An environment-oriented corporate policy becomes increasingly important for the future of both, the environment and the company. A “green” policy takes advantage of growing market opportunities due to increased environmental awareness among shareholders and the general public. In addition to the resulting competitive advantages in the area of marketing, companies and our environment also benefit from increased resource efficiency.

But how can the change to an environment-oriented corporate policy be measured? In which regions are companies already making greater use of the arising opportunities?

A possible indicator of the growing willingness to adopt an environment-oriented corporate policy could be the number of companies that have been awarded the EMAS label. EMAS stands for "The European Eco-Management and Audit Scheme" and is an EU seal of quality which helps companies to establish and continuously improve sustainable environmental management. For further information see www.emas.de.

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Across Germany, some 1,200 organisations have been awarded the EMAS label (as of January 2018). With a share of 32% of all EMAS registered companies in Germany, most of them are situated in Baden-Württemberg, followed by Bavaria with a share of 23% and North Rhine-Westphalia (9%). So far, comparatively few organisations have been certified with the EMAS label in Saxony-Anhalt (just under 2%) and Schleswig-Holstein (1.5%). Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is at the bottom of the list of the German federal states.

Looking at the number of EMAS registered companies in relation to the total number of companies, it becomes obvious that a very small proportion has been awarded an EMAS certificate so far. Only 0.037% of all companies in Germany are EMAS registered. When comparing the federal states with this respect, the Saarland occupies the top position followed by Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria. In this ranking, North Rhine-Westphalia falls back to 13th place with a rather small proportion of EMAS registered companies. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania continues to be at the bottom of the list.

At a local, i.e. city and district level, most EMAS registered companies can be found in Stuttgart, Berlin and Munich. Given the size of these cities and the high density of companies in Stuttgart, this is, however, not surprising.

In principle, relatively few EMAS registered companies can be found outside urban regions, such as Bremen, Hamburg, Berlin, the Ruhr area, Stuttgart or Munich. An exception is the district of Reutlingen (in Baden-Württemberg) with a relatively high share of EMAS registered companies.

When looking at EMAS certified companies in different business sectors, a comparatively large number of companies with an EMAS label can be found in the hospitality sector.

Looking at the distribution on the federal level, it can be seen that EMAS registered companies are located in the North of Germany and rather more in the South of Germany.

Other figures can be found here.