About Us

aiforia logo

Mission

aiforia: αει (always, forever) + φέρω (to bring, to sustain) = sustainability.

As an international agency for sustainability, at aiforia we are convinced that human beings can improve the overall quality of life on our planet without endangering future generations' right to use the Earth's resources -and despite the challenges of climate change and peak oil. Our commitment is to live up to this mission and help others follow the same direction.

Do you wish to be more resourceful in the use of natural resources? Would you like your community/region to become more resilient and flexible? Are you aiming to reduce your ecological footprint?

We are working to support you! We are experts in mainstreaming of good practices, providing facilitation for the exchange of know-how, and in the development of new, resourceful projects and processes for sustainability.

We bring together different actors at local, national and international levels and provide comprehensive support in topics such as reduction of resource consumption, responsible planning, effective projects, and thoughtful and fair policies.

In 2009, aiforia was founded as a civil law partnership and converted into a limited liability company in 2016. In 2021, the non-profit association aiforia - ecoculture e.V. was additionally established.

If you are interested in knowing more about aiforia, please browse through our web-site or contact us

Team

 
Andrea Burzacchini

Director of aiforia GmbH
Expert in sustainable mobility

 

 
Giulia Sabattoli

aiforia GmbH
Green City Study Visit Coordinator
Andrea Philipp

Founding associate aiforia - ecoculture e.V.
Myriam Winter

Founding associate aiforia - ecoculture e.V.
Project coordinator

 

 
Ilaria De Altin

External contributor aiforia - ecoculture e.V.
Climate Protection Expert

 

 

 

Self-commitment

We take it for granted that a company working for sustainability must first of all have its own house in order. This is why we make a point of reducing as much as possible the environmental impact of our activities and daily life at the office:

Equipment

Our office equipment and furniture meet strict ecological criteria. To evaluate their sustainability we take into account their whole life-cycle: from raw materials and production process, packaging and application to recycling or disposal. We make sure that they are certified as FSC, Blue Angel, Fairtrade, etc. or that they follow other sustainability criteria such as having been recycled, etc. For example our chairs are 95% recyclable, while our desks and cabinet are recovered antique wooden furniture more than 120 years old.

Resources and consumables

We reduce our waste generation as much as possible and make sure that all of the waste that we produce is recycled. We print only when necessary, double-sided, on ecologically certified paper. We try to be CO2-neutral both for the hosting of our website and for internet researches, and thus have chosen providers which compensate the energy used by emission trading certificates (Domain Factory declaration). For our internet research we use Znout instead of Google, which compensates the energy needed for each query (equal to one hour of an 11-watt light bulb). For shared resources such as energy, heating, lighting and cleaning products, we adopt more ecologically friendly solutions. In our business meetings, we prefer food and beverages that are vegetarian, organic, fair-trade, seasonal and produced regionally.

Mobility

We commute by foot, bike or public transport. On business trips, we use the train for distances up to 1,000 Km (to reach cities like Rome, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Vienna, Berlin). For longer distances, we compensate the amount of CO2 emitted by flying through donations to climate protection projects.

Social Responsibility

aiforia's bank account is kept at a bank for social and ecological investments, where deposits are invested in companies or projects supporting organic agriculture. For our computers we use open-source software to support variety in software development.

Monitoring

Every six months we evaluate our environmental performance, according to several indicators (CO2 emitted for travelling, paper and ink consumed...) and establish new targets. This way we strive for continuous improvement.

Network

We are always delighted to collaborate with different organisations, institutions and companies all around the world.

Non-governmental organizations

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  • Associacao Portuguesa de Saude, Higiene e Segurança no Trabalho para o Desenvolvimento e Cooperacao International (ONGD) - Lisbon, Portugal - Seeds for the Future project
  • Cramars Societa Cooperativa Sociale - Tolmezzo, Italy - Seeds for the Future project
  • Deutsch-Türkischer Elternverein - Freiburg, Germany - Green City Live! project
  • Fairburg e.V. - Freiburg, Germany - GENUSS project
  • fesa e. V. - Freiburg, Germany - Green City Live! project
  • Fondazione Feine Onlus - Padova, Italy - Seminars
  • KIOSK e.V. - Freiburg, Germany - Freiburg study tours
  • Legambiente Lombardia - Milan, Italy - Partnership in different projects and exchanges
  • Migranten für Agenda 21 e.V. - Hanover, Germany - GENUSS project
  • Polish Fairtrade Association - Poland - Aware & Fair project
  • Punto Dock - Ancona, Italy - Partnership in different projects and exchanges
  • Transfair e. V. - Cologne, Germany - Aware & Fair project

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Local Authorities and LA Associations

