This is the 7th part of a series on highlights from the brand-new Volkswagen Group Sustainability Report 2013 - the summary of our efforts to strike a balance between resource efficiency, economic stability, and social responsibility.
We look to develop products that will make the most efficient possible use of energy, fuel and resources. The Volkswagen Group develops all vehicles and technologies with the goal of improving on the environmental performance of their predecessors. That means for example that every new vehicle generation from the Volkswagen brand must be between 10 and 15% more efficient than its predecessor.
At the same time Volkswagen was also the first automaker to commit to the ambitious goal of reducing its European new-car fleet-average emissions to 95 g CO2/km by 2020.
In order to achieve this, we seek to minimize the environmental impact of our products from the very earliest stages of the development process. In accordance with the Group Environmental Principles Product, we aim to continuously improve our products with particular reference to climate protection, resource conservation and health protection.
We call it “Life Cycle Engineering”. The terms means improving the environmental footprint of the vehicle over its entire life cycle. In the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), the environmental impacts of the vehicle are assessed across the full life cycle – from resource extraction, through production and operation to eventual recycling. That´s where Life Cycle Engineering begins.
The figures prove that our product development strategy is making good headway. The average CO2 emissions of our European fleet were reduced from 159 to 128 g CO2/km between 2008 and 2013 (EU 28, including Croatia from July 1, 2013) – a fall of approximately 19%.
A total of 324 model variants emit less than 120 g CO2/km and 54 model variants already emit less than 100 g CO2/km.
Read on – or go directly to the new Volkswagen Group Sustainability Report
