Money isn’t everything - A new definition of wealth | DW Documentary

Fast growth and maximum profit the traditional path to prosperity. But now sceptical voices are growing louder. At some point I got the feeling that the return was the top priority and anything else was very far behind. And I just didn't want to be part of that anymore. Is being ëin the blackí the only measure of success? What about investments that also do some good? With every euro, every German investor who invests in our projects can save CO2. Investing money differently. Spending money diff

erently - Success isnít to be measured in profit alone but also in its positive effect on society. This top-down imposed economy is not right for us, and we have bigger goals than that. And weíre going to roll up our sleeves. How might it look, this new idea of prosperity? The young canes look good and also here, this fruity stem, there, where itís good. That's super and it all tastes good too. The really plump ones are down here. This is the juiciest one, I think I have to eat it now. You have

to eat them yourself? Brothers Klaus and Andreas Engemann have a mission. Fruit and vegetables from their farm should taste good and do good at the same time. At their family farm in Willebadessen in the district of Hˆxter, itís not just about financial gain. They are more concerned with other values. Nature conservation, for example. Itís why they rely on organic farming. And they work closely with regional partners. Thatís what we want, the special closeness and cooperation with the regional f

ood producers, who we also supply with our fruit. A profitable business which also benefits society and the environment isnít just the Engemannís objective; itís also the goal of the "economy for the common good". The idea originated in Austria in 2010. Now, more and more companies in Germany and around the world are being certified under the "Common Good Economy". Like the Engemanns. Yes, we have drawn up a common-good balance-sheet. This is new for the company; we can now make the values which

weíve developed and lived over the years transparent to our customers, or to anyone whoís interested. The common good balance sheet shows how well a company promotes the common good across all areas of the business. The Engemanns not only grow raspberries, strawberries and other fruits and vegetables. They also sell their own produce along with that of other organic farms. They supply regional shops and sell at local markets. Julia Engemann, Andreasí daughter, manages the direct marketing. Thes

e are our own tomatoes, from our greenhouses. Having time for customers to offer detailed information on the products. Itís all part of the philosophy of a common good enterprise a matter close to Julia Engemannís heart. I think it's great, this customer contact: Thereís a special atmosphere at the weekly market, the customers take time and enjoy the experience. Openness and transparency are not only important for customers in a common good enterprise, but also for employees. They should also ha

ve a say. The Engemann staff meet in "quality circles," to discuss important topics, and everyone has a seat at the table. How can we and how should we divide up the site? Perhaps we could build a processing plant. There could be cold storage facilities for vegetables. The current issue is how to expand a new site. The two bosses could just make the decision and say ëhereís how it is, now deal with it.í So itís a very positive thing to be developing it together. People who have a say are more mo

tivated. And the whole company benefits from that. With other farmers, the Engemanns rely on cooperation rather than competition. Klaus and Julia Engemann meet the Herdickerhoff family. The redcurrant harvest is about to begin. The two families work together. The Herdickerhoffs tend to the berries, while the Engemanns take care of the sales. But what about the juice? Will the sugar content be ok? Yes, of course. The Herdieckerhoff family has only recently switched to organic farming. In the tran

sition phase, Iíd have been single-handedly responsible for the whole business, a lone wolf. And Iím not the youngest either. To do what weíre doing together now, to raise that kind of money, I wouldíve needed to find someone who gave me the benefit of the doubt. And then thereíd be machines to buy. The packaging, cold storage, transport equipment. It just wouldnít have been possible. Their currants are kept in the Engemanns' cold storage. We combine our services and skills. And the joint operat

ion turns into an economically viable one. Business success is important for common good enterprises. But thereís much more. The well-being of the companies they work with is important, as are their staff and customers, and the businessís social environment, including the people who benefit from the sustainable products. The common good balance-sheet helps companies do good. But individuals can do good, too. Rethinking business and investing differently. Thatís whatís happening, on a small scale

