At DOK Leipzig, we are concerned with the climate and ecological crisis. We are committed to lowering our environmental impact and are dedicated to integrating sustainability measures into all aspects of the festival and industry programme as well as our year-round operations. In the past years, we have been mindful to produce our activities in an environmentally respectful manner and employed strategies to increase sustainability in our organisation and our activities.

DOK Leipzig has initiated the process to obtain the ISO 20121:2024 certificate for sustainable event organisation by 2027. To support the implementation of a sustainable event management according to ISO 20121:2024, we ask all accredited participants for a sustainability fee of 15 €.

The City of Leipzig, taking a pioneering role in climate action, has declared the state of climate emergency in 2019 and defined a set of immediate actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation measures against global warming. We as one of the city’s major cultural and professional events joined the pilot programme for cultural institutions and events to reach climate neutrality initiated by the city council.

One of the main objectives of the initiative is to assess the footprint of cultural institutions in order to identify effective measures for reducing emissions and resource usage. Together with experienced experts in the field and regional partners, a custom-built carbon footprint calculator tailored specifically for cultural events and institutions has been developed, based on the contributions and insights of DOK Leipzig and other participating cultural players. With the “E-Tool Culture” in place – the first nationwide web-based CO2-calculator for the cultural sector –, we are now equipped to assess the footprint of our year-round operations and upcoming festival editions, to make informed decisions for effective measures to reduce our environmental impact.

We also monitor the carbon footprints of our suppliers and partners. To keep the impact as low as possible, we give priority to local and regional partners.

The travel activities of our festival guests are the most decisive factor of our carbon footprint. The on-site participation of international guests is essential for an international film festival and market. The presence of large numbers of experts, funders and creative talent in one place at the same time also helps reduce the need for single-purpose business travel.

We have implemented the following measures to reduce the impact of travel activity:

• We firmly encourage guests to travel by train or other environmentally friendly alternatives where possible.
• We collaborate with the German railways (Deutsche Bahn) to offer discounted train tickets.
• We plan our events to maximise time efficiency for our guests to allow for highest productivity, making the trip to Leipzig even more ecologically worthwhile.
• We collaborate with other industry events taking place in in the region at the same time.
• We facilitate online participation for DOK Industry guests from faraway places including targeted networking and online one-on-one meeting sessions. Major events are live-streamed and recorded for online access.
• For staff travel we give priority to travelling by train whenever possible for trips of up to eight hours.

When choosing partner hotels, we pay attention to a certified environmental management.

• Bike Sharing: Since 2024, we collaborate with the German bike sharing company Nextbike to offer accredited participants the first 120 minutes for free.
• Shuttle transfer by car from and to airports, or to festival venues within Leipzig are facilitated only in case of mobility requirements or lack of alternatives (e.g. time constraints, unavailability of public transport).
• Most festival venues and partner hotels are centrally located within walking distance of each other. Additional venues are well connected to public transport and can be easily reached by bike.

Choosing vegetarian or vegan catering options favouring local and regional produce is an integral part of our sustainability strategy. We use tap water in carafes, or reusable bottles and reusable tableware.

We have reduced the number of printed promotional materials and publications over the past years and decided to discontinue the production of the festival catalogue to further reduce the use of paper resources. Instead, we invest in accessible and convenient digital solutions.

In the area of branding, we check every product for durability aiming for example to produce banners and stands that can be used for more than one edition. We recommend guests and partners to bring less flyer materials to avoid paper waste and offer digital promotion opportunities instead.

We have been using plastic-free paper accreditation badges since 2019.
 

We encourage all accredited guests to reuse their own lanyards. Instead of producing new lanyards, we also work with partners who provide lanyards that have already been produced to save material and energy and to minimise transport and waste.

As an organisation, we reduce waste through waste avoidance and recycling.  

The entire team is highly motivated to contribute to manage the office and daily work as environmentally friendly as possible, adopt best practices and save energy and resources.

• Staff commutes on foot, by bike or public transport to the office; flexible remote work practices
• Rental of technical equipment needed for a limited time instead of purchasing. When buying, favouring refurbished and used equipment where possible.
• Transportation of material to event locations using cargo bikes, whenever possible, or on foot using rolling equipment cases
• Use of certified recycled paper and think-before-you-print policy, upcycling of one-side printed paper as notebooks
• Waste separation and recycling stations throughout the office
• Discarded equipment or furnishings are offered to local material reuse initiatives or disposed at specialised recycling facilities
• Avoidance of single-use items in favour of reusable and refillable solutions
• Use of a self-hosted cloud and collaboration platform based on open source software

In a working group composed of colleagues from different departments, we discuss strategies and determine guidelines for the organisation and our activities.

We also exchange knowledge and experiences on the topic of sustainability with partner initiatives and other festivals and markets, including our Doc Alliance network.