VELUX Group publishes new CR report

The VELUX Group's Corporate Responsibility Report 2013 has just been published. The report, entitled Building a Model Company, is based on the Group's objective to be a model company that works with products useful to society and that treats its customers, suppliers, employees and shareholders better than most other companies.

Roof windows with a positive CO2 footprint
In 2013, the VELUX Group published Life Cycle Assessments for Northern Europe of core products. Analysis of those assessments shows that a VELUX roof window saves more CO2 in its lifetime than it costs to produce and dispose of; thanks to the free solar thermal energy the window provides, it reduces the need for heating in the winter months.

"We have always had the objective of making products that make a positive contribution to society in general. And with the knowledge that buildings account for 40% of energy con-sumption in the western world, it is important to us that our products contribute to a healthier and more sustainable way of designing buildings. The LCA analyses show that our roof windows help reduce total CO2 emissions by 4-500 kg from cradle to grave," says Jørgen Tang-Jensen, CEO of the VELUX Group.

Fewer and less serious accidents
The new report reveals encouraging trends not only for sustainability – 2013 was also a good year for the VELUX Group in terms of work-related accidents. The Group reports 2.4 accidents per 1 million working hours, and absence resulting from accidents as 0.3 hours per 1,000 working hours.

"We have never seen so few accidents at work, nor so little absence caused by them. The report shows that there are not just fewer accidents but that they are less serious. This is a result we are delighted about and extremely proud of. The safety of our people is extremely important to us," says Jørgen Tang-Jensen.
"Although this is a record low for work-related accidents in our entire history, we did not quite make the target set in our KPI. But work continues, with constant daily focus on safety at work, primarily at our factories, to attain our long-term goal that per definition is to reach zero accidents."

19% reduction in CO2 emissions – but our goal not yet reached
In 2013, the VELUX Group reduced its CO2 emissions by 19% compared to 2007 baseline figures. This result falls somewhat short of the objective to achieve 50% by 2020.

"We are not quite where we had hoped to be at this stage in terms of CO2 emissions – but we are sticking to our 2020 target. We will reach this goal by continuing to improve our en-ergy efficiency, mainly at the factories," concludes Jørgen Tang-Jensen.

158 million Euro ploughed back into society
In 2013 THE VELUX FOUNDATIONS – VILLUM FONDEN and VELUX FONDEN – made donations of 158 million Euros to the natural sciences, environment, social and cultural purposes, the humanities and research into gerontology and ophthalmology in Europe. The VELUX Group principal owner is VILLUM FONDEN.