Greenhouse gas emissions

Vebego is committed to reducing its CO₂e footprint across the value chain. In our policy and approach, we distinguish between the footprint of our own operations and those of upstream and downstream activities. We have relatively more control over the footprint of our own operations than over upstream and downstream emissions. Our segmentation follows the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol.

The CO₂e footprint of our companies for 2025 (with comparative figures for 2024) was as follows:

Greenhouse gas emissions (CO₂ equivalents): ‘Own operations’

The footprint of our own operations includes stationary and mobile combustion (Scope 1), energy consumption (Scope 2), upstream fuel- and energy-related activities (for example, fuel from ‘well to tank’), and commuting and business travel (categories 6 and 7 within Scope 3).

Our companies are responsible for setting ambitious yet realistic targets to reduce the footprint of their own operations. This is done according to roadmaps prepared by the companies for their specific situation. These roadmaps outline the initiatives that are underway or which will be implemented in the future (such as electrification of the fleet and the use of green electricity), the resulting footprint reductions and the associated costs and investments.

In 2024, we set a target to reduce CO₂e from our own operations by 50% by 2030, compared with the 2023 baseline of 37,000t of CO₂e. Achieving this requires continued focus on our roadmaps and securing the resources to implement them. Therefore, the company updated its roadmaps in 2025, just as it did in 2024.

As we reduce emissions from our current operations, we also need to ensure that our future business growth, whether organic or through acquisitions, aligns with our 2030 reduction target. To this end, we monitor and manage our footprint in relation to the scale of our business activities, using turnover as a reference metric. By linking our 50% target to the net turnover, our emissions in 2030 should not exceed 13 grams of CO₂e per euro of net turnover. To ensure accurate year-on-year comparisons, net turnover is adjusted for inflation; otherwise, uncorrected price increases could lead to an artificial decrease in grams of CO₂e per euro that does not reflect real progress. In 2025, our emissions were 23 grams per euro net turnover, only slightly lower than 2024 (24 grams).  

The total CO₂e footprint of our own operations has marginally decreased compared to 2024, from 35,930 tonnes of CO₂e over 2024 to 35,107 over 2025. This decrease is the result of:

• the positive effect of electrification of our fleet (-/- 1.000 tonnes of CO₂e)

• the positive effect of the purchase of Guarantees of Origin for electric lease cars charged in the Netherlands ( -/- 2.000 tonnes of CO₂e)

• the negative effect of improvement of data quality around Commuting across Vebego (+2.000 tonnes of CO₂e). Further investigation will be conducted during 2026 into the number of commuting kilometres, especially in The Netherlands.

For proper year-on-year comparison, adjustments are made to reflect the development of our business, due to acquisitions, divestments and autonomous growth. So far, these adjustments have been relatively small. Based on the adjusted footprint, over 2025 we achieved a reduction of around 2.4% relative to the baseline. This is only half of the reduction we achieved over 2024 (4.8%).

Based on our current footprint, to reach our target by 2030, we now need to achieve a yearly average reduction of around 8.6%. This indicates that our target is under significant pressure, especially considering that the most impactful measures (such as electrification and the use of Guarantees of Origin in the Netherlands) have already been implemented to a large extent.

Greenhouse gas emissions (CO₂ equivalents): Scope 3 (Products & Services)

The largest contributor to Vebego’s CO₂e footprint is the goods and services that the company buys, which are reported under Scope 3. The upstream footprint arises from the extraction of materials, manufacturing of products and the procurement of services. The downstream footprint mostly derives from the use and end-of-life treatment of products.

Based on the products and services we procured in 2025, we have made an estimate of the resulting Scope 3 footprint. This amounted to 83,751t of CO₂e emissions in 2025 (2024: 94,060t). The decrease is not the result of actual reduction measures, but mainly the result of activities divested and changes in segment intensity parameters used to calculate the footprint of bought services.

The product-related footprint is primarily based on available Digital Product Passports (DPP). These provide a ‘cradle to grave’ footprint that covers all emissions generated in the value chain, from raw material extraction, through production and transport, to end-of-life treatment. By the end of 2025, DPPs were available for 53% (2024: 50%) of the Vebego Bright Solutions (formerly Alpheios) product volume, which is mostly comprised of products that directly relate to our core activities. For products that do not yet have a DPP, the footprint is calculated based on the DPP-average CO₂e per kg weight of products or the DPP-average CO₂e per 1 euro spent on products. For services, the footprint is largely based on ‘segment intensity’, i.e. the average CO₂e emissions per 1 euro spent in each service segment.

More important than reporting on the footprint is taking measures to actually reduce the Scope 3 footprint. Within Vebego, we use the DPP to address the CO₂e of products. The information in the DPP helps us to work closely with our suppliers to determine how to reduce material use, employ alternative materials and increase circularity. Circularity is an important driver in reducing CO₂e and is discussed in more detail below.

Our companies are responsible for engaging with product and service providers. Given the size of our supplier base, addressing the footprint of products and services will take significant time, effort and cross-functional collaboration across sustainability, procurement and contract management. It is therefore essential to clearly define the scope of these efforts and secure the necessary resources.

We have developed a reporting-focused CO₂e dashboard that shows the footprint across all scopes and categories for each of our Group companies.