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  • Andalusia Energy Agency - Seville, Spain - RENREN project
  • ASEV, Agenzia per lo Sviluppo Empolese Valdelsa - Empoli, Italy -  A.R.E.E. Mobili project
  • Association of Westfjords Municipalities - Iceland - RENREN Project
  • Blantyre Municipality - Malawi - Aware & Fair project
  • Castilla y León, Regional Energy Agency - León, Spain - RENREN project
  • Central Macedonia Region - Thessaloniki, Greece - RENREN project
  • Coimbatore Municipal Corporation - India - SUNYA project
  • Dhaka City Corporation - Bangladesh - SUNYA project
  • Flemish Cities and Municipalities Association - Brussels, Belgium - SUNYA project
  • Freiburg Municipality - Germany - GENUSS project, Partnership for study tours of international delegations
  • Hannover Municipality - Germany - Aware & Fair project, GENUSS project
  • Hetauda Municipality - Nepal - SUNYA project
  • ICLEI European Sekretariat - Freiburg, Germany - Freiburg study tours
  • ICLEI South Asia Sekretariat - Delhi, India - Sunya project
  • ITKAM, German-Italian Chamber of Commerce - Frankfurt am Main, Germany - A.R.E.E. Mobili project
  • Jämtland, County Council - Sweden - RENREN Project
  • Litomerice Municipality - Czech Republic - Aware & Fair project
  • Lots Region - Poland - RENREN project
  • Natale Municipality - Sri Lanka - SUNYA project
  • Miskolc Municipality - Hungary - Aware & Fair project
  • Navarre Government, Department of Innovation, Enterprise and Employment - Pamplona, Spain - RENREN project
  • Nepalese Municipal Association (MuAN) - Kathmandu, Nepal - SUNYA project
  • Pays de la Loire Region - Nantes, France - RENREN Project
  • Phuentsholing Municipality - Bhutan - SUNYA project
  • Poznan Municipality - Poland - Aware & Fair project
  • Schleswig-Holstein, Ministry of Science, Economic Affairs and Transport - Kiel, Germany - RENREN Project
  • Shimla Municipal Corporation - India - SUNYA project
  • Tansen Municipality - Nepal - SUNYA project
  • Timís County, Agency for Social and Economic Development - Timişoara, Romania - RENREN project
  • Tuscany Region - Florence, Italy - A.R.E.E. Mobili project
  • Ústí Region - Czech Republic - RENREN Project
  • Welsh Assembly Government - Cardiff, United Kingdom - RENREN Project

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Companies and consultants

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  • Andreas Dilger Weingut und Brennerei - Freiburg, Germany - Partnership in different projects
    Freiburg study tours
  • Andreas Joppich Consultancy - Bonn, Germany - GENUSS project
  • ARGE Abfallvermeidung GmbH - Graz, Austria - SUNYA project
  • Badenova AG - Freiburg, Germany - Freiburg study tours
  • cocoate IT consultancy - Fitou, France - Seeds for the Future project
  • DAILcyf - Capel Curig, UK - Seeds for the Future project
  • FWTM, Freiburg Wirtschaft Touristik und Messe - Freiburg, Germany - Freiburg study tours
  • Innovazione sostenibile - Rome, Italy - Partnership for study tours of italian delegations
  • mobile-Freiburg GmbH - Freiburg, Germany - Freiburg study tours
  • Network:GREEN Alexandra Waldmann s.p. - Slovenia, Ljubljana - RENREN project
  • Punto 3 Srl - Ferrara,Italy - Freiburg study tours for Italian delegations
  • SC Freiburg - Freiburg, Germany - Freiburg study tours
  • Solar Info Center - Freiburg, Germany - Freiburg study tours
  • TerrAria Srl - Milan, Italy - Partnership in different projects and exchanges
  • VAG, Freiburger Verkehrs AG - Freiburg, Germany - Freiburg study tours

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Research and education

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  • Bay Zoltán Foundation for Applied Research - Budapest, Hungary - RENREN project
  • Cyprus Institute of Energy - Nicosia, Cyprus - RENREN project
  • Dobele Adult Education and Business Support Centre - Dobele, Latvia - Seeds for the Future project
  • Institute for Logistics and Production Systems - Miskolc, Hungary - RENREN project
  • Regionalwert AG - Freiburg, Germany - Freiburg study tours
  • Richard-Fehrenbach-Gewerbeschule - Freiburg, Germany - Freiburg study tours
  • Second Chance School of Corfu - Corfu, Greece - Seeds for the Future project
  • Staudinger Schule - Freiburg, Germany - Freiburg study tours
  • Stiftung Waldhaus - Freiburg, Germany - Freiburg study tours

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