KATALYSE Institute for Applied Environmental Research

Themen:

Environment, health, development – our commitment to the future

KATALYSE, the Cologne Institute for Applied Environmental Research, was one of the first independent environmental institutes in Germany. Since 1978, our team of scientists, drawn from a broad range of disciplines, has been working to protect the environment and human health and to promote sustainable
development in North and South.

The name KATALYSE – meaning CATALYSIS – reflects on our aim to speed processes up or direct them onto a different path. We view ourselves as a ‘think tank’ for viable concepts on the path towards sustainable development.

We see our work within a social-ecological research perspective, applying methods and tools drawn from classic environmental research to address the complex issues of globalizing environmental and development problems.

As a non-profit organization, we finance ourselves through project funding, donations, sustaining members and contract work. This makes us independent and furthermore we are able to take a critical stance in our environmental research and consumer advocacy.

Agriculture and food

Making a “nutritional U-turn” means pushing the current nutritional circumstances towards a sustainable level. This is not limited to producing and consuming environmentally sound and healthy food, but instead also includes responding to the consumer’s interests as well as incorporating the needs of the industry and politicians in a manner that is applicable on a day-to-day basis.

We support you with:

  • concepts for sustainable production and processing of food and reproductive commodities
  • strategies for nutrition communication and food related risk communication
  • information on the conception of healthy and ecological feeding systems
  • the application of risk analyses and evaluations of technical consequences

Examples from our current consulting and service offers are:

  • The conception and organization of the EU conference “animal protection – improvement through labeling?” as well as the grant of the German “sponsorship for organic farming”
  • development of practical guidelines for the general and environmental management of agricultural and viticultural enterprises
  • impact assessment of the use of transgenic seeds in Brazil

Building ecology

Special resources are required for environmentally sound and health-compatible building. KATALYSE Institute promotes energyand resource-saving, environment- and healthprotective materials and methods to support this new way of building.

KATALYSE promotes the use of low-energy and low-resource, environmentally sound and healthcompatible building materials and types of construction. Our experts advise institutions, companies and private clients on all issues relating to building and housing ecology.

We support you with:

  • new labeling systems (e.g. the cachet “RSymbol” for the complete declaration of construction and building products)
  • expertise on environment-, health- and material-related demands on building materials and products
  • assistance for pilot projects encouraging the use of construction materials made from renewable resources
  • software-based energy and building passes (e.g. “Carnet de l’habitat”, Luxemburg) − practical guidelines as well as training materials
  • the selection of adequate building materials
  • counsel on planning as well as execution of ecologically orientated building projects
  • material, quality and pollutant inspections for your selection of furniture

Indoor air quality and pollutants

Health impairments caused by pollutants and electromagnetic fields in residential and working environments are gaining importance. Identifying and reducing indoor environmental exposure is one of the core areas of activity of the KATALYSE Institute. Public developers, commercial users and private residents of buildings profit from the many years of experience of our team in handling indoor air pollutants and the associated health problems.

We support you with:

  • identification of the sources of pollutants in public establishments, offices and apartments
  • analysis of indoor pollutants (e.g. PCB, asbestos, mildew)
  • evaluation of measurement results and exposure levels
  • advice on how to reduce and avoid pollutant exposure
  • creating redevelopment plans and providing assistance in their technical execution
  • mediation between conflicting parties

Management systems

The purpose of management systems is to optimize products, production processes and operational sequences with regard to their environmental and health impacts. Material and energy flows are to be minimized, as are pollutant releases.

KATALYSE supports companies and institutions in the analysis of critical points, in developing quality and environmental management systems and in a broad range of further issues relating to industrial environmental protection.

Our business management system comprises:

  • integrated management systems
  • quality management DIN EN ISO 9000
  • environmental management DIN EN ISO 14000 /EMAS
  • product data management to fit the requirements of REACh
  • food safety management DIN ISO 22000/ International Food Standard (IFS)
  • employment protection management ILOguidelines
  • environmental controlling and if necessary operational benchmarking

EcoStep – the integrated management system for small enterprises

EcoStep provides a professional, integrated business management system for small to medium sized companies from all economic sectors. As quality, employment security and environmental protection are examined together, EcoStep enables enterprises to economize their need for resources and to sustainably improve the company’s competitiveness. EcoStep includes a user friendly manual, advanced training courses, workshops as well as an on-site consulting service.

We support you with:

  • information on the lawful conversion of REACh
  • product and product-related ecological accounts and life-cycle assessments
  • optimized processing and logistics management
  • supporting the economically sound acquisition of office and building materials

Sustainable consumption and development cooperation

KATALYSE is committed to a more lasting consumption, thus improving our quality of life in the long term by supporting socially and environmentally sound products.

We offer a broad range of information on the practical conversion of a sustainable consumption and encourage the social sense of responsibility. In cooperation with several partners, we maintain multiple environment and user portals. With more than 3 million visitors and approximately 9 million hits in 2006 our Internet presence containing more than 10 thousand pages is one of Germany’s leading information portals in the sectors environment, health and consumer protection.

In the past years our team has amassed a broad knowledge in event and competition management by successfully arranging numerous conferences, workshops and discussions concerning our fields of study. The results were put at the client’s as well as the public disposal in several publications.

Development cooperation

A central idea of KATALYSE is sustainable development. To support it we cooperate with international partners because sustainable development is only achievable on a global level.

Examples from our current international projects deal with:

  • consequences of the use of transgenic seeds in Brazil
  • biogas technology for sustainable pig breeding in Brazil
  • consequences of small-scale gold mining in Amazonia
  • coordinating network for the preservation of the tropical forests in Brazil
  • development and marketing of Nimtreebased pesticides (Cuba)

KATALYSE Institute provides support in the development of solutions incorporating political, social and cultural contexts. Their success essentially depends not only on the constructive cooperation with federal agencies but also with partners from both research and civil society.

 

KATALYSE e.V.
Institut für angewandte Umweltforschung

Volksgartenstr. 34
D-50677 Köln, Germany
Phone: +49-221-94 40 48-0
Fax: +49-221-94 40 48-9
Email: info@katalyse.de
Internet: www.katalyse.de

Düsseldorf office

Lindenstr. 240
D-40235 Düsseldorf, Germany
Phone: +49-211-68 22 26
Fax: +49-211-68 17 63