Overview - Commitment to people and the environment

Sustainable commitment for people and the environment - Audi takes responsibility: For its employees, but also for the people and nature in the regions around the sites and beyond.

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Circular economy: Audi secures strategic and cost-efficient supply of recycled raw materials - MaterialLoop: Audi is establishing a return concept for recyclates from end-of-life vehicles
Sustainability
04/04/2025

Circular economy: Audi secures strategic and cost-efficient supply of recycled raw materials

Audi reaches a milestone and continues to drive forward the circular economy in the automotive industry. The company wants to increase the use of secondary materials in vehicles where it is technically feasible and makes ecological and economic sense. The aim is to increasingly use raw materials for new purposes after their initial usage has ended. Audi has therefore been testing approaches to implement this in the MaterialLoop program since 2023. After initially focusing on technical feasibility, the company has now become the first car manufacturer to develop and implement an economically viable recycling concept for recyclates from end-of-life vehicles together with its partner TSR Resource. In this process, steel scrap from vehicles at the end of their life cycle is turned into high-quality post-consumer secondary material and secured for further use in the automotive supply chain.
Audi simulates global power grids to test EV charging - With 100 to 540 volts at its disposal, Audi uses the grid simulator to replicate power grids from around the world at its Ingolstadt site, enabling developers to test the charging performance of...
Sustainability
01/29/2025

Audi simulates global power grids to test EV charging

Whether with 110 or 230 volts or 50 or 60 hertz, at Audi in Ingolstadt, electric cars can now be charged as if they were in China, the United States, or in numerous other countries around the globe. At the new electric-charging test center at the Ingolstadt site, Technical Development is testing electric Audi models under the conditions that prevail in the various sales regions. The results are incorporated directly into the research and development of the vehicles. This means that customers always benefit from the best charging experience, no matter where they are in the world.
Against microplastics in wastewater - Johannes Neupert from TU Berlin (left) and Daniel Venghaus from GKD install an URBANFILTER. The filter is designed to reduce microplastics in the water cycle by up to 97%.
Sustainability
11/29/2024

Against microplastics in wastewater: pilot project started in Copenhagen

Each person consumes five grams of microplastics per week: This was the conclusion reached by the Australian University of Newcastle in 2019. The small plastic particles, up to five millimeters in size, enter the environment through food, cosmetics and washing clothes, for example, and into our bodies via the water cycle. In order to reduce the proportion of microplastics, the city of Copenhagen uses a special microplastic filter. It is intended to capture microplastics such as tire abrasion that is washed from the street into the sewage system. The filter is based on a funding project from the TU Berlin and the Audi Environmental Foundation. A filter structure that is specially adapted to the waste typical for the area of operation will be piloted in the city of Copenhagen from November and is intended to make a contribution to clean water.
Engineers of optimism: Audi Environmental Foundation looks back on 15 years of engagement - For 15 years, the Audi Environmental Foundation has been making an active contribution to environmental protection
Sustainability
10/23/2024

Engineers of optimism: Audi Environmental Foundation looks back on 15 years of engagement

The Audi Environmental Foundation defines “greenovation” as innovative technologies that either contribute directly to environmental protection or make an existing practice from the fields of research and the economy more environmentally friendly than before. Since 2009, the Foundation has initiated scientific and technical projects for a livable environment, conducted environmental education, and motivated people of every age to take action to protect our natural resources. At an evening of discussion with renowned astrophysicist Harald Lesch and time researcher Jonas Geissler, the Foundation looked back on its first 15 years of activity with around 300 guests at the Ingolstadt Cultural Center. Guests included Gerd Walker, Member of the Board of Management for Production and Logistics at AUDI AG and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Audi Environmental Foundation, and former ski racer Felix Neureuther, also a member of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees.

Corporate citizenship

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AzuBioTop - Together for more biodiversity: Audi junior staff are committed to regional environmental protection.
Strategic topics
04/17/2023

AzuBioTop project: New Audi recruits committed to environmental protection in the region

A new habitat for endangered animal and plant species is currently being created a few kilometers outside Audi’s Ingolstadt plant gates: the Audi AzuBioTop. The idea for the project came from new recruits. Since October 2022, employees have been gradually planting meadows of fruit trees and flowers as well as a replacement habitat for sand lizards. The first tree to be planted in the fall was recently followed by another planting event. Together with Member of the Board of Management for Human Resources and project sponsor Xavier Ros, Board Member for Production and Logistics Gerd Walker, and Chairman of the General Works Council Peter Mosch, the trainees have planted several native fruit trees.

