Since 2013, we have reported annually in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative Standard (GRI). The GRI standard forms the basis for this report.
As part of the Green Deal, the European Commission published its proposal for a directive on corporate sustainability reporting, called the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), in April 2021, replacing the existing Nonfinancial Reporting Directive (NFRD).
The draft was adopted by a large majority in the European Parliament on November 10, 2022. The European Council approved it on November 28, 2022, officially accepting the directive. After its adoption at the EU level, the directive must be transposed into national law within 18 months.
Based on the CSRD requirements, the new European standards for sustainability reporting, the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), are being defined in terms of content. These reporting standards build upon existing frameworks such as the GRI and set new standards for mandatory reporting, such as double materiality. The drafts of the ESRS have not yet been adopted.
For VAUDE, this means that we will need to publish our first report under the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) for the year 2025 in 2026. In order to have sufficient preparation time for the transition, we have already started implementing ESRS requirements for this reporting year. We began with materiality analysis, introducing double materiality. In the next reports, the content will be gradually adjusted to comply with the ESRS. More information can be found here.
This means that our report in the next 1-3 years will represent a combination of GRI and ESRS.
We will continue to maintain the index for GRI so that the information can still be accessed. Since there are significant overlaps between the two standards, many GRI-relevant data will still be included. However, in the future, the ESRS will be the authoritative standard for us if there are any differences in detail.
In addition, we will continue to supplement our information with specifications from other reporting standards such as EMAS, the Partnership for Sustainable Textiles, the Economy for the Common Good and Fair Wear, as well as other regulations such as the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations or "private" agreements such as the Greenpeace Detox Commitment. For more information, please refer to the "CSR Standards" section of this report.
Maike Bierwirth
Contact person for questions regarding the report |
This report covers our activities in 2022, in particular the Summer and Winter Collections that were available in stores during the year, as well as the following seasons that were already in product development or production and are being presented to retailers or already ordered at the time of reporting.
No other companies are included in the VAUDE Sport GmbH & Co. KG financial statement. The subsidiaries, the VAUDE Franchise GmbH, a sales office in Spain are listed as equity investments, but are not contained within the report. We also have a Vietnamese quality control office which is not included in the report.
Producers and material suppliers, projects and challenges are also included.
The report is aimed at both enthusiastic outdoor sports fans (consumers) and our direct customers – retail trade. And, of course, everyone else who is interested in VAUDE, our stakeholders.
"We" refers to VAUDE Sport GmbH & CO. KG.
The environmental indicators include the company headquarters with its own production, the factory outlet and the VAUDE Café in Obereisenbach. The sales office in the Netherlands is not included in the environmental indicators. The factory outlets in Metzingen and Wadgassen and various rented order spaces are also 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.
We want to present the success of our sustainability, objectively and quantifiably. Verification of the data we present by independent third parties is therefore very important to us.
The environmental data based on our company headquarters in Obereisenbach is verified by an independent environmental auditor in accordance with EMAS and ISO 14001. More here myclimate calculates the emissions that we produce. This information can be found in the GRI Index.
The data on social conditions in our production sites was collected by Fair Wear (FW) in audits. Read more in the FW Index.
Additional external audits are carried out by the Partnership for Sustainable Textiles, the Grüner Knopf and the Economy for the Common Good.
Our financial statements are audited by the statutory requirements of the independent auditing company GmbH Schnetz, Michele Buchmann, Ravensburg.
The management board supports the external audit by providing the necessary budgets and participating in the on-site audits. Aside from the audit contract, there are no other relationships between the organization and the auditors.
KPMG AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft provided limited assurance on selected sustainability information for the first two report years, 2013 and 2014. For the 2017 and 2018 reports, we used the same internal guidelines and criteria. This year we did not carry out an external verification.
Transparency and comparability are important factors for sustainability. By applying the guidelines, our report is more comprehensive and transparent. Because the GRI guidelines are applied internationally, we can now be compared with companies all over the world.
The Sustainability Report for the previous year is still available for comparison on the VAUDE website.
GRI: | 102-50 |
GRI: | 102-51 |
GRI: | 102-52 |
GRI: | 102-53 |
GRI: | 102-54 |