Sustainable sightseeing with Colonia Aktiv
Guided Bike Tours in Cologne
Our sustainability check
We are convinced that the bicycle is an urban means of mass transport with a future and will gradually conquer leisure traffic and inner-city tourism in addition to commuter traffic. With our presence on the streets of Cologne in the context of guided bicycle tours, we make a demonstrative contribution to climate protection and to rethinking urban and transport planning. The “car-friendly city” is history! Sustainable management is an important concern for us in all corporate processes and makes our daily work fulfilling and valuable.
With the following measures, we want to do business sustainably and keep our ecological footprint as small as possible.
Bike, Bike, Bike
Whether it is the daily journey of our employees or the numerous bicycle tours with our guests, the bicycle is the number one means of transport for us.
All guides and employees in the Colonia Aktiv shop are convinced that cycling is the best way to get around. An internal survey showed that 9 out of 10 people cycle to work. Some of our guides have to make do with public transport because of the somewhat longer journey from outside the city area.
And we at Colonia Aktiv are proud of this quantity of cyclists: In the past few years, we have been awarded first place several times in the “Cologne City Cycling” competition for the most cyclists participating!
Bike deliveries
We usually carry out our deliveries with Cambio Carsharing vehicles. Here we can choose the right vehicle class, deliver few bikes with small cars and transport many bikes with larger delivery vans. If only because of the mileage-based billing, we strive for economy here and plan delivery trips as efficiently as possible. In addition, as cyclists we are of course pleased that there is more traffic space for cycling and walking thanks to the car sharing model. As an alternative to car sharing, we use cargo taxis as logistics partners. This business model is also sustainable due to the high utilization of individual vehicles on short routes in urban traffic.
Printing of advertising material
For our flyers, we have been using the climate-neutral printing process of gruen-gedruckt.de since 2016. The print products are produced in Düren, near Cologne, in such a way that the most environmentally friendly processes possible are used and at the same time an offset project is also supported to compensate for the lower but unavoidable CO² emissions.
Communication with guests and guides, the sending of invoices to our guests, internal accounting and correspondence with tax advisors are usually carried out paperlessly by sending PDF documents.
Web hosting
Our business is largely an online business, so here too we have opted for sustainably generated electricity for our server operation. Our web host uses 100% green electricity for web hosting.
We get our electricity from “Green Planet Energy”, Greenpeace-approved green electricity from 100% renewable energy sources. This way we contribute to the energy transition!
Accounting & Banking
In addition to our account at the local savings bank, we use an account at the sustainable GLS Bank in Bochum for transfers of incoming and outgoing invoices. GLS Bank pursues concrete sustainability goals in the areas of education & culture, social & health, nutrition, sustainable economy and many more.
Returnable bottles
The deposit and returnable bottle has now found its place in Germany. Drinks are available to our staff and guides free of charge. And our guests also have the opportunity to obtain chilled drinks at a non-profit price before each tour.
By using reusable bottles, both in our office in Cologne and on tour, we contribute to the resource-saving, waste-free supply of our staff and guests.
Open Communication
If you have any suggestions on how we can further improve our carbon footprint or if we can help you plan a low-emission and active class trip, a company outing or by providing individual mobility with our bikes, we look forward to hearing from you!
Your Peter Unkelbach (Owner and Managing Director)