What is Volkswagen doing for the climate?

The climate crisis is the greatest challenge of our time. To mitigate its impact, it is imperative that we limit global warming. We at the Volkswagen Group have made a clear commitment to the Paris climate targets. The entire Group will be balance sheet carbon-neutral by 2050 – including our vehicles, plants and all processes. Below are some examples from our transformation process:

Electromobility

• We are focusing on battery-based electromobility: electric vehicles have the best climate footprint of all drive systems over their entire service life. Our range already includes electric vehicles, making electromobility mass market-compatible.
• Manufacturing of the ID.3 (combined power consumption (NEDC) in kWh/100 km: 15.4-14.5; CO2 emissions in g/km: 0; efficiency class: A+) and ID.4 (combined power consumption (NEDC) in kWh/100 km: 16.9-16.2; CO2 emissions in g/km: 0; efficiency class: A+) models is balance sheet carbon-neutral. The battery production facilities use green electricity exclusively while we compensate any emissions generated in supply chains and manufacturing processes that cannot be avoided today by supporting climate projects.
• By 2029, our Group will have brought to market 75 fully electric models as well as 60 hybrid vehicles across all brands.
• In the next ten years, we plan to build roughly 26 million vehicles on our electric platforms. We also plan to sell six million hybrid vehicles in that period.
• In five years, we aim to boost sales of battery electric vehicles (BEV) to make up between 20 and 25 percent of sales in our product range.
• By 2030, we target BEV sales growth to account for at least 40 percent of the new car fleet in Europe and China.
• According to current plans, we will be investing almost 60 billion euros in future technologies like electromobility, digitalization, and hybridization until 2025. 33 billion euros of that alone will go towards electromobility. In China, we are investing a further 15 billion euros in electromobility.
• We are electrifying our fleet of company cars. The ID.3 (combined power consumption (NEDC) in kWh/100 km: 15.4-14.5; CO2 emissions in g/km: 0; efficiency class: A+) is particularly popular as a company car. Our managers are to lead by example, practice internally what we aim to achieve on the market, and show the way forward.
• We give investors the opportunity to invest in the future of electromobility with our Green Bonds. The funds specifically help refinance projects related to the modular electric drive matrix (MEB) and the new all-electric ID.3 (combined power consumption (NEDC) in kWh/100 km: 15.4-14.5; CO2 emissions in g/km: 0; efficiency class: A+) and ID.4 (combined power consumption (NEDC) in kWh/100 km: 16.9-16.2; CO2 emissions in g/km: 0; efficiency class: A+) models. 

Batteries, Charging and Green Electricity

• Volkswagen is taking a holistic approach in its transition to electromobility: Besides manufacturing electric cars, we produce battery cells, build charging infrastructure, and supply green electricity.
• We already offer 100 percent renewably sourced, totally carbon-free Volkswagen Naturstrom (natural electricity) for private households and companies in Germany through our subsidiary Elli.
• Volkswagen believes in its batteries, giving a guarantee of eight years and up to 160,000 km for them. Once the batteries can no longer be charged to their full capacity, they can be used to store energy in charging stations before they are recycled. We are already studying uses for spent electric batteries at our pilot battery recycling plant in Salzgitter. From 2020 onwards, we are able to recycle up to 3,000 vehicle batteries and process up to 1,200 tonnes of battery material annually. We aim to create a closed loop with a recycling rate of over 90 percent.
• In terms of the charging infrastructure, we provide 150,000 public charging stations throughout Europe with WeCharge. The stations can be accessed with a single charging card.
• We have found a European partner for our own battery cell manufacturing facility in Salzgitter: Northvolt. We aim to drive cell manufacturing forward in Germany with our joint expertise and sustainable, carbon-optimized production processes.
• We introduced a new rating system in 2019 that requires suppliers to establish clean production workflows and to uphold human rights and rights of participation. Volkswagen ensures enhanced transparency and responsibility in its supply chain for battery raw materials with RCS Global, an agency specializing in supply chain analysis. This focuses on assessing compliance with human rights, safe working conditions, and the suppliers’ measures to protect the environment along the entire supply chain, starting from the mines.

