Climate and Nature
By 2030, we want to reduce our emissions from own operations by 100% and halve our value chain emissions from a baseline of 2020.
Reducing emissions from our operations
By 2030 we aim to reduce our emissions from production and operations by 100% from a 2020 baseline. To achieve this, we are transitioning to 100% renewable energy and focusing on energy efficiency across all sites. In 2022, we signed two new Renewable Virtual Power Purchase Agreements and commissioned two new solar parks in southern Spain. Once both of these are operational, they will produce enough additional power to cover the equivalent of all VELUX Group European operations and up to 90% of our global electricity consumption.Decarbonising our products
We are continually working towards reducing the embodied carbon footprint of our products. This includes the carbon emissions associated with raw materials, transport to VELUX and manufacturing. Our procurement and product development teams are focused on sourcing low carbon and high recycled content materials wherever possible. Through partnerships and collaborations with suppliers, including ArcelorMittal, Hydro and Novelis, we are working to reduce carbon emissions from the steel and aluminium used in our products. At the same time, we are designing new products to optimise material use.
From roof windows to communities of the future
As part of an industry that accounts for a third of the global CO2 emissions, we are taking responsibility for finding ways to build more sustainably. The Build for Life project and Living Places concept shows how rethinking buildings can help solve some of the global climate and health challenges we currently face.
Safeguarding biodiversity
Biodiversity is essential for the processes that support all life on earth. We rely on nature for our raw materials. We aim to support biodiversity through efforts on three levels. Although our own operations have a limited impact on biodiversity at a global scale, we will work to get our own house in order while asking the same of others. Our greatest impacts and dependencies on nature are in our supply chain. We will assess these impacts and take the first steps to reduce negative impacts on biodiversity and to protect and restore nature. We have started to scope the work to support biodiversity at our own sites and in our supply chain. We also work to improve biodiversity beyond our value chain through our partnership with WWF.
Reducing and removing our historical emissions
We are committed to reducing and removing CO2 equivalent to our historical carbon emissions (scope 1 and 2) since our foundation in 1941 and up until 2041 – our 100th anniversary. To help us deliver on this commitment, in 2020 we entered a 20-year partnership with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Our twenty-year partnership will deliver a portfolio of forest projects that are designed to improve biodiversity and support local communities.
The partnership aims to contribute the verified carbon credits to the host countries’ national climate targets under the Paris Agreement. The credits will not be traded or used for offsetting by the VELUX Group or any other organisation.