We’re operating in a world shaped by more frequent climate-related events that highlight just how urgent it is to reduce emissions. At the same time, there is an ever-growing need for raw and critical materials to keep economies growing. Labour shortages and regulatory developments also accelerate the requirement for businesses to embed sustainability across their activities.
These issues have informed Vanderlande’s sustainability strategy, which is built around four focus areas that cover our environmental, social and governance commitments: zero carbon footprint, circular economy, wellbeing, and good business.
These subjects have been chosen because they enable our company to:
Our goal is to reduce our CO2 footprint across all activities, which is why we’ve set clear targets that have been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). Work here includes taking steps to reduce internal emissions, making our systems more energy efficient, and using lower-carbon parts and materials
We work with our leading suppliers to generate greater energy efficiency in our supply chain. One way of doing this is to purchase goods and materials that will help us lower emissions.
Meanwhile, we’re making new agreements to buy low carbon materials and switching (when practical) to recycled, recyclable and bio-based products. This includes taking delivery of “green steel” and aluminium produced using renewable energy.
We committed to offering energy-efficient solutions to our customers and rolling them out across our own operations. For example, by combining sensors, drives and control software, we’ve reduced the energy consumption of our conveyors, which cuts emissions and saves on electricity bills. High-efficiency motors and low friction belts are also now available for our conveyor systems.
Meanwhile, our new Sustainable Product Development Policy establishes principles for designing solutions that will reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.
Internally, our goal is to cut energy use across our facilities by at least 2% per year. To help achieve this, we’re rolling out a variety of energy-efficient measures such as:
In addition, we aim to secure ISO 50001 energy management certification for our largest sites, which account for 90% of our total energy consumption. By end-FY2026, ten were already certified and certification for sites in the USA are in the pipeline.
We’re committed to reducing scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions1 from our operations. To help achieve this, our goal makes renewable electricity standard at all company locations by FY2030 – and we’re making solid progress. In FY2026, renewables accounted for 65% of the company’s electricity consumption – up from 60% the previous year.
Measures include installing solar panels at our facilities worldwide, as we have done most recently at our manufacturing site at Santpedor, Spain, and our new Innovation Centre in Pune, India. If it’s not possible to mount solar panels, we switch to renewable sources using Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) or RECS energy certification.
In response to the global challenges on climate change and long-term resource availability, we are gradually incorporating circularity into our business strategy. We seek to use fewer primary raw materials and parts, while generating less waste and extracting more value from the installed base. We’re also exploring innovative business models to help customers decommission and dismantle systems in a circular way to retain materials and value.
Beginning at the design stage allows us to align product and system development with sustainability and the principles of circularity. Not only does this approach make it easier to reduce the materials we need in the first place, but it also ensures that parts can be repaired or recycled to extend their use.
To provide structure to our circular design activities, we’ve:
We’re introducing material passports for more of our parts and components. At the same time we’re rolling out life-cycle assessment (LCA) quick scans, which enable our developers to calculate the potential environmental impact of a product. The quick scans are now available for around 50% of Vanderlande products.
In tandem, we’re also expanding our Environmental Product Declarations (EDPs), which allow customers to compare products based on their environmental performance.
Through our reverse logistics policy, we’re reducing waste by taking back parts and components that have been left over from customer projects. This provides guidance on which items should be scrapped, dismantled, remanufactured or taken back into stock.
To support our work and boost returns, training is provided to our project execution teams. Our actions delivered a 10% reduction in project leftovers in the policy’s first year of operation.
Remanufacturing – rebuilding parts to their original specifications – is central to our effort to become more circular. We focus on working with high-value items or those which have long lead times, such as the high-capacity divert switches that are used in our POSISORTER system.
Components like these are given a new lease of life at our Reverse Logistics Centre. Meanwhile, clear overviews of returned stock allow for the speedy turnaround of parts, which in turn improves delivery times for customers. Remanufacturing also reduces emissions compared to making entirely new product
We’re committed to developing a safety culture through the enforcement of strict standards, training activities, awareness raising and self-assessments. We also work closely with customers and contractors to protect employees and reduce the risk of accidents.
Each year our target is to reduce time lost to accidents and injuries by at least 20%.
To provide focus and strengthen our activities in this important area, we are rolling out a Safety Culture programme, which includes:
In addition, we’ve started testing a new app to help employees manage risks related to electricity and moving machinery when servicing equipment.
At Vanderlande, we believe employing a diverse workforce is central to achieving our high-performance culture. We therefore seek to recruit people from diverse backgrounds, and in FY2026 they accounted for almost 23% of new employees – up from 20% the previous year.
To support our approach to diversity and inclusion, we:
During FY2026, we established a dedicated global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) function. We also finalised our first global DE&I strategy, which sets out a roadmap to embed DE&I in our HR processes. It will also create an environment where all employees feel comfortable and are able to contribute to their full potential.
We’re committed to designing and manufacturing user-friendly solutions to benefit people who work with our equipment. This approach harnesses ergonomics, which helps us to adapt products to the needs of different users, so they can do their jobs more efficiently and in greater comfort.
Advanced automation – like robotics – can be deployed to reduce heavy lifting or repetitive movements that can lead to injury. Meanwhile, using low-noise wheels, frictionless drives and electric actuators can make facilities quieter places in which to work.
In FY2026, we introduced a more systematic process for collecting feedback from customers’ employees. This will help us to strengthen our activities relating to health and safety issues.
Doing good business is about acting with integrity and transparency. We strive to be a trusted partner by behaving responsibly, following ethical business practices, choosing like-minded suppliers and complying with regulations across the world. Across our business, we have strict standards covering a wide range of areas such as human rights, purchasing and sustainable product development.
We require all suppliers to meet environmental, ethical, and health and safety standards in our Supplier Code of Conduct. It also covers the right to fair wages and decent working conditions, and explicitly forbids the use of child or forced labour and conflict minerals.
The Code’s standards are upheld by regular screening, self-assessments and audits. All our strategic and preferred suppliers have now signed up.
Our Speak Up service enables our employees and external parties to report concerns about issues such as bribery and corruption, as well as violations of our Code of Conduct and other policies.
The service is available 24/7 all year round in various languages, and can be accessed by telephone or online. Employees can also register concerns through various internal channels, including contacting their line manager or local HR representative.
All reports are treated confidentially and in certain circumstances they can be made anonymously. Cases are completed as soon as possible and comply with local laws.
We believe strong governance is essential to achieving sustainable, profitable growth. Like many companies based in The Netherlands, we have a dual-board structure, consisting of:
The boards collaborate with a Sustainability Steering Committee to implement the strategy.
