Nature

The Volkswagen Group wants to become a net-carbon-neutral company

The Volkswagen Group stands firmly committed to the principles outlined in the Paris Climate Agreement and aligns its own activities with the 1.5-degree target. Our ultimate goal is to achieve net carbon neutrality by 2050. As part of this commitment, we have set an interim target: a 30 percent reduction in the carbon footprint during the use phase of our passenger cars and light commercial vehicles by 2030, compared with 2018, per kilometer driven.

The Volkswagen Group is accelerating its efforts to achieve net carbon neutrality at all production sites worldwide by 2040, 10 years earlier than originally planned. Among other things, greenhouse gas emissions are to be reduced by 90% by 2040 compared to 2018. The Volkswagen Group aims to achieve this, for example, by converting its energy supply and increasing energy efficiency. By 2030, 100 percent of the external electricity purchased by all sites is to come from CO₂-neutral sources. Currently, 100 percent of the external electricity supplied to the European plants already comes from renewable energies.

Our goal is to achieve zero-impact status for all of our manufacturing plants for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles by 2050. Compared with 2010, in the five-year span to 2023 we've reduced water use by 24 percent, waste by 75 percent, and VOC emissions by 68 percent per vehicle. The goals are to reduce total environmental impact of our production sites for passenger cars by 37.5 percent by 2030, 69 percent by 2040 and 100 percent by 2050 (compared to 2018).

The Volkswagen Group is working to continuously reduce its demand of primary resources

The finite nature of natural resources and the consequences of resource extraction make the development of a circular economy a key sustainability topic. The focus here lies primarily on conserving resources. For the first time, the Volkswagen Group has set itself Group-wide ambitions. By 2040, we aim to use 40 percent of materials from recycled products.

First steps are being taken into this direction. In the ID. family, headliners, fabrics, carpets, seats, door trim panels and decorative inlays, for example, are already made from recycled materials (e.g. seat covers with yarn made of ocean plastics and recycled PET bottles). Some of the seat textiles for all lines are made of up to 100 percent recycled PET.

All in all, the ID. Buzz consists of approximately 25 percent recycled materials, including both metals and plastics. 

The Volkswagen Group supports biodiversity

The production and operation of our vehicles undoubtedly impacts biodiversity through emissions, land use and transportation. We want to minimize this impact by working to reduce our land use and thus add value to nature and improve biodiversity. We have set ourselves the goal of increasing biodiversity at our production sites and within the supply chain.

The Volkswagen Group is aware of its responsibility and has been involved in protecting and retaining biological diversity through conservation projects since 2007. As a founding member of the Biodiversity in Good Company e. V. initiative, we acknowledge the goals of the international Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Moreover, we have defined corresponding action areas to make our contribution to achieving these goals within the framework of our business activities. This is documented every two years in our progress report on the initiative.

To further advance this mission, we are establishing a Biodiversity Fund with an annual allocation of up to €25 million for external projects starting in 2025. These projects will be carefully selected by an independent decision-making body.