Audi Brussels Plant Claims Environmental Honor

Audi Brussels says it has the world’s first certified CO2-neutral, high-volume production plant in the premium automotive segment with the award of a certificate by the Belgian testing company Vincotte.

Audi Brussels will start building the brand’s first all-electric series-produced model before the end of the year.

The automaker says it is pursuing a holistic approach to sustainable premium mobility, and for this reason, it attaches great importance to the resource-conserving production of its electric SUV.

Audi Brussels says it will produce the series version of the Audi e-tron prototype with a CO2-neutral impact on the environment.

“At the same time, our first electric car is also the first car in our core competition that is completely climate-neutral in production,” says Peter Kossler, member of the Audi Board of Management for Production and Logistics.

Kossler says Audi is working to make all factories in the group even more sustainable. “We intend to gradually supply our plants with green electricity,” he says.

The Belgian site has run on green electricity since 2012. On a total area of 398,265 sq.-ft. (37,000 sq.-m), the roofs of the plant buildings have the region’s largest photovoltaic system. This saves about 17,000 tons of CO2 a year.

“As the first plant in the Audi Group purely for electric cars, sustainable and environmentally friendly production is particularly important to us,” says Patrick Danau, Audi Brussels managing director.

The supply of heat at the site, including offices, uses renewable energies. The plant covers this heat requirement with certificates for biogas. Audi Brussels prevents CO2 emissions of up to 40,000 tons each year through renewable energies.

Audi Brussels offsets further emissions that cannot be avoided through renewable energy sources by means of carbon credit projects. These include emissions caused by company cars.

Rudiger Recknagel, head of environmental protection, says Audi in 2014 was the first premium manufacturer to measure its CO2 footprint and have it certified.

“Since then, we have been working steadily to reduce it further,” he says. “We are also installing new technologies at all our plants to reduce water consumption, prevent air pollution and improve recycling.”