Environmental policy for Kaukus AS
Kaukus AS shall be a healthy and sustainable company. Our social mission is to provide digital tools for local democracy, which gives us a particular responsibility. We aim to help elected bodies function more openly, efficiently, and environmentally friendly, while keeping our own environmental footprint as low as possible.
Our contribution to sustainable local democracy
Kaukus makes it possible for municipalities to conduct political meetings without paper agendas, paper proposals, and paper voting. Digital case handling, electronic voting, live streaming, and digital archives reduce paper consumption, transportation of elected representatives and citizens, and the need for physical storage in municipal archives. A fully digitalized municipal council typically replaces thousands of printed pages per year.
We believe that open, transparent, and accessible political processes are a prerequisite for a sustainable society. When citizens can follow meetings via livestream and search protocols digitally, local democracy and trust in public institutions are strengthened. This is at the core of our environmental and social profile. We not only reduce our own emissions, we also provide municipalities with tools to reduce theirs.
Suppliers, data centers and procurement
We choose suppliers and data centers that document their environmental standards. Kaukus is operated on data centers using renewable energy and high energy efficiency. When selecting new suppliers—whether software, hardware, office supplies, or AV equipment—we consider environmental certification, lifespan, reparability, and energy consumption as part of the decision-making process.
For AV and streaming equipment installed in municipal meeting rooms, we prioritize solutions with long lifespan, low energy consumption, and standardized components that can be repaired and replaced individually, rather than proprietary systems that must be replaced as a whole.
Work environment
We aim to ensure a safe, pleasant, and inclusive work environment for all employees. We facilitate flexibility and remote work, both because it benefits employees and because it reduces travel and thus our climate footprint.
Impact on customers and suppliers
As a supplier to the public sector, we have a position of influence. We request environmental documentation from our suppliers and help our customers understand how digitalization of political processes can be included in their own climate and sustainability reporting.
Certification
We are working systematically towards Eco-Lighthouse (Miljøfyrtårn) certification to structure our environmental work and document it for society, customers, and suppliers.
UN Sustainable Development Goals
Kaukus’ activities contribute particularly to four UN Sustainable Development Goals:
- Goal 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions. This is Kaukus’ most important contribution. Kaukus is a tool for open, verifiable, and inclusive decision-making processes in the municipal sector, directly addressing targets 16.6 and 16.7 on effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions.
- Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities. We provide municipalities with tools for more efficient and transparent governance and lower the threshold for citizen participation.
- Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production. We reduce paper use and physical archive needs for our customers and set environmental requirements for our suppliers.
- Goal 13: Climate action. We choose renewable operations, reduce travel, and help customers reduce transport related to political meetings.