IN BRIEF
German outdoor equipment maker VAUDE, a familiar name in bike panniers and cycling clothing, says it has cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 51% since 2019 — meaning its 2030 target has been reached five years early. In absolute terms, its emissions fall from around 27,500 to around 13,500 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent, over a period in which its revenue grew by 19%. The target it has just passed was validated by the SBTi, the body that certifies whether corporate trajectories are aligned with the Paris Agreement. The supply chain delivers the bulk of the drop: emissions linked to production energy are down 71%.
Corporate climate announcements often look alike: a distant target, a theoretical trajectory, and silence on the interim figures. The one VAUDE published on 30 July takes the problem from the other end. The German brand, known to cyclists for its panniers and its rain gear, says it has already reached its 2030 target — five years before the deadline.
VAUDE’s emissions halved since 2019
The headline figure is a 51% drop in global greenhouse gas emissions against the 2019 base year. In volume, that means going from around 27,500 to around 13,500 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent. Over the same period, the group’s revenue rose by 19%: the decline is therefore not the by-product of a shrinking business, which is the first way anyone reads this kind of announcement.
One point deserves to be noted: the target VAUDE has just passed was not an in-house promise. According to Ecotextile News, it was validated by the SBTi (Science Based Targets Initiative), which checks that a company’s targets really do match what limiting warming requires. The carbon footprint itself is still published by the company, in its 2025 sustainability report put online on 29 July.
Most of the work was done at the suppliers
That is where the essentials are decided. For a maker of textiles and bags, the bulk of emissions sits neither in the offices nor in the lorries, but in the factories of its subcontractors — the famous “scope 3”, the one most brands prefer to leave in the shadows. VAUDE says it has achieved a 71% drop there in emissions linked to production energy since 2019, working with its partners on renewable energy and energy efficiency.
The second lever is materials. According to the report, 45% of the brand’s current products contain at least 85% recycled or bio-based materials; the aim is to raise that share to 90% of products by 2030. Emissions linked to the products themselves are down 31% against 2019.
At Tettnang, the fleet and the heating
At its historic site in Tettnang, on the shore of Lake Constance, the company reports an 81% drop in emissions from its vehicle fleet and its heating since 2019. According to the same report, three quarters of its passenger cars are now electric and the site’s electricity comes entirely from renewable sources.
Those items serve above all as an internal demonstration: it is hard to ask an Asian supplier to switch over its production lines without having started with your own car park.
That leaves 2040
The next step is markedly steeper. VAUDE is aiming for Net Zero in 2040, meaning a 90% cut in its emissions compared with 2019, with the remaining 10% to be offset through nature-based projects. Going from −51% to −90% means going after the emissions that resist hardest: those from raw materials, long-distance transport and product end-of-life.
For the bike sector, the exercise serves as a benchmark. Publishing a carbon footprint that includes the supply chain, and having your target validated by a third-party body, remains a demanding exercise for an equipment maker. That one of them says it is five years ahead of its own trajectory gives its competitors, at the very least, a point of comparison.
