On December 7th, Hilke Patzwall, Sustainability Manager at Vaude, and Jan Lorch, Head of Sales & CSR at Vaude, accepted the prestigious award. The award ceremony took place in the Maximilianeum, the seat of the Bavarian State Parliament. The award was presented by Gerd Müller, Director General of the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and former Federal Development Minister. With this award, Vaude is honored for its commitment to the EOG Carbon Reduction Project: Together with nine other European outdoor brands, Vaude is working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the global supply chain and promote the use of renewable energies. The company wants to actively contribute to achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations.
“The SDG Innovation Award is a great recognition of our ambitious global climate commitment. When we join forces, we gain leverage and can drive big change. Thanks to our joint project, we at Vaude managed to halve the emissions from energy consumption by material manufacturers in 2022 to 2023. We are very pleased about this high award for our entire team, who put a lot of energy and effort into reducing our emissions worldwide,” says Hilke Patzwall, Vaude Sustainability Manager.
The SDG Innovation Award received 270 applications from 38 countries and all continents in three categories. Vaude prevailed in the “Company” category. The winners were selected by a jury of experts from science, business and international organizations.
Together with nine other outdoor brands, Vaude has been involved in the Carbon Reduction Project of the European Outdoor Group (EOG) since 2021 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from material suppliers. By far the largest share of company-wide emissions arises from the production of the materials used in the products. As part of the project, the outdoor provider convinced suppliers to switch from coal to lower-emission energy, according to a statement. Coal consumption was reduced from 1,715 tons in 2022 to 687 tons in 2023. In addition, energy efficiency measures were implemented, for example through lower-emission dyeing machines. Through these measures, Vaude has achieved significant savings: in 2023 there were 30 percent fewer emissions compared to 2019 – with sales growth of plus 32 percent in the same period.