Ecological auditing and certification performed in a utility under the EU regulation

The GEW Koeln AG is a municipal utility supplying the city with gas, electricity, water, and district heat. The utility is the operator of several district heat power plants based in Koeln. Two of these plants, supplying the city of Koeln with district heat, are primarily fueled with natural gas, but can switch over to fuel oil as well. They also generate electricity fed into the municipal grid. In 1995, an ecological audit was performed in the plant sited in a suburbian area, in Koeln-Niehl. The GEW thus was the first utility in Germany to have undergone successful ecological auditing and was recorded in the EU list of certified enterprises. (orig./UA)