Volkswagen with New Corporate Mission Statement Environment "goTOzero"

The Volkswagen Group is bundling all its measures in environmental protection under the new "goTOzero" environmental mission statement.

Oliver Blume, Member of the Group Board of Management responsible for environmental protection, says: "With the new Group Environmental Policy, the Group is giving itself and its stakeholders a clear orientation. Our efforts to improve environmental protection cover the entire product cycle, from development, production and operation to the subsequent recycling of our vehicles and administration. We also involve our suppliers. Only together can we achieve our goals".

With "goTOzero", Volkswagen is taking the next important step in its Group strategy "TOGETHER - Strategy 2025+" towards becoming a comprehensively sustainability-oriented company. The Group's Environmental Policy consists of the four fields of action of climate change, resources, air quality and environmental compliance and provides strategic orientation for the numerous environmental programmes at Group and brand level. "goTOzero" programmatically stands for a way of doing business that is as environmentally friendly and balance sheet CO₂-free as possible, and which Volkswagen has set itself the Group-wide goal of achieving by 2050.

Environmental Mission Statement

Literally it says in the mission statement environment: "For all our products and mobility solutions we aspire to minimize environmental impacts along the entire lifecycle -from raw material extraction until end-of-life -in order to keep ecosystems intact and to create positive impacts on society. Compliance with environmental regulations, standards and voluntary commitments is a basic prerequisite of our actions.

Fields of Action

In its "goTOzero" mission statement, the Volkswagen Group concentrates on four main fields of action.

1. Climate change: Volkswagen is committed to complying with the United Nations' Paris climate protection agreement. The goal is to become a balance-sheet CO₂ -neutral company by 2050. By 2025, the company plans to reduce its total life cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions of passenger cars and light duty vehicles by 30% compared to 2015. The company actively contributes to the transition towards renewable energies along the entire life cycle.
2. Resources: Volkswagen intends to maximize resource efficiency and promote circular economy approaches in the areas of materials, energy and water. By 2025, the Company plans to have reduced the production-related environmental externalities (CO₂, energy, water, waste, volatile organic compounds) by 45% per vehicle compared to 2010.
3. Air quality: Volkswagen is driving e-mobility forward to improve the local air quality. By 2025, the share of battery electric vehicles in the Group's model portfolio will be between 20 and 25%. The share of electric vehicles in the Group fleet is to rise to at least 40% by 2030.
4. Environmental compliance: In terms of integrity, Volkswagen aims to set an example for a modern, transparent and successful company by installing and monitoring effective management systems that cover the environmental impact of its mobility solutions across all life cycle phases.

Environmental Policy

The company has also formulated an environmental policy for its environmental decision-making as well as for project management and environmental performance policies that defines principles for five key issues: leadership, compliance, environmental protection, stakeholder engagement and continuous improvement.

Long- and medium-term objectives

By 2050, the entire Volkswagen Group wants to becomebalance sheet CO₂-neutral. By 2025, the company plans to reduce the carbon footprint of its fleet by 30 percent over its entire lifecycle compared to 2015. In the production of vehicles, waste, wastewater, CO₂ , energy consumption and volatile organic compounds will be reduced by 45 percent by 2010 compared to 2010.

By 2023, the Group plans to invest around € 30 billion in electromobility and launch more than 70 new electric models onto the market by 2028. In addition, the Group is involved in setting up the charging infrastructure and already today offers its customers Elli Volkswagen Naturstrom for customers and consumers through its company.