VW Funding Fight Against Greenhouse Gases

The automaker has pledged to invest $27 million a year into the project that will cover all of its 12 group brands to finance their own climate-protection projects at their locations worldwide.

Paul Myles, European Editor

February 11, 2020

1 Min Read
VW paint shop
Paint-shop technology will save thousands of tons of CO2.

Volkswagen launches a carbon-saving fund aimed at building on a claimed 170,000 tons of greenhouse gases already cut from its global production processes.

The automaker has pledged to invest $27 million a year into the project that will cover all of its 12 group brands to finance their own climate-protection projects at their locations worldwide. VW also hopes to use the fund to innovate and strengthen new and existing business models.

For individual projects to qualify for the fund’s support they must show they are scalable and transferable to other production sites in the group.

Projects already sanctioned include:

  • A project to replace lighting at nine of the group's production sites with low-energy LED lamps, saving 116,000 metric tons annually;

  • A load-dependent volume flow control system at the Hanover, Germany plant’s paint shop for drying which, with additional carbon-reducing measures, will have saved 3,000 tons of CO2 by year’s end.

  • Industrial washing machines have been optimized at several group plants with about 30 systems retrofitted with “frequency converters.” In addition, operating parameters such as pressure and volume flow, temperatures and standby times were adjusted for performance. The project started July 1, 2019, and was completed by the end of the year, saving 2,900 metric tons annually.

Volkswagen says more than 100 new projects have been decided on so far in 2020.

About the Author

Paul Myles

European Editor, Informa Group

Paul Myles is an award-winning journalist based in Europe covering all aspects of the automotive industry. He has a wealth of experience in the field working at specialist, national and international levels.

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