Founded and located in the Ruhr area—in a region that has contributed much to the prosperity of our society, but has also made great ecological sacrifices—HeimatERBE is committed to the history of its origins, starting with the company name: The name HeimatERBE is composed of the words Heimat (home) and Erbe (heritage). The economic and social heritage of our roots and homeland deserves to be enriched by an ecological heritage.
HeimatERBE represents a completely new form of enterprise. At HeimatERBE, ecology, economics and social issues are equal partners. Every action of the company is assessed not only on its ecological and conservation quality, but also on its commercial quality (eco² added value). The company’s success, in turn, is predominantly used for the benefit of the general public: 80% of the company’s profits are reinvested in the acquisition and nature conservation enhancement of degraded areas in accordance with the company’s articles of association.
HeimatERBE was born out of the personal story of its founder, Dr. Dirk Gratzel. In an experiment that is to date unique in the world, Dirk Gratzel has set himself the goal, by the end of his life, of offsetting all the environmental and climate damage that he has caused and continues to cause.
To achieve this, he worked with scientists from the TU Berlin to draw up the world’s first life cycle assessment of a human being, changed his life in a sustainable way and launched extensive compensation projects on two of his own brownfield sites in the Ruhr region. His realization: “I have never done anything more meaningful in my life.” In this experience lies the origin for the foundation of HeimatERBE, with which he has turned his personal motivation into a community endeavor.
A book has also been written about this lifetime project. In it, Dirk has compiled personal moments on his journey to green zero.
HeimatERBE originates in the Greenzero project of its founder, Dr. Dirk Gratzel, to compensate for all climate and environmental impacts he has caused within his lifetime. He has made such new ecological compensation a community endeavor by founding HeimatERBE:
Dr. Dirk Gratzel has worked as a lawyer, board member and CEO of various companies, was self-employed as a consultant for entrepreneurs and executives and founded PRECIRE Technologies, greeenzero.me and HeimatERBE. He is a pioneer in artificial intelligence and ecological transformation and the first person to pursue life-based ecological compensation with scientific accuracy. Dirk Gratzel has set himself the goal of setting his personal ecological balance to zero by the end of his life.
Dr.-Ing. Matthias Nendza has many years of experience as an expert and consultant in geotechnics and environmental geotechnics. As managing partner of an engineering office for geotechnics in Aachen, he is a highly respected expert in the diverse tasks involved in these fields. In addition to subsoil and foundation consulting, this also includes the main aspects of contaminated site assessment and landfill construction. This knowledge in particular is important in the evaluation of degraded areas and areas previously used for industrial purposes, as preferred by HeimatERBE with the aim of ecological improvement. Matthias Nendza is also a lecturer at the RWTH Aachen University at the Institute for Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology.
Linda Froese is responsible for nature conservation and ecology at HeimatERBE. She holds a M. Sc. in nature conservation and landscape ecology from the Universities of Münster and Bonn. She started her career during her studies at the State Office for Nature, Environment and Consumer Protection and extended her expertise during a three-year additional training course to become a state-certified field botanist. After graduation, she managed a pilot project for the production of autochthonous meadow seeds and most recently worked in environmental planning as an environmental construction supervisor with a focus on nature conservation at DB Engineering & Consulting.
Franz Gösling, Dipl. Ing. Forestry, has many years of extensive experience as a practical forest ranger in small and large private forests as well as a division manager for forestry and recultivation in a mining company in North Rhine-Westphalia. Most recently, he has performed a wide range of tasks in this field as a recognized forestry expert for a mining real estate company in the Ruhr region. In addition to questions regarding the process management of forests, forest evaluations and forest management, this includes traffic safety issues, hunting issues, agricultural issues as well as expert activities in forestry topics related to forest evaluation and forest management or the assessment of the stability of individual trees.
Theresa Honkomp is responsible for business administration and environmental value calculation in our company, for which she qualified with a master’s degree and a degree in industrial engineering. In addition to working for HeimatERBE, she is a project manager at the Center for Performance Management of the Technologie-Transferzentrums der Innovationsgesellschaft TU Braunschweig mbH (Technology Transfer Center of the Innovation Society at TU Braunschweig mbH).
Madlen Sprenger is employed at HeimatERBE in the areas of ecology and nature conservation as well as for product management. After completing her bachelor’s degree in geography, in which she acquired fundamental skills in the social and natural sciences, she deepened her knowledge and skills in the master’s degree program in urban and landscape ecology at the Ruhr Universität Bochum. During her studies, she gained her initial professional experience in two private planning offices with a focus on soil protection and contaminated sites (agus GbR) and landscape ecology (LökPlan GbR). She is currently completing additional training to become a state-certified field botanist.
Christoph Pauly is the central operational hub at HeimatERBE and is responsible for business administration and organization. He holds an M. Sc. in business administration from RWTH Aachen and has already worked successfully with Dirk Gratzel at PRECIRE Technologies GmbH.
HeimatERBE stands not only for sustainability, but also for diversity. That is why we work together with scientists, environmental organizations and companies that develop effective strategies for environmental protection and nature conservation through their actions.
