ENVEX Environmental Verifier Lennart Schleicher with Ing-Ing Yen, André Priess, Manfred Romans-Petit, Philipp Spiel, Lauren Belleni and Laura Cuvan, all G&L (left to right)
It’s official: G&L is now EMAS-validated and ISO 14001-certified, and we couldn’t be more delighted. Both are established frameworks for environmental management, and both involved a thorough independent assessment.
Streaming uses a great deal of electricity, which is exactly why we care about it. We’ve long felt responsible for our environmental footprint, but now we’re going further, with targets we measure and savings we can demonstrate.
Read our environmental statement
EMAS and ISO 14001 explained
ISO 14001 is the international standard for environmental management systems. It requires a systematic approach: understanding our environmental impact, assessing risks, setting targets and continually improving.
EMAS (the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme) is the EU’s voluntary environmental management scheme. It builds on ISO 14001 and goes further in two areas: transparency and staff involvement. We publish an environmental statement setting out our environmental policy and programme. We update it every year, and an accredited EMAS environmental verifier validates it.
Beyond the certificate
A certificate on its own doesn’t change anything. What counts is what it stands for:
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Measure, don’t estimate. We track our environmental impact using reliable data sources and review the figures regularly.
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Concrete targets. We’re currently focused on four priorities: cutting electricity use, reducing CO₂ emissions, monitoring power consumption more closely and improving resource efficiency.
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Teamwork with clear responsibilities. Our environmental team brings together colleagues from different departments and is coordinated by our Environmental Officer, Lauren Bellenie. All staff are trained and involved.
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Sustainability in every project. When making project decisions, we consider how much energy and computing power a workflow needs, what emissions our travel will cause and how sustainably our suppliers operate.
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Certified data centres. Our core data centres are certified to ISO 14001 and ISO 50001 and run on renewable energy.
"The certificate is the result, but the management system is our most important tool. It forces us to take a close look: where are we using energy and other resources, and where can we do better? In the end, what makes the difference is that the whole team pulls together."
Greener streaming: our work to date
Making streaming more resource-efficient has been on our minds for a long time. We’re a member of Greening of Streaming and an Associated Project Partner in the Green Streaming project. In extensive tests, we’ve shown that specialised hardware can triple the energy efficiency of video encoding. And we’ve taken climate action right on our own doorstep, by planting trees.
Two standards, one commitment: ISO 14001 and ISO 27001
We don’t just hold ourselves to international standards when it comes to environmental protection. Since September 2024, we have also held ISO 27001 certification, the globally recognised standard for information security.
Why does this matter to you?
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Your content and data are protected by an externally audited management system.
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Even if something goes wrong, operations continue under clear emergency and recovery procedures.
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The certificate can shorten your IT security review during procurement.
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Security and accountability are managed consistently across all partners and platforms.
ISO 27001 protects your content, while EMAS and ISO 14001 protect the environment. The same principle underlies both: we set targets, measure our progress, have our work checked externally, and keep getting better.
You can find more information on our sustainability page
Questions?
Lauren Bellenie, Environmental Officer, will be happy to answer them: eco@gl-systemhaus.de