BaumInvest uses special cultivation methods to reach particularly high levels of carbon dioxide bonding; growing forests, and precious wood in particular, retain this gas for long periods. These methods make it possible to bind 15 – 20 tons of carbon dioxide per hectare of tropical forest per year.
VAUDE is one of the founding investors that made this project possible. “Our commitment to BaumInvest is a cornerstone of our extensive ecological activities; as a mountain sports supplier, we want to contribute to the responsible use and the protection of our environment,” explained Antje von Dewitz, Director of Marketing, VAUDE.
With the return assumption on this investment, VAUDE will be able to actualise its own environmental goals. In 2007 VAUDE has already invested nearly 1% of its turnover in ecological projects, such as financially supporting the German Alpine Association in its Nature and Environmental Protection Division.
This investment also includes the licensing costs for the production operation of the Bluesign Standards, which monitors ecological manufacturing according to the strictest criteria - a process that VAUDE was the first to implement in the entire sports and outdoor industry in Germany.
In the future, VAUDE plans to invest one percent of its worldwide turnover annually in sustainable projects. “We would like to play a role in designing our world with a sustainable future.
Each and every one of us can do something that will give future generations the chance to enjoy the outdoors like we can,” affirmed Antje von Dewitz.
To implement the eco-audit and to realise sustainable environmental policies, VAUDE created the position of an environmental officer that in September 2007 was ideally filled with Hilke Patzwall(35).
Together with trained colleagues from all VAUDE divisions, she will build a VAUDE environmental team that is responsible for the company wide implementation of the standards.
Hilke Patzwall has brought many years of experience in the area of renewable resources and a large commitment tp the synergy of nature protection and nature sports to her position at VAUDE.
As chairperson of the horse back riders association VFD in Germany, she accepted the Environmental Prize from the Board of Trustees for Sport and Nature at the OutDoor Trade Fair in Friedrichshafen in 2003. She enjoys active outdoor mountain sports and trail riding.
VAUDE Sport GmbH & Co. KG
marketing@alchempro.com
