Every entrepreneurial activity has some impact on nature. This also applies to the car industry. As a globally active and responsibility-oriented company, Volkswagen regards it as a special imperative to organise its industrial production processes such that biological diversity is not limited more than a perhaps unavoidable minimum. The basis for this is a Group-wide ISO-certified environment management system. Having the same high environmental standards practised at all 48 locations throughout the world helps avoid or minimise detrimental emissions into the soil, water and air. Regional environment conferences are the platform on which environmental action plans are resolved for locations in China, South Africa or Brazil; where Group goals and objectives are co-ordinated and adjusted to meet local circumstances.

Volkswagen also seeks to reduce the negative environmental impact resulting from product use. To achieve this goal, the company has embarked on a massive investment programme to develop resource-efficient vehicle technologies. Low emission drive technologies, such as the TDI and TSI engines, have long been VW hallmarks. The BlueMotion tag has been used since 2006 to identify that model in a series which has been developed to be particularly frugal before market introduction. The first fruits of the strategy were the Polo, Passat and Passat Variant, which Volkswagen followed up in 2007 when it presented no less than six more new BlueMotion models at the German IAA motor show – the Caddy, Golf, Golf Plus, Golf Variant, Jetta and Touran.

Preparing detailed material balance sheets and life cycle analyses highlights advances along the road towards environment-compatible mobility. When a Volkswagen car has reached the end of its life, recycling is rigorously implemented. No other car manufacturer today can match VW’s figures. Its recycling strategy, the VW-SiCon process has actually earned the company many awards, most recently the European Business Award on the Environment and the DEVK “Öko-Globe” environment award. Volkswagen is also a pioneer in the field of biofuels. In order to get second generation biofuels (“SunFuel”), i.e. BtL diesel (biomass-to-liquid) and cellulose-ethanol petrol, ready for the market as soon as possible, VW actually acquired stakes in the two companies actively developing these synthetic fuels. SunFuel, produced from either vegetable waste or energy plants, is capable of reducing CO2 emissions by up to 90%. It goes almost without saying that the production of biomass should not involve the pillaging of natural resources.