Volkswagen to begin carbon projects for unavoidable emissions

With the support of Permian Global, the Volkswagen Group will begin developing climate protection projects to protect tropical forests in the second half of 2020.

The projects which stop deforestation and restore endangered forests will lock away carbon and deliver carbon credits that will be used to compensate for CO2 emissions from the supply chain, production and logistics of vehicle, as long as these CO2 emissions cannot be avoided and renewable energies cannot be used currently.

"We are delighted to be driving forward another element of the Volkswagen Group's climate protection strategy with Permian Global being a developer of successful climate protection projects. The planned projects focus on the protection of endangered forests in the tropics and subtropics. Protecting and expanding these very effective natural CO2 sinks is an important task the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has repeatedly emphasized," said Ralf Pfitzner, Head of Sustainability at the Volkswagen Group.

Stephen Rumsey, Chairman of Permian Global, said: “Healthy natural forests provide myriad benefits to people and the broader environment. This includes the capacity to sequester and store enormous amounts of carbon. Given the urgency and the scale of the climate crisis, it is vital that industry leaders become the driving forces of positive change. And we are delighted to find in Volkswagen, a partner that both understands the challenge ahead and is committed to play a key role in the solution.”

Under the terms of the agreement, the two companies will initially develop projects on a total area of one million hectares, ten times the size of Berlin, in South America and Asia.

The projects will have multiple benefits: protection and restoration of threatened tropical forests; local communities will benefit in the long term through sustainable alternatives to deforestation; biodiversity will be preserved and; at the same time a contribution will be made to overcoming the climate crisis. The projects will also support achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). All projects will be independently audited and certified according to the highest standards, in particular the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and the Climate Community and Biodiversity Standard (CCB) or Gold Standard.