One of the guiding notions underpinning HKW’s cultural and political programme concerns worlding—understood as a verb and encompassing practices of unworlding and reworlding. Reworlding entails repairing, rehabilitating, restituting, and bringing into being better worlds for the next generations. HKW is committed to upholding these principles in its cultural production: through use of the building, the conception and implementation of programming, and the involvement of team members and visitors.

Since 2013, HKW has been validated by the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), buys green electricity, and meets the criteria for sustainable environmental management (more information here: www.kbb.eu/en/verantwortung/nachhaltigkeit). The building’s steel and glass facade has been retrofitted to meet EMAS standards and the lighting is being progressively converted to all LED bulbs. HKW makes use of recyclable and reusable materials in exhibition installations, while print publications are produced using sustainable materials and the amount of copies printed is carefully considered. On the Paulette Nardal and Les Nana Benz roof terraces and in the Lili Elbe Garden organic plants are cultivated as part of a previous collaboration with Prinzessinnengarten (Princess Garden), a long-running urban gardening project in Kreuzberg.

In the course of their work at HKW, employees can use company bicycles and electric cargo bikes as well as take advantage of subsidized travel on Berlin’s public transport network. Necessary work-related travel within Germany and to neighbouring European countries must be made by train wherever possible or car. In cases where air travel is unavoidable, emissions are offset in cooperation with MoorFutures (supporting the rewetting of a drained bog near Freienhagen, Brandenburg, permanently binding CO2 in the soil). 

KBB is in the process of reorganizing the entire administration to be climate-neutral by 2030, strengthening awareness and demonstrating the need to use all resources responsibly through its actions.