The Volkswagen Group has firmly committed itself to the Paris Climate Agreement and intends to become carbon neutral by 2050. The key instruments to reach this goal include electrifying its product range, reducing the carbon footprint of its supply chain and production operation as well as recycling.By 2023, all of the company’s European locations should be using 100 percent
renewable energies, as compared to the current level of 95 percent. The company’s locations in Brussels, Dresden, Crewe, Zwickau, Győr, Sant’Agata Bolognese, Molsheim and Zuffenhausen are already carbon neutral. The “goTOzero weeks” are being held for the first time as a way of demonstrating the wide range of environmental protection measures that have been introduced and of developing a joint understanding among employees across brands and countries.
Oliver Blume, the member of the Managing Board of Volkswagen AG who oversees environmental protection at the company, said: “We as a company have set some ambitious environmental protection goals. These goals apply to our products, services and processes as well as to our plants and business locations. Our ‘goTOzero weeks’ will highlight the multifaceted features of environmental protection to our employees and foster networking in our global production operation. And they will do so in terms of both our environment and our collective responsibility.”
Gerd Walker, the Head of Group Production, added: “With the help of our activities in the programs ‘Zero Impact Factory’ and ‘Zero Impact Logistics,’ we are continuously reducing our use of resources and production of waste, closing loops and putting technologies of the future into place. This work will help us achieve our goal: to reduce the environmental impact of the Volkswagen Group by 45 percent compared with the reference year of 2010 by 2025. This means that we will have to use or produce nearly 50 percent less energy, CO2, water, solvents and waste per vehicle. We have already made some significant progress – by the end of 2020, we had already reduced the environmental impact of production by 33 percent.”
Christiane Eckert, the Head of Group Production Strategy and Environment, said: “The ‘goTOzero weeks’ are another aspect of our efforts to generate fresh momentum for our Group-wide environmental activities. As part of this work, we must network, combine our forces, learn from one another and collectively make our contribution to the Group’s future.”
The brands, regions and departments view themselves as a global community of shared responsibility. The “goTOzero weeks” will create incentives to increasingly network and learn from one another. A page in the Volkswagen intranet will serve as an information hub for employees.
Here are a few highlights from the program for the goTOzero weeks:
Group environmental talk with the Volkswagen Group Board of Management and employees.
An expert talk on decarbonization by the Bentley brand.
An online panel discussion about circular economy by the ŠKODA brand.
A strategy dialogue with the Board of Management member responsible for production and logistics of the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles brand, Dr. Josef Baumert.
A corporate volunteering event to collect litter organized by the Volkswagen brand at the Wolfsburg location with members of plant management and employees.
An event by the Audi Environmental Foundation Teams of runners will receive an athletic introduction to environmental protection at Audi locations along with interactive talks, environmental movies and special meals in the Audi company cafeteria.
Digital sustainability festival with Escape-Game of the Porsche brand
Representatives of the China region will explore their environmental activities during a video conference
An environmental quiz by Volkswagen Group Components.
Group Logistics will give a talk on e-mobility and alternative drive systems for commercial vehicles as well as organize a live chat with the brands’ experts on zero impact logistics.