The Volkswagen Group is committed to the Paris Climate Agreement and aims to become a CO2-neutral company by 2050. It will also be of great importance to include the retail and service locations worldwide on this path.
The Volkswagen Group's sales network with all its brands extends to more than 150 markets worldwide with more than 17,000 dealerships and service locations, causing corresponding CO2-emissions.
The multi-brand project goTOzero RETAIL focuses on the decarbonization of the entire distribution network and the improvement of a holistic environmental performance of the individual dealers.
The goTOzero RETAIL project was developed as part of the Volkswagen Group's sustainability strategy and aims to reduce the impact of the entire distribution network on the environment. Participating retailers are shown how they can measure their current environmental impact in order to improve their environmental footprint.
An important component of this is, among others, to promote the reduction of the corresponding CO2-emissions of all retail operations. Since its founding in 2021, the cross-brand team behind goTOzero RETAIL has already achieved important milestones: For example, a decarbonization trajectory has been defined and confirmed by the responsible committee. Accordingly, the CO2-footprint of the entire trading network is to be reduced by at least 30 percent by 2030, by at least 55 percent by 2040 and by at least 75 percent by 2050, based on 2020 as a baseline. These goals are to be achieved solely through appropriate reduction measures. In the final step, technically unavoidable CO2-emissions are compensated.
“Climate and environmental protection are really close to my heart. We must join all forces to reduce CO2–emissions as quickly as possible in order to keep our planet livable. Therefore it makes so much sense that besides our own ambitious environmental protection targets, we now give our retail operations even greater support on environmental topics.”
Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time. In order to assume responsibility in this area, the Volkswagen Group is pursuing ambitious environmental goals with its suppliers, dealers and customers. One of these goals is to reduce CO2-emissions and reduce environmental impacts across the entire value chain. The global dealer network also contributes to the achievement of these targets. The project film provides an overview of goTOzero RETAIL.
The CO2-footprint of the entire retail and service network has been recorded annually since 2022 and published in the Group Sustainability Report. A decarbonization trajectory has also been defined for the dealer network, with reduction targets for 2030, 2040 and 2050. In order to identify and successfully implement these goals and thus the right measures to decarbonize and reduce environmental impacts, manuals, training courses and marketing materials are available to retailers. A comprehensive guidebook shows where energy consumption, CO2 and costs can be reduced in retail operations. Extensive web-based training supports the employees of car dealerships around the world in implementing appropriate measures on site. Explanatory videos, which can be shown to the customer in the showroom or published on the websites of the dealerships, are available and offered to the dealers. An energy and resource consulting concept has been developed that will be available to all markets and partners from 2024. For newly constructed and existing buildings, the Volkswagen Group strives for the highest possible energy efficiency and the use of renewable energies as far as this is economically and technically feasible.
In order to align the entire dealer network of the Volkswagen Group holistically with the protection of the environment, a cross-brand certification system has been developed: the goTOzero RETAIL certification.
This is based on established environmental management systems such as the ISO 14001 standard, building certifications and rating systems. In addition, the certification methodology developed by the Volkswagen Group covers all relevant and specific environmental aspects of a car dealership's core business.
The certification is intended to motivate the retail and service partners of all Group brands worldwide to optimize and reduce their environmental impact in the long term.
The certification criteria are based on the four voluntary commitments of the Volkswagen Group's environmental strategy: 1) climate protection 2) conservation of resources 3) preservation of ecosystems 4) compliance with environmental regulations.
The progress of goTOzero RETAIL's project is communicated on a regular basis.
