How Villeroy & Boch consolidated its Greenhouse Gas Inventory and achieved SBTi Validation for its Climate Targets
Customer: Villeroy & Boch AG
Category: Manufacturing / Consumer Goods – Bath & Wellness, Dining & Lifestyle
The Villeroy & Boch Group is one of the world’s leading premium providers in the Dining & Lifestyle and Bathroom & Wellness segments. Founded in 1748 and headquartered in Mettlach, Germany, the company stands for innovation, design, and quality. With its two flagship brands, Villeroy & Boch and Ideal Standard, the Group operates in around 140 countries worldwide and employs more than 11,000 people.
In 2024, the Villeroy & Boch Group completed the acquisition of Ideal Standard, the largest acquisition in the company’s history. The integration significantly increased the complexity of Group-wide sustainability management, particularly with regard to establishing a consolidated and auditable greenhouse gas inventory.
DFGE – Institute for Energy, Ecology and Economy has been supporting Villeroy & Boch for several years as a trusted partner for climate action and carbon accounting. The collaboration spans the entire strategic value chain – from developing the Corporate Carbon Footprint (CCF) and defining science-based climate targets in line with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), to audit support and quality assurance of the software tools used.
- Sustainability at Villeroy & Boch
- Corporate Carbon Footprint with DFGE
- CCF Software by DFGE
- Climate Targets with DFGE
Giuseppe Noto
Head of Environment, Energy and Idea Management, Villeroy & Boch AG
“It was important to us to have a partner for developing our Science-Based Targets who not only has an in-depth understanding of the SBTi’s methodological requirements, but also brings extensive practical experience from numerous validation processes. DFGE provided us with exactly that.”
Challenges
A Growing Inventory, Three Key Priorities
Following the merger, the Corporate Carbon Footprints for 2021 – the base year for the SBT project – and 2024 had to be consolidated into a single, GHG Protocol-compliant greenhouse gas inventory. This required comprehensive and precise data modelling across numerous sites and specific emission sources of both companies. At the same time, audit requirements for the complete traceability and documentation of the calculations increased significantly.
Villeroy & Boch’s primary objective was to define and obtain official validation for science-based climate targets (Science-Based Targets) – both near-term and long-term reduction targets (Long-Term / Net-Zero) in line with the SBTi’s stringent criteria. This required a methodologically robust emissions baseline covering all relevant scopes, as well as effective navigation through the SBTi’s multi-stage, iterative validation process.
To enable Villeroy & Boch to prepare future carbon inventories more efficiently and independently, the company also implemented a commercial CCF software solution. As the two calculation approaches initially relied on different data foundations, key factors influencing the calculation results – including data inputs, emission factor allocation, and the granularity of the underlying raw data – had to be carefully analysed and evaluated. To ensure consistent and transparent external communication, it was essential to work through these influencing factors jointly with Villeroy & Boch in a clear and traceable manner.
Solution
From Data Modelling to Greater In-House Independence
DFGE prepared the Corporate Carbon Footprints for the 2021 and 2024 reporting years, fully integrated Ideal Standard’s emissions data into the new Group-wide inventory, and closed existing data gaps using established modelling approaches. All steps were documented transparently and complemented by specific recommendations for improving future data collection. To support the audit, DFGE prepared comprehensive methodological documentation and explanations and served as a technical point of contact throughout the audit process.
Building on the robust CCF data, DFGE calculated near-term and long-term climate targets in line with the latest SBTi criteria across all relevant scopes. Through expert guidance, scenario analyses, and clearly defined reduction pathways, DFGE supported Villeroy & Boch in working towards its targets and managed the entire submission and validation process with the SBTi through to successful completion.
As part of a detailed software project, Villeroy & Boch and DFGE jointly analysed key factors influencing the calculation results – including challenges in AI-supported emission factor mapping, specific activity data naming conventions, and differences in the granularity of the underlying raw data. The analysis highlighted further potential for improvement, particularly in the consistent preparation and structuring of primary data. This provided Villeroy & Boch with valuable insights into how to further improve the quality of the data fed into the software and gradually move towards more methodologically consistent and increasingly independent carbon accounting.
Result & Outlook
A consolidated, audited Greenhouse Gas Inventory and SBTi-Validated Climate Targets
Today, Villeroy & Boch has a consolidated and audited greenhouse gas inventory that fully reflects the integration of Ideal Standard, as well as officially validated near-term and Net-Zero climate targets in accordance with SBTi standards.
The successful support throughout the audit process significantly strengthened audit readiness and data quality – a key advantage in light of the growing requirements of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).
Through the methodological software analysis conducted together with DFGE, the company also strengthened its internal carbon accounting expertise. The project analysed key factors influencing the calculation results and developed recommendations for improving future data collection.
Giuseppe Noto
Head of Environment, Energy and Idea Management, Villeroy & Boch AG
“Across our various joint projects, DFGE has consistently supported us as a reliable and highly knowledgeable partner. We greatly value this collaboration and look forward to the next steps we will take together as part of our climate strategy.”
