Information: This report is outdated – you can find the current sustainability report here.
Each of us have to come to work every day. That makes for a lot of kilometers, which naturally requires energy and results in emissions.
We have determined an annual figure of 1,992,268 kilometers of commuting to our headquarters at Tettnang-Obereisenbach. This means that all VAUDE employees annually commute a distance equal to 50 times around the world at the equator.
This shows that a company mobility management plan is an urgent necessity and extremely important. Since 2012, VAUDE has intensively worked on the issue of commuting and mobility management - not least because parking spaces on the premises have become very scarce.
Instead of investing in more parking, VAUDE is relying on improved infrastructure and incentives for increasing the number of employees who commute to work by bike (for the eco benefits and for the health benefits), bus or carpool.
Our goal is by 2015 to reduce emissions from commuting by ten percent. The outstanding balance of emissions will be compensated for by myclimate and is therefore climate neutral in our CO2 footprint.
| GRI: | EN4 |
The VAUDE bike program not only includes a repair shop with an inner tube vending machine, covered and lit bicycle parking, riding technique and repair courses, and even showers, it also includes eight e-bikes that can be checked out, free of charge, by any employee. Employees can also “refuel” their private eBikes at work.
Our success: more bike commuting kilometers every year!
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Leading by example
CEO Antje von Dewitz and Jan Lorch, Member of the Executive Board, CSR Manager and Chief Sales Officer, lead by example. |
In our hilly surroundings that are challenging even for ambitious cyclists, the biggest potential for energy and emissions savings comes from carpooling. VAUDE therefore cooperates with flinc.org, a social mobility network. VAUDE has its own group for employees so that they can quickly and easily offer and find rides, free of charge.
In 2013 we reduced our commuting kilometers by 50,000 km thanks to carpooling.
Thanks to the initiative of colleagues, two larger carpools to work have formed; for each a VAUDE car has been made available. Colleagues not only save money and free up parking spaces, they also cut down on emissions. The Mobility Lotto also offers incentives for the program. See -"incentive mobility Lotto".
These carpools have reduced commuting kilometers by 7,852 kilometers.
The village of Obereisenbach near Tettnang, where the VAUDE company headquarters are located, has long been difficult to reach by public transport. Aside from a school bus that went to the local elementary school, there was no public transportation available. VAUDE wasn’t willing to accept these conditions and therefore initiated a project – see „Create added value through commitment “.
With success: On October 1, 2013 the Regional Transport Association Bodensee-Oberschwaben (bodo), with the support of the Landkreises Bodenseekreis and a local bus company, established a commuter line that connects Obereisenbach to the nearest train station in Meckenbeuren as well as to Tettnang’s urban transport grid.
People living in the nearest major cities of Friedrichshafen and Ravensburg, where many of our employees live, are well-connected with Meckenbeuren by train. And even beyond that: with the Lake Constance ferry, employees who even live on the other side of Lake Constance can reach their workplace by public transport.
Altogether, VAUDE employees commuted over 13,000 kilometers on public transport in 2013.
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Well connected
With the “Bähnle”, the new bus line, Tettnang-Obereisenbach is now well-connected with the public transport system. |
"Improving access to the city of Tettnang by public transport and to train connections at the Meckenbeuren train station is part of the Local Transport Plan adopted in mid-2011 by the Bodenseekreis (Lake Constance District). Because of the VAUDE initiative, their company headquarters could be included in the new design. Within our county, we want to ensure commuters access to environmentally friendly mobility."
Rupert Mayer, Area Director of School and Public Transport, Bodenseekreis County
