- Following the climate neutrality of the production sites in Würzburg and Kölleda and the climate neutrality of the entire group announced in 2021, va-Q-tec will again be climate neutral in 2022.
- The accounting of the group’s emissions was carried out in cooperation with an independent certified agency and according to the internationally recognized standard of the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol.
- va-Q-tec continuously takes measures to increase efficiency in the area of the CO2 footprint: The company has already covered a part of its energy needs with its own photovoltaic system and a combined heat and power plant in Würzburg.
- By supporting a certified climate protection project in Uruguay, which is in the neighborhood of va-Q-tec’s branch office, the group offsets the remaining emissions amounting to 5,122 tons of CO2e.
Würzburg, 21 September 2022: va-Q-tec, the expert for thermal energy efficiency and temperature-controlled supply chains, announces that it will be climate-neutral throughout the group in 2022. This is the second year in a row that the group has been climate-neutral, thus consistently continuing its sustainability efforts. From the very beginning, the optimal use of thermal energy and thus also the issue of sustainability were at the centre of all considerations. In addition to the group as such, the products developed and produced by va-Q-tec are also very energy-efficient and sustainable: due to their good insulating properties, they offer va-Q-tec’s customers great savings potential in a wide range of application areas, from the pharmaceutical industry to the construction industry.
The balancing of all emissions was carried out in cooperation with an independent agency and was done according to the specifications of the internationally recognized Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol. The GHG is an international set of standards for recording and accounting for greenhouse gas emissions, developed by the World Resource Institute (WRI) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). It distinguishes between three scopes of accounting: direct, indirect and other indirect emissions.
For several years now, va-Q-tec has been setting itself ambitious goals to reduce its energy and resource consumption. If the emissions generated in 2022 are compared to the operating performance, a decrease can be seen compared to 2021. However, a reduction of all emissions to zero is hardly possible for a manufacturing company, which is why va-Q-tec also offsets the remaining emissions of 5,122 tons of CO2e by supporting a certified nature conservation project in Uruguay. Certification according to the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) ensures that every euro goes to the selected project.
The project that va-Q-tec is supporting as part of its offsetting service is located in eastern Uruguay. It covers a total area of 18,191 hectares and consists of several forest areas that were formerly used for grazing cattle herds and were thus heavily used. With its compensation, va-Q-tec is reforesting an area of around 55 ha. In order to renaturalise the soil and the forests, mainly native tree species are planted. By reforesting the area, the project is counting towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 1, 8, 10, 12, 13 and 15.
Dr. Joachim Kuhn, founder and CEO, on this step: “Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time. With our products, we make a decisive contribution to increasing energy efficiency in many areas. That is why, as a pioneer in vacuum technology, we see it as our task to continuously improve our own sustainability as well. However, the Group’s climate neutrality, which has now been achieved once again, is only the beginning of a comprehensive sustainability strategy.”