Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Detail

When resources are consumed due to industrial use, climate-damaging greenhouse gas emissions are produced. 

Here we are reporting on the most important facts and figures from our climate balance. The full balance can be downloaded here. 

The methodological approach of our climate balance and why the topic is important for VAUDE is explained here .

VAUDE has already achieved significant emission savings at the company headquarters since 2011: 17% since 2011.

Compared to 2014 emissions, however, emissions increased by 3%. There are two reasons for this:

 
- Firstly, a significantly higher consumption of materials for the production of the waterproof bike bags. The production building, including large amounts of materials that had been stored there, burned in April 2015 due to a lightning strike (read more here ). These materials had to be re-purchased and of course qualified as "consumed", which is a cause of emissions.

- Secondly, there were much higher emissions due to the inevitable consumption of non-renewable energy sources. The production facility was temporarily moved to a rented building after the fire. Here we use the electricity and gas that the landlord requires - not from renewable energy sources. Although energy consumption has not risen significantly, a higher percentage of these emissions were caused by fossil fuels. 

Almost half of emissions are allotted to business trips and commuting:

Our goal was to reduce emissions from commuting by approx. 10% and from business trips by 20% in 2015.

According to data from our climate balance, we succeeded in doing this - but these values have to be treated with caution. On the one hand, the collection of commuting kilometers of employees who use environmentally-friendly transportation is based on voluntary self-reporting. We created the VAUDE Mobility Lottery as an incentive, but the accuracy of the information depends on employee motivation.

Secondly, starting in 2015 we refined our methodology for determining the number of employees who actually work in Tettnang-Obereisenbach and who commute there daily. As a result, the number of employees is lower - and the problems caused by commuting emissions are accordingly calculated likewise.

We are far away from our goal of reducing business travel emissions by 20%. Our need for action is high; our options for action are limited. More here.

Despite higher production output (up 3% compared to 2014), emissions have not risen:

Background and details about resource consumption:

• Business travel
• Commuting
• Material consumption in production
• Energy
• Printed materials

(What are Scopes? Info here.)

See also 100% Renewable Energy.

See also As Little Packaging as Possible.

See also Upstream Energy Consumption and Emissions Compensation.

See also Emissions Compensation.