SUSTAINABILITY
CyberSustainability – or: Why security and sustainability are two sides of the same coin
Apu Gosalia, Co-Chairman of the Sustainable Economy Commission in the Senate of Economy in Germany, and member of the Supervisory Board and ESG Climate Council on the Board of Trustees of Forum Nachhaltig Wirtschaften in Germany
CyberSustainability? Oh no – not yet another new word creation that has found its way into language use and that no one understands, you, as a knowledgeable reader, may now be thinking. But to reassure you: The word “CyberSustainability” does not (yet) actually, officially exist. Nevertheless, I have taken the liberty of developing the term for this article in order to point out the existing obligatory synergies or symbioses between sustainability, security and digitalisation, which are directly interlinked and build on each other.
Sustainability and security in the world In June 2023, the German Federal Government adopted a National Security Strategy for the first time. This is based on a broad or integrated concept of security. Sustainability and the protection of our natural resources are one of the three pillars of this strategy, along with safety and resilience. Security thus encompasses national and human security. This results in new opportunities and obligations for the environmental and sustainability policy in the midst of numerous geopolitical crises.
Since then, the German government has also made it very clear: “We must invest in our security in order to protect our freedom, our democracy and, at the same time, the foundations of life for future generations.” This, in turn, is the very essence of sustainability. We must therefore face up to the fact that sustainability cannot be achieved without security or in other words: security is the mother of all sustainability. This sentence could also be written the other way
14 LUBE MAGAZINE NO.185 FEBRUARY 2025
round: Without sustainability, there is no security. Today, more people are fleeing from the effects of the climate crisis than from armed conflicts. The aforementioned National Security Strategy of the Federal Government therefore sets out a holistic approach to the country’s security. One goal in this context, for example, is to strengthen global food security, which is particularly threatened by the climate crisis. Investments in sustainability help to enable prosperity and development for people around the world and also promote our security.
Sustainability and security are therefore inextricably linked and mutually dependent.
Sustainability and security in companies Corporate sustainability in companies – also in the lubricants industry – basically describes how they handle raw materials carefully, operate sustainably and promote fair working conditions. For a sustainability strategy, companies set themselves ecological (e.g. calculating and reducing the CO2
footprint), social
and economic targets and also define measures to achieve these goals. It is important that sustainability issues are closely interlinked with the core business. Only if a company acts in an ecologically and socially sustainable manner will it also be able to operate in an economically sustainable manner.
On the one hand, companies relate safety to their employees and customers, and it is a top priority not
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