Bonum Certa Men Certa

Environmental Sustainability at EPO Must Become More Than a Buzzword

And sure, granting loads of monopolies on alternative energy only exacerbates the climate crisis

EPO greening

Summary: Battistelli's 'Nemesis', Ion Brumme, wrote a letter to Battistelli's sidekick last week; the EPO is being challenged to pursue real sustainability rather than name-drop that as a buzzword

WHEN António Campinos was parachuted into the EPO by his mate Benoît Battistelli, serving in a role he was not qualified to fill, Campinos reportedly spared not much time. He told Ion Brumme he would be better off leaving; remember that Battistelli attacked Brumme and the EPO was forced to reinstate Brumme only years later when ILOAT finally delivered a much-needed ruling.



Months ago Brumme wrote about the situation and it doesn't look too good. Now, after another election in Munich, the Local Staff Committee Munich (LSCMN) kicks into action. Brumme writes as Vice-Chair of LSCMN. "In this letter," LSCMN explains, "we propose that the Office considers financially supporting the purchase of these tickets by staff up to a 100% refund."

Since Campinos fancies talking about "sustainability" all the time (distracting from the EPO's abuses) maybe he should listen. Here's the full letter from Brumme, dated about a week ago:

European Patent Office 80298 Munich Germany

Local Staff Committee Munich Comité local du personnel de Munich Örtlicher Personalausschuss München

Email: mnstcom@epo.org

Date: 29.03.2023 sc23010ml

European Patent Office | LSC Munich | GERMANY

President of the EPO Mr António Campinos via email PRESIDENT@epo.org

OPEN LETTER Subject: Deutschlandticket – Environmental sustainability

Dear Mr. President,

The yearly environmental report of 2021, section 5.9 “Employee commuting and teleworking”, recites that “[i]t is important that, while improving our approach in estimating category 7 emissions, we will continue to incentivise the use of public transport and bicycles for staff travelling to our premises.”

In our opinion, there is a good chance to achieve that now in Germany, with the introduction in May of the new “Deutschlandticket”. This ticket will cost €49 per month and be valid on local transport in the whole of Germany, thus in both Munich and Berlin. There is an offer for employers offering this ticket as a “JobTicket”: if the employer supports this ticket by at least 25%, the price is reduced by 5% so that the price of the Deutschlandticket for employees is at most €34.50.

You have already subsidised the use of e-cars for EPO employees (and their families). By also subsiding the Deutschlandticket the Office can show that it does not neglect public transportation as a viable alternative to individual transportation when trying to limit the global environmental footprint of employees. To this end, we propose that the Office considers financially supporting the purchase of these tickets by staff up to a 100% refund.

For our part we strongly recommend that our colleagues be encouraged to use this ticket to travel to work.

With kind regards, Ion Brumme Vice-Chair of the Local Staff Committee Munich City, Haar und Brussels



"Environmental sustainability" is something that EPO management only ever pretends to care about. For instance, it compels people to not work from the office and instead turn on the heating in a cold winter... in thousands of households. There are other examples of contradictions in policies; the staff union points them out routinely.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Cybercrimes and Online Abuse From Extremists and Militants on a VPN/Tor
A straitjacket or lobotomy won't solve this issue
Links 02/12/2023: Pfizer Sued for Lies About Efficacy, Censorship of Scientific Dissent, More Pfizer Layoffs
Links for the day
Selling Free Software
by Richard Stallman
 
Links 02/12/2023: ChatGPT Drowns in Bad Press, Censorship Worldwide Increases Some More
Links for the day
[Meme] Screenshots of Web Pages (Relevant to One's Article) Are Not Copyright Infringing Anywhere in the World
bullying and hate crimes
IRC Proceedings: Friday, December 01, 2023
IRC logs for Friday, December 01, 2023
A Year of Doing Techrights 'Full Time'
been a year!
Microsoft and Its Boosters Worsen Linux Security
The circus goes on and on
Links 01/12/2023: Facebook Infested With Malicious Campaigns by Imposters, ACLU Gives Advice on Doxxing and Online Harassment
Links for the day
Just Like Its Budget Allocation, the Linux Foundation Devotes About 3% Of Its Latest Newsletter to Linux, Devotes More to Linux's Rivals
It's just exploiting the brand
Links 01/12/2023: Google Invokes Antitrust Against Microsoft
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news
UK Government Allowing Microsoft to Take Over Activision Blizzard Will Destroy Jobs
Over 30,000 fired this year? More?
It's Cheaper to Pay Bribes (and Produce Press Releases) Than to Pay Fines (After Lots of Negative Publicity)
Does the UK still have real sovereignty or do corporations from overseas purchase decisions and outcomes?
November 2023 Over With GNU/Linux at All-Time Highs According to statCounter
ChromeOS+GNU/Linux combined are about 7% of the "market"
New Report Provides Numerical Evidence That Google Hired Too Many People From Microsoft (and Became Malicious, Evil, Sociopathic)
"Some 12,018 former Microsoft employees currently work for the search and data giant"
Google: Keep Out, Don't Save Your Files, and Also Let Us Spy on Everything You Do
Do you still trust "clown" storage?
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, November 30, 2023
IRC logs for Thursday, November 30, 2023
Links 01/12/2023: Many Suppressions in Hong Kong and Attempts to Legitimise Illegal and Unconstitutional Fake Patent 'Court' in EU (UPC)
Links for the day
Gemini Not Deflated Yet (Soon Turning 5!)
Gemini numbers still moving up, the protocol will turn five next summer
Links 30/11/2023: Belated End of Henry Kissinger and 'Popular Science' Shuts Online Magazine
Links for the day
Site Priorities and Upcoming Improvements
pages are served very fast
[Meme] One Person, Singular Pronoun
Abusing people into abusing the English language is very poor diplomacy
Ending Software Patents in Recent Years (Software Freedom Fighters MIA)
not a resolved issue
New Article From Richard Stallman Explains Why He Says He and She for Unknown Person (Not 'They')
"Nowadays I use gender-neutral singular pronouns for a person whose gender I don't know"
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, November 29, 2023
IRC logs for Wednesday, November 29, 2023
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news
Links 30/11/2023: Rushing Patent Cases With Shorter Trial Scheme (STS), Sanctions Not Working
Links for the day
Links 30/11/2023: Google Purging Many Accounts and Content (to Save Money), Finland Fully Seals Border With Russia
Links for the day