Engagement & environment

The Audi environmental program Mission:Zero

Mission:Zero is the Audi environmental program for consistently sustainable production. All activities and measures for reducing our ecological footprint at Audi sites worldwide in administration, production, and logistics are bundled here. The focus is on Audi’s key fields of activity in decarbonization, water use, resource efficiency, and biodiversity. One key objective is to achieve net carbon-neutral production locations by 2025.

Mission:Zero at the Neckarsulm site:

• On the road to the carbon-neutral factory: Since 2020, the entire Neckarsulm site has used green power exclusively. By 2025, Audi will transform Neckarsulm to a completely net carbon-neutral site.
• Net carbon-neutral production of the Audi e-tron GT at Böllinger Höfe: Production of the e-tron GT at the Böllinger Höfe is already net carbon neutral today. To achieve this, Audi uses green electricity and heat from renewable sources. An important milestone both for Audi and the Neckarsulm site. Even delivery of the Audi e-tron GT to customers in Europe and the USA is net carbon neutral. CO₂ emissions that Audi cannot yet avoid by means of renewable energy sources are offset using so-called carbon credits from certified environmental projects.
• Recycling: Audi introduced the Aluminum Closed Loop at the Neckarsulm site back in 2017. The aluminum sheet offcuts that are produced in the press shop are sent directly back to the supplier companies, which then process and recycle them. Audi then reuses these reprocessed aluminum sheets in its production process. Additionally, in a current pilot project, polymer waste from A6 and A7 assembly is sorted, chopped up, and processed into special filaments. These filaments are then used by the 3D printing team to produce assembly tools for production.
• Sustainable water use: Audi wants to drastically reduce water use at the Neckarsulm site by 2025 through establishing a closed loop with the “Wastewater Special Purpose Association in Lower Sulmtal” and its neighboring sewage treatment facility, to which the site sends its wastewater.
• The Neckarsulm location is testing a pilot plant for a closed water cycle with the sewage treatment plant of the association “Unteres Sulmtal” adjacent to the plant. The project sees the wastewater being treated for production with the aid of filter systems and membranes; in the process, the water quality is constantly monitored. Additionally, a laboratory analyzes the water’s properties every two weeks.
• Climate protection in Audi Logistics: All of the rail traffic at the Neckarsulm site with DB Cargo is climate neutral. A train with an electric drive is used for shunting between the trailer yard and the plant grounds. At the initiative of Audi experts, a key carrier also uses trucks powered with biomethane for the road transport of its shipments.
• Conserving resources and avoiding waste: Together with suppliers, the Audi Supply Chain is optimizing packaging at all locations in order to avoid waste and improve recycling. At the Neckarsulm site, for example, a trash bag producer uses a portion of the unavoidable polymer waste to produce bags that are then reused at the site itself.
• Biodiversity: In 2015, Audi joined the nationwide initiative in Germany “Biodiversity in Good Company” as part of its commitment to protecting biological diversity. Measures undertaken at the site include flower meadows, greening building facades and roofs, nesting boxes for birds and bats, beehives, an insect hotel, and green areas with domestic plants, trees, and shrubs.

Involvement in the region

• As a good corporate citizen, Audi is part of society: As one of the largest employers in the Neckarsulm region, Audi strives to enhance the quality of life here and therefore regularly collaborates with the municipalities, local companies, associations, and educational and social institutions.
• Ten years of promoting volunteer work at Audi: Since 2012, Audi has bundled community service activities and supported the volunteer efforts of its employees through regular Audi Volunteer Days and team campaigns under the motto “Audi Volunteers”.
• Audi supports volunteering: On an internal volunteer platform, Audi employees can find numerous ongoing opportunities to get involved in their communities.
• Audi supports various social institutions in the region.
• As part of an inclusion program sponsored by Audi Neckarsulm and the Astrid Lindgren School in Neckarsulm, young persons with mental and physical disabilities were provided insights into professional life. The school students work at learning stations at the Audi plant in addition to their classroom work.
• Audi has been working with partners in government, public transportation, and other companies to improve the transportation situation in the region as part of the Heilbronn-Neckarsulm Mobility Agreement. Additionally, Audi has been operating a charging network for electric vehicles at its locations in Germany since 2018 and is expanding it further.
• Audi has been operating a charging network for electric vehicles at its locations in Germany since 2018 and is expanding it further. On the factory grounds in Neckarsulm and along the perimeter of the Neckarsulm and Heilbronn sites, there are now around 600 charging points; around 20 are quick-charging points. Three buffer storage units supply the charging points with power. Each comprises 198 battery modules with twelve cells each, which come from dismantled Audi test vehicles.
• Audi Neckarsulm supports sports clubs and events in the region. In early 2022, the company renewed its dedication to the region and extended its partnerships with the Bundesliga team TSG Hoffenheim, Sport-Union Neckarsulm, the Trollinger Marathon in Heilbronn, and the hep Triathlon Heilbronn.