Sustainability at Vossloh

Mobility is a characteristic feature of human beings and is largely responsible for our social, ethnic, cultural and, of course, economic development. Vossloh's promise, "enabling green mobility," stands for its commitment to conduct its business in a sustainable manner. As part of its corporate vision, Vossloh aims to pave the way for sustainable, safe, and convenient rail mobility with zero emissions to make the world a better place. Sustainability is one of the company's five core values – "We take responsibility and care for the world around us".

Vossloh firmly believes that companies must balance economic, social, and environmental considerations in their decisions and conduct. Long-term success requires contributing to the well-being of society and preserving all options for future generations.

2024 Annual Report

The Group Sustainability Statement can be found in the 2024 Annual Report. It was prepared in accordance with the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS).

Annual Report 2024

Strategic framework

The company pursues a global sustainability strategy. Its aim is to centrally align and focus sustainability activities within the Group, further improve its own positive impact – and likewise reduce its negative impact – on the environment and society, and make the Group's sustainability performance more transparent. It is intended to make Vossloh a benchmark for sustainability in the rail infrastructure business. The Executive Board of Vossloh AG adopted the sustainability strategy and the supporting guidelines in 2021. At the same time, the Vossloh sustainability commitment, in which the Executive Board underlined and reaffirmed its commitment and focus, was published on the company's website.

Communication on Progress Report 2021

Communication on Progress Report 2020

Why the world needs green mobility

Modern people are on the move. Advanced transport technologies have long since shrunk the world into a village. Internationalization and the resulting division of labor have also led to enormous global flows of goods, with an ever-increasing trend. On the other hand, the transport sector is responsible for around a quarter of all CO2 emissions worldwide.

Decarbonizing the transportation system is essential in the fight against climate change. The path to lower emissions in motorized transportation lies in strengthening the most environmentally friendly mode of transportation in the modal split: rail. Globally, rail accounts for nine percent of passenger transport and seven percent of freight transport – but only three percent of energy consumption and four percent of CO2 emissions in the entire transport sector. In the European Union, the sector's share of CO2 emissions is even lower, at only 0.5 percent, despite its higher share of transport performance.

Translated into everyday life, this means that a passenger on a train causes up to 70 percent less CO2 than in an electric car. And the railway line consumes less space than a three-lane highway with comparable capacity.

How we live sustainability

In the modern understanding of sustainable management, we must not consume more than can be regrown, regenerated, or made available again in the future. In fact, however, humanity currently consumes the resources of 1.7 Earths per year.

In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the "2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development." This includes 17 "Sustainable Development Goals." These are political objectives of the United Nations (UN) to ensure sustainable development at the economic, social, and ecological levels and apply to all countries worldwide. Companies can report on their progress toward achieving these goals.

Since the beginning of 2020, Vossloh has been an active participant in the UN Global Compact initiative, in which companies commit to complying with minimum environmental and social standards and report on their progress. By supporting the principles of the UN Global Compact, Vossloh is demonstrating its contribution to achieving the global sustainability goals by 2030. This commitment focuses on six of the 17 SDGs. These include:

SDG 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
SDG 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
SDG 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
SDG 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
SDG 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
SDG 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

With the Green Deal, the European Union has established a central growth strategy with the goal of making Europe climate-neutral by 2050. The Green Deal comprises a package of measures for the ecological modernization of the economy, energy, industry, transportation, agriculture, and the financial system—with the guiding principle of "decoupling economic growth from resource consumption." With its core goal of climate neutrality by 2050, the Green Deal is politically and legally anchored, among other things by the EU Taxonomy for Sustainable Investments and the CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive).

Vossloh has been reporting under the EU Taxonomy Regulation since 2021. The standardized classification system defines and evaluates environmentally sustainable economic activities. The figures underscore Vossloh's sustainable business model: 100% of sales are classified as taxonomy-eligible as they take place in environmentally sustainable sectors and 67% as taxonomy-aligned because on top of supporting environmental goals they also support social ones.

Sustainability is anchored in the company in many ways—in its strategy, management systems, risk and opportunity management, and reporting in the form of the Group Sustainability Statement in compliance, since 2024, with the new European reporting standards.

Seven global sustainability initiatives shape the daily work at Vossloh:

CO2 neutrality by 2030 (Scope 1 & 2): Reducing its own greenhouse gas emissions is one of Vossloh's most important sustainability goals. Within this framework, each business unit draws up three-year budgets for energy consumption and CO2e (CO2 equivalents) emissions in order to achieve the necessary reduction targets. Additionally, transition plans going up to 2030 have been established.
90 percent sustainable strategic procurement volume by 2025 to ensure that the company's strategic suppliers respect human rights, adopt new regulations, and enforce fair business practices in the supply chain.
Annual reduction in the frequency of workplace accidents by 20 percent, because Vossloh must ensure that all employees—who are the company's most valuable resource—return home safely and in good health every day.
Valued-based Vossloh leadership principles: 80 percent of managers will apply them by 2025. To work efficiently, employees must share common values and act accordingly.
Implementation of a group-wide diversity and equality policy. Talented people are neither uniform nor do they come from a single geographical area. To attract the best, Vossloh must therefore be diverse and inclusive by definition. And to retain talent, equal opportunities are a must.
Reducing the environmental footprint of Vossloh products and services along the entire value chain. This involves questioning existing practices and designs and offering customers products and services that are increasingly energy-, water-, and material-efficient.
Corporate volunteering program to act as a good citizen in the communities where our business units are located: one workday per (full-time) employee per year to support local communities and charitable projects.

Recognized by independent institutions

Our sustainability performance has been recognized repeatedly. At the end of 2024, Vossloh was awarded the coveted gold medal by EcoVadis for its outstanding achievements in the field of sustainability. This means that the Group was among the top 4% of all companies worldwide assessed by EcoVadis. The recent review in 2025 earned Vossloh the silver medal.

Also at the end of 2024, Vossloh won the prestigious German Sustainability Award in the Mobility and Logistics category. A high-caliber, interdisciplinary jury of experts recognized Vossloh's achievements in climate-friendly, innovative, and efficient mobility solutions in the field of rail infrastructure. The jury also highlighted the Group's internal successes in fulfilling its social responsibility toward employees, in the efficient use of resources and energy, and in establishing sustainable supply chains.

Since the Group's financing is now linked to Vossloh's sustainability performance, the good ratings in the leading international sustainability ratings by ISS ESG and MSCI ESG Research result in attractive interest rates.

Goals for the future

Standing still means falling behind. Vossloh has therefore set ambitious goals, including:

Regular prioritization of goals and initiatives: sustainable fulfillment of all legal requirements, focus on decarbonization and occupational safety
Improving our own standards and tools: expanded measurability of sustainability performance, especially Scope 3 emissions, increased resilience through active risk management
Implementing sustainable solutions: climate-neutral manufacturing, resource conservation through recycling management, digitalization
Further embedding sustainability in Vossloh's DNA: further optimization of the organization, incentive systems, even greater emphasis on sustainability criteria in innovation and development.

Vossloh is working for its customers toward the major goal of higher track availability—and thus greater reliability for railways. The future of sustainable mobility will be multimodal and therefore largely shaped by a smooth transition between individual modes of transport. Reliable and seamless interaction between trains, buses, car sharing, and e-scooters will be decisive in determining whether people are willing to permanently change their mobility behavior—for the green mobility of tomorrow.