Sustainability management at Nabtesco: from compliance pressure to strategic management

As a leading international manufacturer of precision gearboxes and an innovative partner to the automation industry, Nabtesco Europe increasingly sees sustainability as a strategic topic for the future. Its sustainability work was initially driven by regulation: the requirements of the CSRD prompted it to address ESG topics in a structured way. A double materiality assessment was already carried out with external support in 2024.

The European Union's Omnibus decision removed part of the immediate compliance pressure, but the topic remained relevant. Customers, banks and ESG ratings continued to ask for reliable data, especially on corporate carbon accounting. At the same time, the company wanted to be prepared for possible future regulatory developments.

It therefore deliberately chose a pragmatic yet future-proof approach: voluntary reporting under the VSME as a structured framework, and building a reliable carbon footprint as the foundation for strategic sustainability management.

To build up sustainability management in a structured way and create insightful CO₂ data, Nabtesco Europe decided in 2024 to implement this project together with Code Gaia.

Working with Code Gaia

After first experiences with other tools, the deciding factors for Nabtesco Europe were clearly structured, practical software, transparent methodologies and significant time savings compared with manual or Excel-based solutions.

Over the course of the project, the collaboration went beyond simply using software. Code Gaia supported the process with onboarding, ongoing exchange and a final plausibility check of the results. This created a partnership in which technical questions, methodological clarity and quality assurance played a central role.

At the same time, the software kept evolving while it was in use. Besides new features, existing structures and user guidance were reworked to make everyday use more efficient and user-friendly. This iterative approach helped Nabtesco establish the Code Gaia software not just as a reporting solution, but as a long-term instrument for its sustainability management.

Building up sustainability management centrally

Nabtesco Europe built up its sustainability management centrally. Data collection and carbon accounting were carried out across several companies and managed entirely in-house. Invoices, energy and consumption data were systematically recorded, allocated to the respective scopes and accounted for in Code Gaia.

The first VSME report was successfully created and deliberately designed visually to add value both internally and externally. The aim was to make the extensive data collection usable not just as a set of figures, but as an understandable communication and management tool.

At the same time, the carbon footprint now serves as a reliable data basis for alignment with the group headquarters in Japan. Differences in methodology or emission factors can be explained transparently and consolidated. For the first time, this created a common basis on which emissions can not only be reported but also analysed and assessed in a targeted way.

Results and benefits

The carbon footprint for the 2024 financial year creates transparency about the emissions structure and shows that most emissions arise outside the company's direct control. It also became clear that energy purchasing in Scope 2 is an effective lever for short-term emission reductions.

Based on these insights, Nabtesco Europe was able to derive targeted measures. Simply switching its electricity supply enabled emission reductions of up to 80 percent in individual companies, while saving costs at the same time. The carbon footprint is therefore not just a basis for reporting, but a tool for prioritising measures that make economic and ecological sense.

Reduction of Scope 2 emissions as a short-term measure in energy supply by

80 %

For the first time, the carbon footprint showed us clearly where our emissions arise and where we can really make a difference with manageable effort. On this basis, we can prioritise measures much more precisely.

Michael Häcker

Sustainability Manager Nabtesco Europe GmbH

Outlook and conclusion

With the 2024 baseline in place, the focus is now on developing sustainability management further. Plans include deriving further CO₂ reduction measures, expanding reporting and using the data as an active management tool.

Future carbon footprints are to be created more efficiently and published sooner. At the same time, the results will be integrated more closely into strategic decisions, both at company level and in the group context. In this way, sustainability at Nabtesco Europe is gradually developing from a reporting requirement into a fixed part of running the business.