By Helle Carlsen Nielsen

When the VELUX Group launched our Sustainability Strategy 2030 last fall, we set an ambitious goal of becoming Lifetime Carbon Neutral by 2041. Using science-based targets, we’re taking responsibility for our past and our future carbon emissions. 

We call the strategy “It’s Our Nature,” and it’s a roadmap for the decade of action. It will transform the way we do business, and the products and solutions we provide.

To become Lifetime Carbon Neutral, we will capture our historical carbon footprint and at the same time reduce our future emissions for our company and value chain in line with climate science. To capture our historical carbon footprint since our founding in 1941, we partnered with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to conserve and restore the forests cover of an estimated 200,000 hectares of high-biodiversity value tropical forests. The first projects are located in Uganda and Myanmar, and all five forest projects are expected to be developed to capture approximately 5.6 million tons of carbon equal to our company’s emissions since our founding in 1941 through 2041.

Calculating our historical carbon footprint

How does a skylight manufacturer in business since 1941 with a growing footprint of sales companies in 40 countries, production facilities in 10 countries and approximately 11,500 employees measure the amount of carbon it emitted since its founding? 

No standard methodology exists today for how to calculate a historical carbon footprint, because valid emission factors and energy consumption data from decades ago often do not exist. Therefore, VELUX developed a method based on the recognized Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Standard and applied it to our historical data. This methodology, including the underlying assumptions, are independently verified by Carbon Trust, which helps companies set targets for carbon reduction plans, and reviewed by scientific experts at WWF. The calculation includes our direct emissions from company facilities and cars and indirect emissions from the generation of purchased electricity, steam, heating, and cooling consumed by the company, since our founding. 

Becoming a carbon neutral company; reducing value chain emissions by 2030

The other part of becoming Lifetime Carbon Neutral is to reduce our future emissions in line with climate science. We are committed to become a 100% carbon neutral company (scope 1 and 2), and we will halve the carbon emissions from our value chain (scope 3) during the decade of action starting now through 2030. VELUX is committed to reduce future CO₂ emissions in line with a 1.5°C decarbonization pathway, and our targets are validated by the Science Based Targets initiative.

Other targets in our Sustainability Strategy 2030 include:

Our 2030 Sustainability Strategy also includes actions to ensure our company is diverse  and  inclusive and a healthy place to work. To that end, we set the following targets:

The meaning behind the name “It’s Our Nature”

Calling our sustainability strategy “It’s Our Nature” draws on two meanings: First, it  is our nature to have sustainability at the heart of our business. And second, we want to do our part to alleviate climate change and support the nature that we – and all life on earth – rely upon. 

Under that guiding principle, we will share our experience with other companies interested in taking responsibility of past and future carbon emissions. Join us on May 4, 2021, at 11 a. m. EDT for an NFRC webinar to learn the best practices and key takeaways we’ve gleaned thus far.

Helle Carlsen Nielsen, Head of Sustainability, External Relationsand Sustainability for The VELUX Group