When resources are consumed through industrial use, climate-damaging greenhouse gas emissions are produced. We have set ourselves the goal of reducing our emissions as much as possible. We compensate for the unavoidable remainder of emissions with a myclimate climate protection project. Read more here.
This page summarizes the most important data and key figures from our carbon footprint assessment. The full document can be downloaded here.
Internal representation, Source: Climate Strategy Emissions Report, www.klimareporting.de
In the calculation of the carbon footprint, not only all the upstream and downstream processes in the value chain, but also all other greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide equivalents are included in the carbon dioxide measurement. The unit used to measure emissions is CO₂e: "carbon dioxide equivalents".
Emissions will never be completely avoidable as long as our global economy is based on fossil raw materials. Thanks to climate compensation, however, VAUDE is already "climate neutral" in mathematical terms.
It is really an accomplishment when a company can grow faster than its emissions output. This is what is meant by ‘decoupling’.
For example, the emissions of our Manufaktur: when they don’t grow faster than our production volume (or even decrease) thanks to better utilization of the machines, less energy consumption or higher material efficiency. Or our emissions per employee: the same number or more employees, but without higher amounts of electricity, water, material consumption, etc. – that is our goal.
Overall, we were able to significantly reduce emissions compared with the previous year. The biggest factors in this are material consumption in our Manufaktur and the tiresome issue of transport. Both areas were responsible for fewer emissions in 2018: After the absolute production record of 2017, the Manufaktur used less materials in 2018. More about our Made in Germany production here.
At VAUDE, business travel and commuting are regularly the second highest source of emissions. Read more about "VAUDE Verkehrswende" here.
We have already explained the subject of "decoupling" above. Total emissions in 2018 were roughly at the same level as in 2015. Since 2015, however, VAUDE has grown enormously - more employees, more space, more cars, more production, more sales, etc., and so on. We were able to significantly reduce emissions in many areas (see below). Reducing emissions even further as the company grows remains a real challenge. Read more about VAUDE's sales development here.
Employee mobility is a hard nut to crack. Although VAUDE has a Mobility Concept that is often cited as ‘best practice’, make up a major proportion every year. More on our mobility concept here.
We are a long way from our goal of a 10 % reduction in employee mobility emissions by 2020 compared with 2015: In 2017, our employee mobility emissions were up 31 % compared to 2015.
Unfortunately, an increase in employees and turnover also means an increase in business travel and employee commuting. Even though we have succeeded in decoupling energy consumption from corporate growth – when it comes to mobility, we still need to find creative incentives to encourage employees to commute to work in an environmentally friendly way and to implement our strict travel policy more consistently.
More about our corporate growth here.
Information on energy consumption and emissions regarding corporate growth can be found here.
Information on energy consumption and emissions in relation to company growth can be found here.
At present, we only include transport figures that relate to the materials and products that are processed and manufactured at VAUDE Manufaktur in the carbon footprint. Read more here.
And here you can find background information for VAUDE Logistics.
After a lightning strike in 2015, we built a new production facility for our Made in Germany products in 2016. Environmental protection played an important role here. We opted for a timber construction method that is the most environmentally friendly alternative from an emissions perspective, both during production and throughout its entire life cycle.
Calculation of emissions follows these myclimate principles:
| GRI: | 305-1 |
| GRI: | 305-2 |
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| GRI: | 305-5 |
