About this report

This is VAUDE’s second sustainability report based on the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) G4 Guidelines. It refers - as indicated in the title - to the 2014 calendar year and meets the requirements of the G4 core option.

In the VAUDE Sport GmbH & Co. KG financial statement, no other company is included. Subsidiaries, the VAUDE Franchise GmbH, a sales office in Spain, and an office in Shanghai are mentioned as equity investments, but are not contained within the report. In addition, we have a representative office in Vietnam which is not included in the report.

The company headquarters, our production facility, factory outlet and the VAUDE café in Obereisenbach are all included in the environmental indicators, while the sales office in the Netherlands is not included. The factory outlets in Metzingen and Wadgassen and various rented spaces are excluded from the environmental data.

One of our major suppliers is the legally independent company VAUDE Vietnam. VAUDE Vietnam is not included in the report. The production site is taken into account in the data on the supply chain.

KPMG AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft provided limited assurance on selected sustainability information. Compared to last year, the assurance scope was extended. In addition to economic and social information, KPMG also verified selected environmental information. Limited assurance means that it can be excluded with a limited level of assurance that the selected sustainability information is not in accordance with the international guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative G4.

Here is the certificate.

Since 2013, we have published a GRI report annually. The contact person for questions regarding the report is Lisa Fiedler.

Transparency and comparability are important factors for sustainability. By applying the guidelines, our report is more comprehensive and transparent. Since the GRI guidelines are applied internationally, we can now be compared to companies around the world.

The Sustainability Report for the year 2013 is still available on the VAUDE website for comparison.

We want to be Europe’s most sustainable outdoor brand by the year 2015, objectively and quantifiably. Verification of the data we present by independent third parties is therefore very important to us.

This verification is performed by various partners 

• The environmental data based on our company headquarters in Tettnang-Obereisenbach is verified by an independent environmental auditor according to EMAS and ISO 14001 and by the KPMG AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft. myclimate calculates the emissions that were produce. This information can be found in the GRI Index. 
• Specifications about social conditions in our production facilities are compiled by the Fair Wear Foundation (FWF) in audits. 
• The basic reporting process with standard values for the report and for the organization, aspects and indicators that affect the working conditions at the headquarters, as well as aspects and indicators on the issues of compliance, policy and product safety were examined by the auditing and advisory firm, KPMG AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft. An overview of the tested indicators can be found in the GRI Index.

The management supports the external audit of the report by providing the necessary budgets and by participating in the on-site inspection by KPMG AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft. Aside from the audit contract, there are no other relationships between the organization and the auditors.

The entire VAUDE CSR-Team works on the creation of the GRI report. We have distributed the various aspects so that there is always one expert for each respective section of the report. We also receive support from Controlling and Organizational Development on specific aspects.