ROMA – Objective: to be carbon neutral by 2050, reducing CO2 emissions per car in the Old Continent by 40 percent between now and 2030. These are the main elements that emerged from the first Convention Way To Zero organized by Volkswagen to communicate the plan to the decarbonisation of the company and its products. On average, a Volkswagen model will emit about 17 tons less carbon dioxide, assure the Wolfsburg technicians, but it will also be necessary to make systematic recycling of high-voltage batteries from discarded electric vehicles.
“Volkswagen wants to make sustainable electric mobility affordable for everyone,” explains CEO Ralf Brandstätter. “With our Way To Zero we have decided to place the Environment at the center of all our activities. Our electrical strategy is just the beginning. We are taking a comprehensive approach to decarbonisation: from production, through the life of the car and up to the final recycling stage. Furthermore, we are the first car manufacturer to support the expansion of renewable energy on an industrial scale ”.
Apart from programs and objectives, what will be the ways to reach these goals? First of all, recharge electric vehicles with energy generated entirely from renewable sources, a way to halve CO2 emissions in one fell swoop. Currently this is already possible: in Italy, through the partnership with PLT puregreen, Volkswagen offers, for example, renewable energy to recharge at home, and on the road through IONITY charging stations. Now it’s about taking the next step, expanding renewable energy on a large scale by building new wind and solar plants in various areas of Europe by 2025. The contracts for the first projects have already been signed with the energy company RWE and the result will be seen already at the end of this year: a solar plant in Tramm-Göthen, in northeastern Germany, with a total capacity of 170 million kWh per year. It is the largest independent solar project in the motherland, equipped with nearly 420,000 solar modules.
The other necessary step is to decarbonise the Company’s production and supply chain. Already today, all European factories use renewable sources to produce electricity. The first plant to make this revolution was in Zwickau, where all the ID models are produced. But by 2030, all Volkswagen sites in the world, apart from those located in China, will have to align. Systematic recycling of batteries will also have to contribute to this goal. In Salzgitter, Volkswagen Group Components is already active in this direction.
“The Way To Zero is our roadmap for effective climate protection, with it we assume our responsibility towards the environment”, concludes Brandstätter. “In the future, employees, customers and investors will prefer companies that place their social and environmental responsibility at the heart of their business. Sustainability will become a crucial factor in the success of an industrial initiative. But Volkswagen cannot take on the burden of the global decarbonisation of mobility alone ”.
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