Company of the month:
Volkswagen AG
The Company of the Month is selected due to recent developments and in connection
with the topic ”Footprint of the Automotive Sector”. The EAM Responsible Investments
team analyses the strenghts and weaknesses of the selected company in terms of ESG.
The Volkswagen (VW) group from Wolfsburg unites twelve well-known brands under one roof: Volkswagen,
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Audi, SEAT, ŠKODA, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche, Ducati, Scania, and
MAN. In the current SRI ranking of EAM the company was rated B–*, which makes it one of the best-rated car
manufacturers. Areas for improvement are Corporate Governance and the substitution of fluorocarbon in vehicle
air conditioning. Besides, the procurement process of controversial raw materials (especially metals for on-board
electronics) suffers from a lack of transparency.
The company
Volkswagen AG recorded sales of EUR 145.7bn in the
first three quarters of fiscal 2013. The group operates
106 production facilities in 27 countries worldwide and
counts some 570,000 employees. Volkswagen is one
of the world’s leading and Europe’s biggest car manu-
facturer.
CO2-Emissionen
VW has set ambitious targets in terms of cutting the carbon dioxide emissions of newly produced vehicles.
It has committed itself to reducing its fleet emissions to an average of 95 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre
by 2020. From 2015 onwards car manufacturers will be penalised if fleet CO2 emissions of newly licensed cars
exceed 130g/km** – Volkswagen wants to be down to 120g/km by that point. In 2012 the Carbon Disclosure
Project (CDP) included the group in its CDP Global 500 Climate Disclosure Leadership Index. The non-profit
organisation’s mission is to persuade companies and communities into publishing their environmental impact
data such as greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption.
Research & Development
In order to fulfil different kinds of requirements with respect to short- and long-distance mobility and customer
needs the group pursues a comprehensive R&D strategy. Said strategy includes electric motors, highly efficient
combustion engines, the combination of various forms of drive, plug-in hybrids, fuel cells, the development and
increased use of environmentally friendly fuels, and electricity from renewable sources.
Efficient production
By the year 2018, Volkswagen wants to cut the environmental impact of every vehicle and of all of its components
in manufacturing by 25% relative to 2010. For this purpose, the company launched the “Think Blue.Factory”
programme in 2012. Along with saving energy, VW intends to generate renewable forms of energy, for example
from solar power or waste heat. The group also wants to step up recycling and the efficient use of resources. In
doing so, Volkswagen pools its experiences from all its production sites in an effort to continuously develop the
programme.
* Please see here for the EAM-specific ESG Rating; ** EU Directive 443 of 2009