 The Climate Neutrality Roadmap

• By 2030, we as a Group aim to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions from production and use of our vehicles by 30 percent compared to 2018. The independent Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) has certified that our climate targets meet the Paris Climate Agreement requirements.
• We will actively drive the transition to renewable energies throughout the entire life cycle of a car. Currently, 41 percent of the electricity consumed by the Group’s production processes is renewably sourced. 43 Group locations already use electricity from renewable sources only. In order to reduce absolute CO2 emissions in production by 30 percent, we plan to gradually increase the proportion of renewable energy in externally sourced electricity for production to 100 percent renewable by 2030 – first EU-wide by 2023 (?KO-ENERGO by 2030 at the latest), then worldwide by 2030. For China, we are currently examining the availability of sufficient green electricity.
• We are proactively pursuing energy efficiency-boosting projects in our 125 manufacturing facilities worldwide. Group-wide, we implemented more than 1,650 energy and CO2 measures in 2019 and 2020 alone.
• Our power stations in the Wolfsburg Volkswagen plant will transition fully from coal to natural gas by the end of 2022. This will reduce the CO2 emissions of the two power stations by around 60 percent, or 1.5 million tonnes each year, approximately equivalent to the emissions of 870,000 combustion engine cars in the same period.
• Our AUDI plant in Brussels, Volkswagen in Zwickau and Dresden, ?KODA in Vrchlabí, and Bentley in Crewe are the Group’s first balance sheet carbon-neutral facilities. For example, Bentley generates all its electrical energy either from solar power systems on-site or sources it as certified green electricity.
• We have established a climate-neutral computer center in Norway with Green Mountain. Sourcing 100 percent of its electricity from hydroelectric power, it avoids CO2 emissions of over 5,800 tonnes compared with a conventionally powered computer center. Volkswagen Passenger Cars and AUDI will harness this computing power for high-performance servers in their vehicle development departments.
• By early 2021, our Group logistics will transition all inner-German material and vehicle transportation with Deutsche Bahn to green electricity. Annually, this avoids more than 26,700 tonnes of CO2 emissions compared to a conventional electricity mix.
• For our Volkswagen plant in Palmela, Portugal, we reactivated a railway to transport finished vehicles to the port of Setúbal. The train will run up to four times daily and deliver around 500 vehicles to the port. That replaces 63 truck trips and avoids 400 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.
• By using the two largest types of truck trailers on the market, the duo trailer (31.7 meters long) and giga trailer (25.25 meters long), for transportation at the SEAT plant in Martorell, Spain, we are reducing CO2 emissions by 30 percent compared to conventional trucks. This also reduces the number of trucks on the road. Additionally, the plant uses rail transport with a direct connection to the port of Barcelona and to the plant in Zona Franca.
• In our maritime logistics, the Group already uses a freighter powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG) – another is slated for delivery soon. LNG burns cleaner than conventional liquid fuels, and one tank full is enough for the entire Germany-Mexico-Germany round trip.
•  Through the new CO2 fund, our Group supports projects that reduce our CO2 emissions internally in specific ways. The fund currently has an annual budget of 25 million euros.
• We have incorporated a decarbonization index (DKI) into the Group strategy as a transparent indicator on our roadmap to climate neutrality. We publicize our progress as part of our Group reporting activities.
• The corporate environmental mission statement ‘goTOzero’ unites all of our environmental measures in one concept. ‘goTOzero’ embodies a sustainable way of doing business that minimizes pollution and strives towards balance sheet carbon-neutrality. Its four focus areas are climate change, resources, air quality, and environmental compliance.

From A to Z

We will achieve our goal of being climate neutral by 2050 by taking a holistic approach based on these steps:

1. Reduce our energy consumption effectively and sustainably.
2. Switch our energy supply to renewable sources.
3. Compensate the emissions we currently cannot avoid.

In conjunction with our electrification strategy, these three principles enable us to effectively contribute to combatting global warming.

We must not and will not miss any opportunity to further improve our resource efficiency and promote approaches to reuse and recycle materials, energy, and water.

I am convinced that we have a responsibility and an obligation to make our contribution to limiting climate change and work towards our goals with utmost consistency. We at Volkswagen have the opportunity and ability to do so. That is why Volkswagen is taking action.