Climate protection and the associated moves to achieve a more “Green IT” are among underground_8’s corporate objectives. For this reason, at underground_8 the sales and marketing strategies also place the emphasis on environmental friendliness, the careful use of resources and climate protection. A crucial factor for the implementation of the Green IT Strategy is the personal obligation of the company management.

 At underground_8 it is not only a matter of the energy consumption of the units, but consideration is also given to the whole life cycle of the products. Environmental protection and CO2 reductions are evolutionary processes. The primary operating and acquisition costs are of secondary importance. The inter-generation contract requires environmentally-friendly conduct, which in turn requires a long-term, sustainable strategy.

Greater transparency concerning greenhouse gas emissions in the production and logistics of IT goods is an important step in the plan for improving the environmental balance sheet of the IT industry.

The development of full-scale product and sales strategies for environmental protection and the conservation of resources is considered by underground_8 to be more than a short-term marketing campaign jumping on the bandwagon of climate protection.  For all the security appliances it develops and produces in the MF Security Gateway™ and AS Communication Gateway™, underground_8 calculates a “carbon footprint”. This extends over the whole working life of a unit.

As environmental considerations are important from the product design stage, environmental friendliness is one of the foundation stones in developing new products. underground_8 obliges its suppliers to comply with the Electronic Industry Code of Conduct (EICC) as well as the requirements of underground_8’s own environmental protection programme for social and ecological responsibility in the supply chain.

A careful selection of components, the precise analysis of the manufacturing processes in terms of environmental aspects and control of the supply chain ensure that the whole of the company’s green philosophy is incorporated in the production of all underground_8 products. The emissions data form the basis for demanding an improvement of the energy efficiency of the most important suppliers. For example, the UTM appliance MF 100 uses a mains adaptor with a particularly high efficiency rate of 80 percent, making it an especially efficient product.

The carbon footprint of a security appliance includes the energy required for the production, transport and average period of use (3 years) of a product. On the basis of these key figures the emissions of climate-damaging CO2 gases can be determined.

The carbon footprint calculated for underground_8 therefore gives an index for the CO2 emissions during the useful life of underground_8 products. These CO2 values are immediately compensated for by underground_8 with the purchase of CO2 certificates. The relevant number of CO2 certificates for appropriate CO2 reduction measures (e.g. planting, forestry plantation, etc.) are purchased on the international certificate exchange and enclosed with the products in question. Attaching the CO2 certificates to the underground_8 products results in full CO2 neutrality over a period of three years.

underground_8 also has a compensation plan in place for the petrol consumption of its sales fleet. The company also buys CO2 certificates to balance the emissions generated here.