Hello everyone, I'm Robert and I'm a Senior Consultant in our Munich office. I have been working for Roland Berger for three years and mainly focus on our industrial clients, like capital goods manufacturers, aerospace companies and steel mills.

I was looking for an opportunity to use my knowledge and skills for a good cause, so I applied for a 12-week Social Fellowship, which is financially supported by Roland Berger. Over those 3 months I dedicated my time completely to educating myself in the field of effective climate protection and supporting an organization called atmosfair, one of Germany's leading experts in CO2 offsetting.

First, let me introduce atmosfair:

As one of Germany's market leaders in the field of carbon dioxide offsetting, atmosfair supports private households as well as large companies in minimizing their net carbon footprint. Since offsetting alone won't be able to pave the way to a carbon neutral future, atmosfair also invests heavily in a multitude of transformative climate protection initiatives, for instance in the field of synthetic fuels (power-to-liquid) for the aviation industry. To promote this technology, a subsidiary of atmosfair recently launched the world's first industrial-scale plant for synthetic, sustainable aviation fuel – produced only with the use of renewable electricity, CO2 from a nearby bio-gas plant and CO2 captured directly from the air. This is a combination I find very exciting!

I have been supporting atmosfair on several topics. For example, I helped identify and approach potential investors for the next growth phase of the synthetic jet fuel subsidiary I mentioned. In addition, I worked on the development of reduction/offsetting strategies for companies and supported the planning and implementation of specific offsetting projects in developing countries.

One of these offsetting projects was about the construction of two factories in Rwanda and Nigeria that will produce efficient woodstoves for rural villages, saving 80% of firewood compared to an open fire pit. I think it's great that I was able to use my mechanical engineering knowledge to support the planning and construction of these production facilities.

What really fascinated me the most was the intrinsic motivation and drive of the employees at atmosfair. They are fully committed to a good cause. Beyond climate protection, they create added value for people in the developing world with their projects, for instance in the form of additional jobs or access to electricity and clean water.

Effective climate protection needs people, organizations and companies who really care about this issue and are willing to fight for it. For me it was very inspiring to work in an environment like this. There are a multitude of good reasons for companies to act in a socially responsible manner. I am confident that I can help motivate both our clients and our own company to take the next steps in climate protection and social responsibility!