VW plans internal carbon levy and carbon-neutral electric car production

Volkswagen plans to introduce an internal CO2 levy in a drive to reduce the company’s emissions, Simon Hage and Gerald Traufetter report in Der Spiegel. The company hopes to create incentives for its various departments to reduce their carbon footprint, the article says.  In a letter to VW executives quoted by Der Spiegel, Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess wrote, “The Volkswagen Group will be a climate-neutral company by 2050 at the latest.” The internal levy would be set on the use of electricity, heat and fuel, and the carbon pollution from flights will have to be compensated. It’s a new approach for the company whose reputation has been dented by the dieselgate emissions cheating scandal, Spiegel writes.

VW has also announced that its first electric car, the ID, will be “CO2 neutral throughout the entire life cycle,” including all manufacturing. A company presentation posted by e-mobility website Electrek details changes throughout the entire production process. The car is expected to go into production at the end of this year. Bloomberg reports, VW is also ramping up its roll-out of electric vehicles, boosting its production target by 50 percent. According to an article by news agency dpa carried by Welt Online, VW also stressed that the transition to e-mobility will require political support.

At the end of last year, Volkswagen announced that it will convert several production sites into pure e-car factories and will invest over 40 billion euros in future technologies in the next years. However, analysts warn that even more fundamental strategic changes are needed to make the company fit for a future car market dominated by digital technology.