, in this apartment building. Stefan and Teresa Hatos want to put money aside for their childrenís future. Stefan, an IT specialist, has been committed to climate protection for years. For a long time, he searched in vain for environmentally-friendly investments. I tried out all kinds of things. I started with savings plans, funds and shares. But at some point I got the feeling that it wasnít right for me, that the return was the top priority and anything else was very far behind. And I just did

n't want to be part of that anymore. Investing money profitably and protecting the environment at the same time Stefan Hatos found what he was looking for on the internet. In a project in Kenya. There, in rural areas in particular, most people still cook on open fires and consume large amounts of charcoal. A Kenyan company has now developed a new type of cooker that uses less fuel. less fuel Less wood is burnt, which is great, of course, and people are saving money. So, of course, that's optimal

. The couple put their money into the African company through the crowdfunding platform "Bettervest". Crowd-investing, a type of crowd-funding, allows many small investors to support a project such as more sustainable cookers. Bettervest manages these projects in Frankfurt am Main alongside the traditional financial giants. Yes, and the next point is youíve probably all noticed that Iím travelling to Kenya. Manager Olga Dickmann is planning a trip to the stove company. She oversees the implement

ation of Bettervest's African projects and has lived and worked in Kenya for four years. All projects are chosen based on their positive effect, or impact. We finance stoves that use much less wood. It reduces CO2 emissions and you have to consider that there are a lot of people in Kenya using these stoves. Every stove sold contributes to CO2 reduction. Bettervest was founded in 2012. The platform finances sustainable projects all over the world. With many small contributions, even large project

s can be financed. We have the grey bar, which represents the total amount needed for the project. And the blue bar shows where we are at the moment. It moves to the right. And when we get to the far right, we're done and the project is funded. Stefan Hatos and his wife have invested a total of 4,000 euros through Bettervest, spread over six different projects. Ideally, theyíll receive up to 8% interest. For them, investing in this way, is ideal. Of course, it's good for the environment and the

climate, and, last but not least, also for your own wallet and for your conscience. Itís a great feeling to know that your money is invested wisely and is helping do some good for people and the climate. Olga Dickmann has arrived in Kenya. The company ìBurnî is located in Ruiru, northeast of the capital Nairobi. This is where they produce their innovative stoves. Production managers Oliver Mauersberger and Allan Joe Mureithi explain the company in detail, and how investorsí money is being spent.

The founder of the company is American, Peter Scott. At the weekly meeting, Olga Dickmann learns about the current state of production. Scott has been researching environmentally friendly stoves for developing countries since the late 90s. His motivation is simple: less firewood means fewer forests cleared. I mean really saving forests is the thing that drives me, right, the last remaining rain forests. If you go to Madagascar, people are cooking three meals a day on traditional charcoal stoves

, and it's destroying the forests of Madagascar. The fact that we are liquidating these truly important tropical rain forests just for cooking is bananas. The stoves can cut fuel consumption by nearly half. The company has already won several environmental awards for its concept. Alright, so this is our main inbound warehouse. We store our sheet steel here. The stoves have already saved 6.9 million tonnes of wood from being cleared. Burn needs new capital. Crowd-investing can provide it. People

invest their money over a longer, fixed period of time. With this capital, the company can expand. At the end of the term, the investors get their capital back with interest. But itís not without risk. If a company goes bankrupt, the invested money is usually completely lost. To protect against this, experts always recommend investing smaller amounts in different projects. Burn has already reached its crowdfunding goal for its initial project with Bettervest. A win-win for investors and the comp

any. Itís now begun a new crowdfunding project to expand into even more African countries. With every euro, every German investor who invests in our projects can save CO2. The investment supports companies that reduce CO2 and you do some good with it and support the African companies. Each cooker can reduce CO2 emissions by up to 2.3 tonnes per year, which is roughly the amount of CO2 a German household produces annually for electricity and heating. In Germany, an entire municipality is investin

