The German Institutes for Textile and Fiber Research (DITF) has named Thomas Stegmaier (pictured above) as chief sustainability officer (CSO).
Here are three things to know about the DITF and Stegmaier's role.
1. Organization Scope and Scale: The DITF, founded around 1921, positions itself as Europe's largest textile research center. The organization, based in Denkendorf, Germany, has more than 250 scientific and technical staff. Key research areas:
- Textile chemistry and chemical fibers;
- ​​textile and process engineering; and t
- management research.
DITF also provides textile testing and analytics of fiber-based materials. An affiliated product service GmbH acts as a technology transfer center.
2. Sustainability Focus: The DITF also researches sustainability in the textiles market, though we don't know if the organization has set its own carbon reduction goals or net-zero deadline. Still, the DITF is taking a close look at CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive), and the organization has formed a sustainability staff unit that reports to the board.
3. Chief Sustainability Officer: The DITF named Thomas Stegmaier to the CSO post in March 2024. He also remains deputy head of the Textile Chemistry, Environment & Energy Competence Center.
The CSO called on to "develop solutions to reduce the DITF's energy and resource consumption, promote renewable energies and implement efficient energy use. The management team, the operational organizational units and all employees are involved in the process," the organization said.
DITF and Sustainability: Why Technology Partners Should Care
By 2027, 25% of Global 2000 companies will have assigned a chief sustainability officer (CSO) responsible for meeting their organization’s ESG goals and making ESG-related IT purchasing decisions, according to IDC.
The bottom line: Technology partners need to extend their sales, marketing, engagement and support strategies to successfully fulfill those CSO customer needs, Sustainable Tech Partner believes.
