Karsten WildbergerTechnology · Energy · State
T.04 / SUSTAINABILITY

Targets, labels and trade-ins

Most of the documented sustainability record comes from company strategies he led. This page keeps company policy and his personal statements strictly apart.

Scope 1+2
Net zero target, 2024 (Ceconomy)
Scope 3
−33% by 2033 (Ceconomy)
Status
Company targets, 2023
Two columns

Company policy | his own words

Left: what the organisation committed to. Right: what he personally said on the record.

Company policy · Ceconomy, June 2023
  • 01Signed the EU Sustainable Consumption Pledge.
  • 02Applied to the Science Based Targets initiative.
  • 03Target: net zero for its own emissions (Scope 1 and 2) by 2024.
  • 04Target: reduce Scope 3 emissions by at least 33% by 2033.
  • 05“BetterWay” label for more sustainable products.
  • 06Trade-in and refurbishment, with 250,000 trade-ins expected in FY 2023/24.
Documented statement

“We are committed to becoming a customer-centric service platform, seamlessly integrating sustainability into all aspects of our operations…”

Karsten Wildberger, Capital Markets Day, 2 June 2023 · English original, Ceconomy release
Analysis

In this statement sustainability is framed as part of the business model — services, repair and trade-in that also generate revenue — rather than as a separate programme. Whether the 2024 and 2033 targets were met is a matter for Ceconomy's later reporting, after his departure.

Energy

Decentralised energy at E.ON

Company policy

After the 2016 Uniper spin-off, E.ON concentrated on networks, renewables and customer solutions. During Wildberger's board tenure, the customer business developed decentralised offerings such as home energy management (E.ON Home) for households with solar panels, storage and smart devices.

Third-party assessment

The supervisory board chair credited him with driving growth in decentralised energy infrastructure (as reported by ZfK, May 2021).

Energy sector in detail →

Government

Sustainability in the digital ministry

Analysis

The ministry's documented agenda focuses on digitalisation, state modernisation and infrastructure; sustainability is not a stated pillar. It appears indirectly: through the special fund for infrastructure and climate neutrality, which finances broadband; through digital permitting for the hydrogen core network; and through data centres, whose rising power demand makes energy efficiency and supply a planning issue.

No ministerial statements by Wildberger setting out a specific personal position on climate policy were found, and this archive does not infer one.

Open questions

What the record does not yet show

  • Whether Ceconomy met its 2024 net-zero target for Scope 1 and 2 emissions — reporting on this falls after his departure in May 2025.
  • How the trade-in and refurbishment business developed against the 250,000 trade-ins expected for FY 2023/24.
  • Whether the digital ministry will adopt explicit sustainability criteria, for example for data-centre energy use, as part of the data-centre strategy.

This archive will not fill these gaps with assumptions.

Sources
  1. Ceconomy Capital Markets Day 2023 release: ceconomy-mms.com
  2. ZfK, 10 May 2021: zfk.de
  3. Current News, E.ON Home, 2018: current-news.co.uk
  4. BMDS, 2026 budget: bmds.bund.de