g in the well-being of its citizens. You are here now for your first climate training. And my colleague here will give you a little introduction today. Jana Baukmann is a climate trainer. She was trained for one year by city council in how to make M¸nster households more climate-friendly. From cooking to heating to shopping. Youíre all going to get a handout like this one in a moment. This is the training circle. It would be great if you could bring it with you to the next meeting. It's a kind o

f to-do list, a reminder that you're a participant in this project! Itís the first meeting. The participants are a mixed bunch. Teacher Fabian Remke's expectations are high... With the expectation that I'll get my ass kicked a bit, as the saying goes - and those things that I already know I can improve, I'll be more likely to finally do them. Jana Baukmann is here to help. She passes on everything she has learned in her climate training to the participants. She works on a voluntary basis and the

climate training is free for all. Meike Schulzik knows a thing or two about how to achieve a more climate-friendly household. She owns two zero-waste shops in M¸nster specialising in environmentally friendly alternatives to ordinary household items. These are shampoo bars, which is really shampoo pressed into solid form. The water is missing. You apply it like soap. Small changes in the household with a big impact. In a model experiment, M¸nster residents were able to save around 2.5 tonnes of

CO2 per household in one year through climate training extrapolated to all households in the city, that would be the annual CO2 emissions of around 170,000 cars. Weíve got to do something. We canít deny climate change anymore and something just has to be done. And it makes sense for the local authorities to take the reins a bit, because theyíre in a position to reach a lot of different people. All the threads of the climate training come together here in the "Coordination Office for Climate and

Energy", or Klenko for short. Ok, letís move to the point "State of the projects". Climate trainers? M¸nster has been a pioneer in municipal climate protection for decades. And has received several awards for its ideas. Matthias Peck is the head of Klenko. And he has big plans. Instead of municipal directives, he wants to encourage citizens to become active themselves through projects like climate training. Heís doing the same with the city's businesses. What can you do to contribute to CO2 redu

ction? How can you change production processes? How can you save resources? We provide advice on such topics, and the companies are usually very grateful. Because of course they can't be expected to have this knowledge in a completely unrelated sector. For example, at this glass and mirror company. It starts with a bit of detective work. Energy consultant Marcel St¸er has examined everything that consumes energy and considered what could be changed. Heís taken a magnifying glass to the entire co

mpany. From the base year 2014, we had about 9,750 euros in energy costs for heating here. And weíre now at a constant 7,800 that's a cost saving of almost 20%. The new pellet heating system saves the company almost 2,000 euros a year in heating costs. Pellet instead of gas heating - just one example. The energy audit, which company boss Ingo Niggemann had commissioned, identified one of the companyís biggest energy guzzlers... This table. It needs a lot of compressed air. Pressure comes from ea

ch channel, so that we can move the glass, the surface. Here, nothing would work without air pressure. That this costs money was clear. But the immensity of the costs, the fact it was one of our largest expenses that, we werenít aware of. Mirrors and glass can be extremely heavy. To move them, they are blown upward, and hover slightly over the table. As a result of the audit, the machines are no longer controlled centrally but can be switched on and off, as needed. One of the many savings measur

es recommended by Marcel St¸er, with impressive results. So the costs have been reduced by 30%. Starting with over 11,000 euros in electricity costs per year, weíre now at 7,500 euros. The numbers speak for themselves Around 90 companies from M¸nster have already opted for the free initial consultation. All of them were able to save cash. But also CO2: up to 20 tonnes per company. The city is on a new path. Turning the economy around for the common good is a state goal in some countries. About 1

