a home among like-minded people will find that here.
We want every free spirit to feel comfortable and offer them the freedom they need to develop. And that's not the only reason why all of our hotels are members of Fair JobHotels e.V.. – it's also because we share their philosophy.
Our forest hotel in Northeim was the first FREIgeist Hotel to earn the Level 4 certification from GreenSign, which represents sustainable hotel management! Pretty cool, right? Not only do we use 100% green electricity here, and offer our guests a “green option” as an alternative to room cleaning, but we also emphasize regional, sustainable cooking in the kitchen of the WALDWERK restaurant.
In addition to climate neutrality, all our hotels have been awarded the Seal of Assured Sustainability in July 2022. The Institute for Sustainability & Economics awards this internationally recognized seal to companies that operate in an energy-, cost- and material-efficient manner, maintain a good working atmosphere within the team, and focus on the use of regional and renewable or recyclable raw materials.
The German Sustainability Code is a cross-industry standard for transparent reporting of corporate sustainability performance. It contains twenty criteria and selected quantifiable performance indicators according to international reporting standards GRI or EFFAS.
