The basic requirement for a product to be regarded as an investment opportunity by blueplanet Investment AG is that it does not pose a threat to humans or the environment. Customer data must be protected. This means that the life and physical integrity of people shall not be jeopardized during use or manufacture of the product. This must be ensured by adequate measures during product development and design, production, quality control and customer service. To this end, suitable training and information of staff and customers must be provided by the manufacturer to rule out misuse, etc.
In order to ensure that risks are avoided, at least the following procedures need to be in place:
- reporting of deviations from the production process or from product specifications by staff members;
- reporting of misuse or negative side effects by customers;
- reporting of product piracy and measures to remove potentially dangerous copies.
blueplanet Investments AG’s participations shall comply with the ethical guidelines of the parent company when developing new products and further developing existing ones. This includes in particular the exclusion of experiments on humans without prior consultation with a competent independent ethics committee. In addition, testing products on humans shall only be permitted in the case of medicinal products or similar substances that have a positive effect on human health. It is important in this context that participating subjects understand the nature and purpose of such research, that adequate procedures for obtaining informed consent are followed and adequate confidentiality policies applied. Animal studies are only acceptable if they are necessary for the process of drug approcal for medical use. The management of blueplanet Investments AG affirms that at no time at blueplanet Investments AG or any of its holdings have experiments been conducted on humans or animals and that these are excluded, with the exceptions mentioned above.
The dimension of environmental sustainability plays an important role in the selection companies which blueplanet Investments will support with funds and management know-how. It is the express objective of blueplanet Investments AG to offer investors the opportunity to invest in companies with a favorable environmental balance. blueplanet Investments AG therefore pays attention to its own environmental footprint and at the same time expects its participations to do the same.
In addition to the general claim to act in an environmentally sustainable manner, this is also reflected in explicit criteria. blueplanet Investments AG therefore considers the following criteria when providing financing for products and companies:
- Quantity of CO² emissions
- Consumption of electricity and water
- Consumption of raw materials and natural materials
- Relative share of renewable raw materials in the manufacturing process
- Usage of recyclable raw materials & recycling
- Eco-friendly design for the lowest possible material usage
- Voluntary use of CO² certificates
- Impact on climate change
- Conservation of ecosystems and biodiversity (including the protection of endangered species and their habitats)
- Emissions of other harmful substances and usage of harmful materials
- Durability and quality
- Application of standards such as ISO 14001, ISO 14006, ISO 14040, ISO 14044 or “The Ecological Footprint Standards 2009” by the Global Footprint Network
- Application and monitoring of these criteria at suppliers
The list is non-exclusive. blueplanet Investments AG assesses each funding opportunity on its own, including additional criteria if necessary to ensure a sustainable investment.
In addition, there are a number of other activities and processes which participations of blueplanet Investments AG are not allowed to undertake:
- Industrial factory farming or support of such activities
- Trading, importing and exporting arms
- Substance distribution (tobacco, alcohol, THC, etc.)
- Media in the field of adult entertainment and prostitution
- Fur trade
- Woodland destruction
- CO2-intensive processes
blueplanet Investments AG strives to achieve the following goals for itself and for its participations:
- Continuous improvement of environmental management
- Working towards the longer-term goal of developing a sustainable business
- Introduction of photovoltaic system for the generation of renewable energies
- Pure use of green electricity by the end of 2020 for all operating sites
- Own generation of renewable energies and independence from suppliers
blueplanet Investments AG will work in cooperation with partners to promote environmental protection, improve environmental awareness and promote the dissemination of best practices in the field of environmental sustainability.
The project currently being implemented is “Balanced CO² equation”. It is described elsewhere in this document. This year saw the entering into force of the German Packaging Act (VerpackG). The German participations have already acquired sufficient licenses to cover their packaging activities. ecabiotec® AG obtains its electricity from ENTEGA Energie GmbH, which specializes in the generation of electricity from eco-friendly and renewable sources.
In addition to ecological sustainability, blueplanet Investments AG plays an important role in the decision to finance products and companies by evaluating the social impact and adhering to the guidelines and principles as well as the personnel policy (defined elsewhere).