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2023 Sustainability Report
published 2024/08/01

Bike to work

Many VAUDE employees are enthusiastic cyclists. However, commuting by car still accounts for the majority of emissions at VAUDE.

Climate-friendly employee mobility

The average commute at VAUDE is 14 kilometers. That adds up to over 2 million of commuting kilometers annually.


Our goal is to reduce commutes involving one person alone in a car. We provide specific incentives for commuting by bike, carpool or bus with rewards from our Mobility Lotto program.


However, despite these efforts, we have not yet succeeded in significantly reducing emissions from employees' commutes. One challenge is accurately tracking the number of environmentally friendly commuting kilometers, so we can calculate emissions and savings accordingly.

The second challenge is our location in a rural area. Many employees do not have access to public transportation for commuting.

 
 

Mobility management is necessary

VAUDE captures all harmful emissions in its annual Climate Footprint. We have offset all commuting emissions with climate protection projects. Read more about it here.


Hence, we are aware that employee mobility for business travel and commuting is one of the biggest causes of harmful emissions at our VAUDE headquarters. It is clear that we have an urgent need for action and we understand just how important corporate mobility management is.


Since 2012, VAUDE has worked intensively on the issue of commuting and mobility management – not least because parking spaces on the premises have become very scarce.



Replacing parking lots with green areas

Instead of investing in more parking, VAUDE is relying on infrastructure and incentives for increasing the number of employees who bike commute (for the eco benefits and for the health benefits), come by bus or carpool to work. We have eliminated another 65 parking spaces during the office remodeling in recent years. In their place, we have designed a green campus with a climbing wall and state-of-the-art meeting rooms. Read more here.


The VAUDE Mobility Concept consists of several components to motivate our employees to be as environmentally friendly as possible. One of them is "Bike Commuting.”



Two times around the earth: our bike commute

A real bicycle garage, a repair workshop with an inner tube vending machine and tools, courses on riding technique and repairs, changing rooms and showers – we try to make cycling to work as appealing as possible for our employees.


In addition, all employees can use one of our company's own e-bikes free of charge. Employees' private e-bikes can also be "refueled" on site free of charge using our own photovoltaic-generated electricity.


Since 2015, all VAUDE employees have been able to take advantage of the “JobRad” program in which the same tax code for company cars applies to bicycles and e-bikes. And it applies to all employees, regardless of their access to a company car. More than 220 VAUDE employees have used the program to acquire new, high-quality bikes for their daily commute – almost a quarter of our employees!


Together, we pedal tens of thousands of kilometers annually to commute by bike—simultaneously cutting down on car travel distances!


Savings in commuting kilometers

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Leading by example

Managing Director Antje von Dewitz leads by example.

Car-pooling

In our hilly surroundings that are challenging even for ambitious cyclists, the biggest potential for energy and emissions savings comes from carpooling.


We reward carpools with carpool parking spaces right in front of the door, and of course with our mobility lottery.


Online carpooling platforms are helpful because you can offer fast, uncomplicated and free rides and find rides. The problem with these services in rural areas like Tettnang is to find a sufficient number of users so that trips can be arranged at all. With VAUDE employees alone, platforms such as these can’t function. That is why we are very pleased that the Lake Constance district supports the Pendla app. VAUDE joins in and supports the use of Pendla for carpooling.


We book coaches or travel by train to trade fairs or larger VAUDE events.



New bus line thanks to VAUDE

The village of Obereisenbach near Tettnang, where the VAUDE company headquarters are located, has long been difficult to reach by public transport. VAUDE wasn’t willing to accept these conditions and therefore initiated a project – the Bähnlelinie.


With support from the Bodenseekreis district and a local bus operator, the Regional Transportation Association Bodensee-Oberschwaben (bodo) has established a commuter connection linking Obereisenbach to the nearest Meckenbeuren train station and the Tettnang-Obereisenbach city transport network.


It now offers continuous hourly service between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m., as well as perfect connections to the Tettnang city bus and the BOB train at Meckenbeuren station.


This service now operates hourly between 7:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., providing connections to the Tettnang city bus and the BOB railway at Meckenbeuren train station.


This means that at least colleagues from the Tettnang area, as well as from Friedrichshafen and Ravensburg, are well connected. Unfortunately, all others still have to manage without public transportation. The Bähnlebus does not yet cover off-peak and shift times. So, together with the municipalities, we still have a lot of work to do here to improve public transportation connections.


Well-connected

Antje von Dewitz and District Administrator Lothar Wölfle at the premier of the Bähnle line

 
 

"Access to environmentally friendly mobility"

»Improving access to the city of Tettnang by public transport and to train connections at the Meckenbeuren train station is part of the Bodenseekreis Local Transport Plan. Because of the VAUDE initiative, their company headquarters could be incorporated in the new design. Within our county, we want to ensure commuters access to environmentally friendly mobility.« Rupert Mayer, Area Director of School and Public Transport, Bodenseekreis County

 
 

Reducing emissions from commuting

We have set ourselves the goal of reducing our emissions from employee mobility by another 25 % by the end of the fiscal year 2024 compared with 2019. How far have we come? Here is the answer.



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