CSR Team as a driving force for sustainability

All sustainability activities are coordinated in an interdisciplinary CSR team. This team consists of the Senior Manager Sustainability, who serves as a direct support to the management board, as well as leaders or employees from various departments. With their respective expertise, they represent different departments within the CSR team, bring in relevant topics, and ensure the implementation of sustainability goals in their areas of responsibility. The CSR team is led by a member of the VAUDE management board responsible for sales and sustainability.

 Sustainability is not addressed in an isolated department but rather integrated into everyday operations across all relevant departments within the company.

The members of the VAUDE CSR Team are a point of contact for all employees and business partners for sustainability issues. The CSR team sets priorities and coordinates projects. The team members are well connected with professional associations and working groups within and outside of the Outdoor Industry, as well as having close contact with experts and academia.

Are you interested in who wrote this sustainability report? You'll find the answer here

Each team member acts as a sustainability ambassador in his or her division. Frequent and regular team meetings guarantee close coordination and timely implementation within the company, both “upward” and “downward”. 

The members of the VAUDE CSR Team come from following teams and departments:

• Executive Board, Sales, Logistics and Sustainability (Jan Lorch)
  
• Sustainability Management (Hilke Patzwall)
• Packaging Management (Gabrielle des Giacomoni)
  
• Quality Management (Bettina Roth)
• Innovation Team (Kai Vogt, Lara Delle, Rene Bethmann (not pictured)).
  
• Material Development (Birte Steinbrunner)
  
• Product Development (Kai Vogt, Stefan Lörke, Florian Schmid)
  
• Supplier Management (Susanne Medesi, Pascal Erath, Anika Mauz, Leonie Lennartz)
• Corporate Development (Robert Klauer)
  
• Marketing and Communications (Ralf Geiger, Stephanie Herrling) 
• VAUDE Academy for Sustainable Business (Melanie Bleicher)
  

In order to implement our CSR objectives relating to social standards and the management of harmful materials, it's extremely important that we have specialists on site. They know the local conditions, speak the language and can arrive quickly when needed. Our CSR employees in Asia visit our producers regularly. They not only monitor the conditions in a facility, but are also there to help with their knowledge and experience.

The team consists of Mary (Vendor Management Team Vietnam), Hucky (Vendor Management Team China), and Van Chen (Vendor Management Team Taiwan).

Sustainability is not only a team sport, but also an ongoing process. It’s a job that’s never finished, it’s always being improved upon and becoming even more environmentally friendly, even more socially acceptable, even more innovative. In line with this continuous improvement process, all VAUDE employees are involved in VAUDE's sustainability management. Examples of this are:

• Integration of the VAUDE Ecosystem with annual goals into the Corporate Goals: all objectives for the next three to five years are included in our Corporate Goals. The Corporate Goals were developed in a top-down / bottom-up process and communicated to employees. The majority of employees work directly toward sustainability goals over the divisional, departmental, team and employee goals. More - "Our goals in detail"
  
• VAUDE employees can contact the members of the CSR team directly at any time, draw attention and initiate discussions on topics that may be included in the process as a corporate goal.
• Our idea management system, “Steps”, gives all employees a chance to become actively involved in suggesting new ideas and improvements. Satisfied employees are committed and motivated
  
• In all departments, we value the fact that knowledge of sustainability isn't just subject for the "experts". In our continuing education program we train all employees specifically on the complex subject of sustainability. See "Training and Professional Development". 

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