Every day, companies churn out billions of products to serve all walks of life. As consumers, we almost always see and experience the end product, but rarely do we think about what it takes to make the product. When you drive your car do you ever think about all the manufacturing processes that went into it? What about all the emissions that stem from said manufacturing? From minerals and raw materials to production and consumer use, plus recycling efforts, all of these emissions add up in a hurry. When fossil fuels burn, they produce carbon dioxide. Production of coal, natural gas and oil generate methane. Fossil fuel combustion produces nitrous oxide. The list goes on. Companies have emissions requirements they’re expected to meet, but many times they either surpass these thresholds or simply want to reduce their overall carbon footprint. Recently, we had a chance to take a trip to Northern California to see an example of what a huge company like Volkswagen does to help with sustainability and reduce its emissions impact. For starters, the entire Volkswagen group has very ambitious strategies that seem to go above and beyond what a standard company might do to help the environment. The automaker plans to reduce its passenger vehicle carbon dioxide emissions by 90% by 2050. That might seem a ways out, but a 90% reduction is massive. VW plans to improve fuel efficiency during each vehicle redesign by 10-15 percent. From 2010 to 2020, the company's greenhouse gas emissions due to production are set to be reduced around 40 percent. E-mobility -- personal transportation powered by electricity instead of internal combustion -- is also a critical factor in sustainability for most automakers. Fuel cell, battery electric, plug-in hybrid, and hybrid vehicles can all contribute, provided a company can achieve efficient production and recycling processes. Volkswagen Group engineers are working on electrifying 40 different models, with many of them already in markets worldwide. The automaker will also invest $10 million dollars in charging infrastructure throughout the U.S. by 2016. 2015 Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid Despite these efforts, the reality is there are tens of millions of vehicles produced every year globally, with the VW Group producing millions all by itself. This brings us to carbon offsets, one of the most effective ways to help a large corporation reduce environmental impact. Essentially, an offset is a “credit” of sorts. A company can buy carbon offsets through projects that help reduce carbon and greenhouse gas emissions. While offsets are voluntary, emissions limits aren’t, so this is an effective way to help meet emissions limits and do some good for the planet in general. For this particular trip and in this instance, Volkswagen is working with 3degrees and The Conservation Fund, two companies leading projects at the Garcia River Forest to reduce logging impact, protect wildlife and other conservation efforts. These Garcia River Forest projects help preserve a roughly 24,000 acre forest area, with emission reductions actually checked and monitored by an independent third party to ensure accurate assessment of these efforts. 3degrees acts as a ‘broker’ for offset projects, while The Garcia River Forest is owned by The Conservation Fund, a non-profit, who bought the area in 2004. We had an opportunity to talk with the wonderful folks from the Conservation Fund, who answered all sorts of questions about native redwood trees, endangered fish, and more. The end-goal for The Conservation Fund is to ensure business is able to be conducted in a sustainable way in the forest while still preserving and growing the habitat. Garcia River Conservation Logistically, buying offsets makes sense for global automakers. Manufacturing and production technology can only reduce its carbon emissions at a finite pace even as the need for automobiles keeps growing. While car companies are constantly searching for cleaner ways to conduct business, at the end of the day automobile manufacturers are businesses, and items like sales, revenues and profits are critical to their financial sustainability. And if actual emissions reductions from manufacturing vehicles (and everything associated with the process) doesn’t drop faster than global vehicle demands increase, offsets are an effective stop-gap. There are plenty of companies doing this that you may not be aware of. Tesla, for instance, regularly sells credits to other car companies, which is where a large chunk of its revenue comes from. Tesla can do this because its main vehicles, the Model S and Model X, emit far lower emissions than the majority of cars on the road. And because Tesla doesn’t sell large trucks or commercial vehicles it doesn’t have the emissions-intensive processes associated with creating those vehicles. Garcia River Forestry Project Though it may not always be top-of-mind, most industries have high carbon footprints, and that's beyond independent human activity that potentially harms the environment. The automotive industry is one of the the most active in the world, with everything from raw material acquisition to vehicle production to consumer use generating emissions. While it might be impossible for a company to erase all the emissions it generates, it’s encouraging to see a company like Volkswagen take these more creative steps, whether the automaker is supporting conservation efforts or neutralizing the carbon emissions of a vehicle like the e-Golf.
Volkswagen (VW) is helping with sustainability by reducing its emissions impact on the environment with ambitious strategies. Forbes contributor, Karl Brauer, looks at a few of VW's creative ideas to counter its carbon footprint, which includes improving fuel cells, battery electric, plug-in hybrid, and hybrid vehicles that will contribute to VW's future. The company is currently working on electrifying 40 different models of car in a bid to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 90% by 2050. VW has said it plans to improve fuel efficiency during each vehicle redesign by 10-15%.