Investigations in the Energy Sector: Energy City Essen – Concentration of International Industry Leaders

Energy metropolis, energy capital, Green Capital of Germany — all indirect superlatives that any national or international economic centre would be proud of. These attributes result from a clear political direction since the coal and steel crisis and from numerous major companies that enrich Essen’s economy and have committed to this credo, including RWE, E.ON and the chemical giant Evonik, which — less widely known — produces roughly 8 per cent of Germany’s electricity in addition to its market-leading roles in various speciality-chemistry fields. “The days when industrial performance went hand in hand with heavy environmental burdens are over,” the city reported on its website in March 2015.

The growth sector of utilities and energy also provides work for the detectives of Kurtz Detective Agency Essen, since numerous competition-related offences arise and employee offences are commonplace given the large workforce. Our Essen corporate investigators conduct enquiries: +49 201 3840 9057.

Early Recognition of Climate Change and Strategic Response

The Essen climate initiative involves corporations, schools, administrative authorities, and many associations. While a single city cannot stop climate change alone, it can contribute. Kurtz Detective Agency Essen supports this initiative by using environmentally friendly, low-emission but high-performance vehicles running on alternative fuels for frequent vehicle surveillance operations. The need for action has been apparent for years, even though climate change deniers in German media dominated until around 2010–2011. In Essen, winters now bring little snow, summers are increasingly overcast, record temperatures appear in spring and autumn, and storms have become stronger across North Rhine-Westphalia. Thankfully, the city recognised this early and adjusted accordingly, and it is now reaping the benefits of this bold decision.

Employee Offences in the Energy Sector

With around 24,000 employees, the energy sector is one of Essen’s largest employers. The city and region offer not only a huge labour pool and high sales potential but also the corresponding energy demand.

“Essen is on a roll,” proclaimed the city’s website in April 2014 when two major corporations announced the relocation of their headquarters to the Ruhr metropolis within just two (!) days: the DAX-listed E.ON and the chemical distributor Brenntag. With RWE already long established as the number two in Essen’s energy sector, the arrival of the sector leader in 2016 elevated Essen clearly to the top of Germany’s energy cities.

Potential offences in environmental crime include typical employee offences such as feigning illness, corruption, and money laundering, as well as the illegal export of waste from the Ruhr area to Africa. Ripshorster Straße is known to the police as a hub for such activities.

Active Research and Association Landscape

It is an economic given: where large companies exist, research is conducted, and where research is conducted, large companies settle. Essen is no exception. In addition to the technically oriented University of Duisburg-Essen and the University of Applied Sciences for Economics and Management, the city hosts the Haus der Technik (Germany’s oldest independent training institute), the forward-looking Gaswärme Institute, and VGB PowerTech e.V.

Due to the somewhat challenging location amid a highway network partially running through the city, it is crucial for Essen to advance noise protection, air quality, and water protection, and to find solutions to existing problems. High-quality degree programs and research contributions in information technology create further forward-looking growth markets. The geographical proximity of educational institutions to companies enables rapid integration of skilled workers into professional practice and the labour market. The relationship between businesses and training institutions is thus considered mutually beneficial.