The producer of waterproof outdoor equipment, whose production is based in the north Bavarian town of Heilsbronn, already sources more than 70% of its materials in Germany. Nevertheless, many years of intensive work have gone into the full and detailed determination of all emissions that each individual item causes. CEO Martin Esslinger explains: “ORTLIEB stands for long-lasting, repairable products made in Germany – yet in spite of all this, we want to make an even greater contribution to reducing climate change. To do this, it is essential to determine where we generate which specific CO₂e emissions so that we are also able to reduce them still further. Thanks to our local supply chains, we are able to quantify most of the actual values for our raw material parts. Furthermore, this also enables us to show to our customers the impact associated with a specific product from us.”

The CEO continues: “Our current CSR Manager Max Griesser evaluated one of our products as part of his Master’s thesis. We then continued this project with him and extended it to cover all of our items. Thanks to the production at our site and the high manufacturing depth we have been able to determine the real values rather than just use rough figures taken from a database.”

The fact that implementation has now been completed and the product carbon footprint is being communicated transparently for every item and is available on the website means that ORTLIEB Sportartikel GmbH has been able to successfully achieve one subtarget of its CSR strategy. External examination of the calculation methodology for the emission factors used was conducted by the renowned myclimate organization. 

Martin Esslinger gives an indication of developments to come: “We want to report authentically and honestly on our efforts in sustainability because climate protection can only succeed if the underlying intentions are serious and the measures are implemented transparently. Additional major points now include publishing the ecological assessment for all products and increasing the proportion of electricity that we generate ourselves from the current level of two-thirds to 100% on our balance sheet. Both of these targets are to be finalized in the year 2025. By the end of the decade the carbon footprint should then be zero and we aim to produce more regenerative energy than we need.”

Further information on sustainability at ORTLIEB can be retrieved via https://www.ortlieb.com/en_us/sustainability and on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jDP5rdjyIM&t=1s.