The target is 100 percent climate neutrality
Volkswagen is taking social responsibility for the climate and is aligning the company strategically with clean mobility. Our vision is to facilitate carbon-neutral mobility for people and goods throughout the world. At the climate summit in Paris, the international community made a commitment to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees. These targets also form the benchmark for the actions of Volkswagen. Although we are unable to overcome the big political challenges relating to climate on our own, we are approaching the issue with a clearly defined plan. In concrete terms, it looks like this: Volkswagen is committed to the target of keeping the global temperature increase according to the Paris Agreement. In pursuit of this aim, we will be continually reducing the CO2 emissions of our vehicle fleet towards zero by 2050. In order to strategically implement this goal, the Volkswagen brand will have invested around 11 billion euros by 2023 in the digitalisation of vehicles and plants, and in carbon-neutral production including the supply chain and manufacture of battery cells. Around 9 billion euros from this investment will be channelled into electromobility.
Most extensive e-offensive in the global automotive sector:
Today, the conversion to battery-powered electric drive is the most efficient option for reduction of CO2 levels. This is a key lever as far as Volkswagen is concerned. And the first steps have already been undertaken. The Volkswagen ID. is the first model to be manufactured on the basis of the new MEB electric platform. The clearly-defined platform orientation and significantly less complexity are simultaneously empowering us to create the enablers for greater efficiency and higher productivity at the plants. While it continues to operate without interruption, the Zwickau plant is being converted from today’s status of 100 percent internal combustion engine to 100 percent electric drive. It represents the world’s first complete transformation of an industrial-scale automobile production facility to e-mobility. Starting in 2022, all-electric vehicles will roll off the assembly line at plants in Emden and Hannover. Taken together, these three locations will become the biggest and most efficient e-production network in Europe, and this will create a key prerequisite for the e-fleet and hence for achieving CO2 targets. Furthermore, the locations of Volkswagen Group Components in Salzgitter, Braunschweig and Hannover are building up sustainable competence in battery cells, as well as developing and producing battery systems for e-vehicles based on the Volkswagen’s Modular Electric Drive Kit (MEB).
ID. is becoming a milestone for CO2-neutral mobility
The market launch of the ID. in 2020 will signal the kick-off for most extensive e-offensive in the global automotive sector which will mark a milestone on the journey towards climate-neutral mobility. This is because the vehicle will be delivered to the customer as an electric car with a 100% CO2-neutral footprint. To this end, Volkswagen is addressing the entire value chain from procurement to recycling. Our decarbonisation index enables us to reflect the climate relevance of all vehicles over their lifecycle and it provides a metric for assessing progress. Production processes in Zwickau will be carried out with a carbon-neutral footprint. Green electricity will be used for the production of battery cells at suppliers. We will also ensure that our suppliers maintain the clear principle of avoiding and reducing CO2 wherever possible. In accordance with this principle, they will also mitigate unavoidable emissions by making investments in climate-protection projects. In the utilization phase, customers will be able to have carbon-neutral driving with the ID. if they decide to use green electricity. The newly established Volkswagen subsidiary Elli will also offer a broadly-based portfolio of wall boxes and charging solutions to facilitate the supply of sustainable electricity by the time the ID. has been launched in the marketplace in 2020. The IONITY joint venture is also enabling us to build up a powerful and sustainable fast charging system within Europe.