On the Way to ZERO– The General Strategy

Volkswagen is taking a holistic approach to decarbonisation, which is why its Way to ZERO goes beyond vehicle electrification to include the entire vehicle life-cycle. Between now and 2025 alone, the company will invest approximately €14 billion in decarbonisation measures that will focus on four central pillars. The first pillar is continuing the accelerated electrification of the product portfolio. The second pillar is decarbonising supply chains and production, the cause of half of an electric car’s total carbon emissions. The third pillar is the consistent use of green energy during the usage phase; this will address the remaining 50% of emissions. The fourth pillar is the recycling of batteries.

Volkswagen does not regard the Way to ZERO as a cost factor, but as a genuine competitive advantage. In the future, employees, customers and investors will attach priority to companies who put social responsibility at the heart of everything they do. Sustainability will become a decisive factor for long-term business success. However, one thing that is clear is that Volkswagen will be unable to decarbonise mobility on its own. This task calls for the worlds of politics, business and society to pull together, find good ideas and make bold investments.

Volkswagen’s product portfolio is focused on electric mobility. The last purely combustion-driven platform will be developed in 2026. After that, only electric vehicles will be developed. Even with today’s current power mix in the EU, battery-powered drive systems offer the best balance for the climate out of all drive concepts and this will continue to improve over the years to come. Volkswagen is aiming to increase the proportion of unit sales accounted for by purely electric vehicles to at least 70 percent in Europe and to more than 50 percent in North America and China by 2030. In 2030, nine out of 14 Volkswagen models will be purely electric vehicles.

The second main pillar on the Way to Zero is carbon reduction in the supply chains and production. With its Zero Impact Factory programme, the brand has set itself the goal of cutting CO₂ emissions per vehicle in production by 50 percent by 2025 as compared to 2015. A total of 11 Volkswagen plants that manufacture vehicles have been using green electricity exclusively since 2020; by 2030 all sites outside of China will use 100% green electricity.

The decarbonisation of production also incorporates suppliers. The role model here is the exclusive use of green electricity for production of the battery cells used in the ID.3 and ID.4 models. In areas of the supply chain and production process where CO₂ emissions cannot be avoided or reduced, they will be offset by investment in climate protection projects. Volkswagen is already handing over the ID.3 and ID.4 to European customers with a carbon-neutral footprint. In addition, new sustainable components will be used in the ID. models in future. These components will lead to a further reduction in CO₂ emissions of approximately two tonnes per vehicle by 2025.

Supply chains and production make up around 48 percent of an electric vehicle’s carbon footprint; a further 46 percent of CO₂ emissions are generated during the usage phase. That is why Volkswagen has named the consistent use of green energy as the third main pillar of decarbonisation – after all, the full environmental potential of new sustainable mobility can only be fulfilled if customers use green energy to charge their vehicles. Volkswagen drivers can already charge their ID. model with fully renewable energy thanks to Elli and IONITY.

Volkswagen is also the first automotive manufacturer to invest directly in the expansion of renewable energy on an industrial scale. The associated projects will produce additional green power and feed it into the grid. All in all, this will result in the generation of around seven terawatt hours of green electricity per year by 2025 – which is equivalent to the capacity of more than 300 new wind turbines. The projects will begin with a solar farm in Germany in cooperation with the RWE energy company.