CSR Week 2024: Reinhold Messner inspires sustainability

The Zeppelin CSR Week 2024 was three days full of insights, exciting topics, and inspiring personalities. Guests from the Zeppelin Group, as well as other organizations and science, were invited to participate in panel discussions and presentations. Topics included sustainable construction, corporate social responsibility, and artificial intelligence, as well as sustainable innovations within the Zeppelin Group. The highlight and conclusion was a living legend of mountaineering: Reinhold Messner. He has climbed all the eight-thousanders and was the first person to reach the summit of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen. However, Messner is much more than an extreme sportsman; he has always been passionately committed to nature conservation. As a guest of CSR Week 2024, Messner offered Zeppelin employees new perspectives on sustainability. During his inspiring talk and subsequent panel discussion, Messner, now 80 years old, shared unique experiences and made exciting connections to everyday and professional life. The Zeppelin employees learned firsthand what it takes to master extreme expeditions: confidence, persuasiveness, and a clear plan – qualities that are also crucial in working life. Messner also emphasized the importance of dealing with setbacks properly. Only those who accept defeats as valuable learning moments can draw lasting conclusions from them. After the first day of CSR Week 2024, which focused on sustainable construction, the topic came up in conversation with Messner. His museum buildings and other projects set a strong example: Infrastructure and nature are not mutually exclusive.