,000 kilometres away, to the north-west, for example. In Scotland. What Kirsty Flannigan and Sharon-Ann Ross have set up in this small warehouse is part of a much wider change. Because in Scotland, the economic system will fundamentally change in the future, according to government plans. The two women live in the Glasgow suburb of Linwood. Decades ago, many people moved here to work in the small town. But the big companies closed down - and people were left behind. To improve life in Linwood, a

group of women set up their own foundation and asked the residents what they wanted. People wanted somewhere, obviously, that they could shop, that was low cost but high quality produce of fruit and veg. There wasn't anything at that point in time in Linwood. Our town centre had obviously, you know, most of the shops had shut down over a period of 15 years. Linwood is quite a deprived area on the social scales. People can struggle. There are a lot of working people, but maybe on low incomes. So

it's difficult to manage everything. Now the foundation runs a delivery service for fresh fruit and vegetables. They supply the neighbourhoods where there are no shops any more. Itís particularly welcomed by older residents. Have you many to do? Just the usual Monday, you have a nice day. I will do. See you later. Scotland supports many such non-profit projects that benefit people and nature. They want the economy to be more than just profit oriented. The government aims to transition to a "wel

lbeing economy", an economy for the common good. To this end, theyíre promoting local investment, local jobs and shorter supply chains. In Linwood, theyíve got a lot of ideas on what can really help the community. One of the most important...a really good football pitch. How many goals did you score? I canít believe the height of you. Look at the height youíre getting, I think youíre gonna be a lot taller than your dad. A place for sports fans without the cost of an expensive fitness club. The W

omen's Foundation runs this facility itself. Unlike a private sports club, the income flows right back into the project. So basically Mossedge Village is about capturing the local pound. So if you spent it at Mossedge, the moneyís captured here at Mossedge, it doesnít leave Mossedge, and it goes into future and further development of the site. The Women's Initiative is already working on the next project: a new community centre being built next door. The idea was born when the old community cent

re had to close, and the village lost its meeting place. Planning took ten years, and now itís about to open. There is even a theatre hall for performances, for example, by the initiative's choir. The project received over 1.5 million pounds in funding from the state. A lot of the funding comes from the Scottish Government, the Scottish government has given us a lot of funding for the centre. and just through different funding schemes, that we were able to apply to. The plan is to spread the con

cept of the "Wellbeing Economy" throughout the country. Political scientist Katherine Trebeck from the organisation "Wellbeing Economy Alliance" is working towards this in Glasgow. An international project was launched in 2017 - here at Glasgow University. A group of academics and politicians from around the world were huddled in this little room talking about forming an alliance, a group, a partnership that has eventually become known as the Wellbeing Economy Governments Partnership. Five count

ries have joined forces to align their economies with the common good. In addition to Scotland, Finland, Wales, Iceland and New Zealand have signed on. Katherine has also been advising the Linwood initiative for many years. This building, but the work behind it and the organization, the people behind it, just embody what a Wellbeing economy is about. Because it is people saying, this top down imposed economy is not right for us, and we have bigger goals than that, and weíre gonna roll up our sle

eves. The new community centre also has a small restaurant so that local residents can eat well and cheaply. In addition, the cook trains young people so they gain skills for the job market. Just keeps it circulating, just keeps the money here, and then it sparks more businesses. Just this beautiful, virtuous cycle. For Katherine Trebeck, such initiatives make the difference that business and politics have, until now, barely considered: Because in most countries, what they do for the community i

snít measured. GDP won't smile, if people are coming to this centre, watching their kids play football, chatting to a friend on the sidelines, having a coffee, supporting someone who's maybe going through a tough time. None of that will add up to GDP, but all of it makes such a massive difference to the quality of the community and people's lives and their sense of whether they can cope. That's why this "well-being economy" in Scotland wants to measure not only finances in the future, but also,

whether children are growing up happily, how just society is, education, environmental protection, and much more. All this should be accounted for in a state balance sheet. These new indicators will be another component of the Scottish economy in the future. Linwood has become a confident community with prospects, and the football pitch is just one part of that. I meet a lot of friends here and I get a lot of friends here and I like to play with my friends here at the football. Yeah, I like it.

Money for good causes, instead of growth at any price. Many small steps can make the difference on the way to a prosperity from which everyone can benefit.