Environmental, social and corporate governance responsibility

We aim to protect our planet, take accountability for our actions, and respect and foster human interactions.

#CutTheBullshit

Environment

We strive to work in a way that preserves our planet and support organizations that protect it

We at OpenProject are committed to being mindful of our environment and the community we live and work in. These are the first steps that we have taken towards becoming more sustainable:

  • We have fully embraced the concept of remote work and do not maintain a physical office space since 2020.
  • The co-working spaces that our employees use are powered by renewable electricity.
  • The majority of our employees already use renewable electricity in their home offices.
  • We keep traveling to the minimum and when we do travel, we prioritize traveling by train over flying whenever possible.
  • The data centers we use are powered by renewable energies to a large extent with the plans to only use renewable electricity by the end of 2025.

We believe that minimizing carbon footprint comes before compensating for it and will continue to make our work more environmentally friendly. However, the reality is that a certain amount of emissions is inevitable and we want to offset these by taking direct action, rather than by throwing money on the issue. Rather than merely promoting a green image, we prioritize concrete actions and measurable outcomes.

Our pledge

We are proud to support organizations that are making a positive impact on our planet

We support many organizations that have a positive impact on our planet and society by providing them with a project management software without taking money and resources away from the people they support. We directly sponsor organizations and projects that amplify the positive impact and drive meaningful change for our planet and its inhabitants.

Social

We recognize the importance of our community, employees and customers

We are aware that our social impact encompasses a wider circle of society, employees, customers, and the global community of developers who contribute to our open source software.

Community

As an open source company, we are committed to the principles of transparency, collaboration, and public benefit. We firmly believe in the power of open source software to drive innovation, foster collaboration, and create positive social impact. By having our code public and accessible to the broader developer community we promote innovation and knowledge sharing. We continuously release updates that benefit the entire community.

Customers

We are excited to support organizations with our software that have a positive impact on our society and the way we live together. We understand the importance of enabling positive change and making a difference in the world. To further that mission, we provide public and educational institutions with a secure and data-sovereign software to effectively manage their projects and to have a positive impact on our society.

Employees

Our employees are essential to the success of our organization and our product, and we prioritize their well-being and personal and professional growth. Together, we want to create a stimulating working environment in which employees feel meaningful and can work self-responsibly on topics that have an impact on the community. Open source development and contributions and making the software code publicly available means giving something back with your work.

Governance

Open source builds the framework for data privacy and sovereignty

We wholeheartedly believe that data belongs to the user. As advocates for data security, we prioritize protecting the privacy and confidentiality of our customers’ information. We understand the importance of safeguarding sensitive data from unauthorized access, breaches, and misuse. We are committed to compliance with applicable data protection laws and regulations, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other relevant privacy frameworks. We strive to provide transparency regarding our data handling practices, informing customers about how their data is collected, used, and stored.

We strive for transparency, not only regarding our software code, but also our company’s operations and development processes. With open source software, organizations benefit from this transparency, they can collaborate without vendor lock and save costs. With the close integration of other open source providers, we can achieve a strong network effect.

Being part of openDesk, the Sovereign Workplace initiative of the German government, aligns perfectly with our mission to build a joint software solution for Europe as a real alternative to a few hyper-scalers. We recognize the importance of empowering individuals and organizations with open source tools that promote autonomy and independence. This is also why we are really proud that many cities and municipalities work with OpenProject.

Learn more about project management for the public sector

Stadt Köln
Communauté urbaine Caen la Mer
Stadt Berlin
Stadt Chemnitz
Landtag Brandenburg
Federal Ministry of the Interior, Germany

Our commitment to ESG

The work is never done

We know that we are by no means perfect and have room for improvement. We will continue to explore innovative solutions and embrace emerging technologies to further reduce our environmental impact and contribute to a more sustainable future, while sticking to the #CutTheBullshit attitude.

This is what we plan to do in the future:

  • Estimate our carbon footprint and reduce it by investing consequently directly into projects that have proven impact on the environment.
  • Continue our support for organizations that foster open source and data privacy rights, such as OSI, OSBA, fsfe, noyb.
  • Keep supporting other organizations that manage projects for the good of our society and our environment.
  • Improve accessibility of OpenProject to make it even more inclusive.
  • Research and evaluate other possibilities to reduce our footprint and to compensate for it.
  • Increase our budget for yearly donations and donate a meaningful portion of our company's profits to NGOs.

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