Audi Environmental Foundation

Further information on the topic

Against microplastics in wastewater - Johannes Neupert from TU Berlin (left) and Daniel Venghaus from GKD install an URBANFILTER. The filter is designed to reduce microplastics in the water cycle by up to 97%.
Sustainability
11/29/2024

Against microplastics in wastewater: pilot project started in Copenhagen

Each person consumes five grams of microplastics per week: This was the conclusion reached by the Australian University of Newcastle in 2019. The small plastic particles, up to five millimeters in size, enter the environment through food, cosmetics and washing clothes, for example, and into our bodies via the water cycle. In order to reduce the proportion of microplastics, the city of Copenhagen uses a special microplastic filter. It is intended to capture microplastics such as tire abrasion that is washed from the street into the sewage system. The filter is based on a funding project from the TU Berlin and the Audi Environmental Foundation. A filter structure that is specially adapted to the waste typical for the area of operation will be piloted in the city of Copenhagen from November and is intended to make a contribution to clean water.
Engineers of optimism: Audi Environmental Foundation looks back on 15 years of engagement - For 15 years, the Audi Environmental Foundation has been making an active contribution to environmental protection
Sustainability
10/23/2024

Engineers of optimism: Audi Environmental Foundation looks back on 15 years of engagement

The Audi Environmental Foundation defines “greenovation” as innovative technologies that either contribute directly to environmental protection or make an existing practice from the fields of research and the economy more environmentally friendly than before. Since 2009, the Foundation has initiated scientific and technical projects for a livable environment, conducted environmental education, and motivated people of every age to take action to protect our natural resources. At an evening of discussion with renowned astrophysicist Harald Lesch and time researcher Jonas Geissler, the Foundation looked back on its first 15 years of activity with around 300 guests at the Ingolstadt Cultural Center. Guests included Gerd Walker, Member of the Board of Management for Production and Logistics at AUDI AG and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Audi Environmental Foundation, and former ski racer Felix Neureuther, also a member of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees.
Audi at the One Young World Summit - Audi, Audi do Brasil, the Audi Environmental Foundation and Litro de Luz are installing lampposts and solar lamps in village communities on the southern coast of the state of São Paulo.
Strategic topics
09/28/2023

Dialogue on future-oriented sustainability: Audi at the One Young World Summit

Innovations for a changing world: The One Young World Summit, held in Belfast from October 2nd to 5th, will bring together more than 2,000 young people to discuss the social tasks of our time. Audi will also be represented at the event again. Bentley, Volkswagen subsidiary Elli (Electric Life), Audi, and the Audi Environmental Foundation are sending a total of 34 employees and scholars from all over the world to Northern Ireland – with future-oriented projects and ideas in tow. Xavier Ros, Member of the Board of Management for Human Resources at AUDI AG, sees curiosity and openness to impulses from outside, along with never stopping learning, as fundamental tasks of our time and part of Audi’s DNA.
The Audi Environmental Foundation funds research into new recycling process - Betty Leibiger, a doctoral student in chemistry at TU Bergakademie Freiberg, is working with the Audi Environmental Foundation to research new ways of recovering resources through...
Sustainability
07/12/2023

Recovering high-tech metals from electronic waste: The Audi Environmental Foundation funds research into new recycling process

The Audi Environmental Foundation has joined forces with the Freiberg University of Mining and Technology to research new ways of recovering raw materials through recycling. Elements such as indium, gallium, or even tin are both finite and essential for modern technologies such as fiber optics, photovoltaics, and semiconductors. Every electronic device is made up of parts that contain these elements. A selective extraction process is planned that will recover these raw materials from incinerated waste. Currently, such materials are lost when the electronic parts that contain them are thrown away with household waste. The new process is designed to keep these valuable high-tech metals in the cycle.
Audi at the GREENTECH FESTIVAL 2023 in Berlin - Innovations relating to circular economy are the focus of Audi's presence at one of Europe's largest sustainability forums. In dialogue with guests, Audi experts gave insights into decarbonization in production...
Technology
06/07/2023

GREENTECH FESTIVAL: Focus on circular economy – pilot project for glass recycling becomes standard

For the windshields in the Audi Q4 e-tron, the company with the four rings will use glass made of up to 30 percent recycled material from car windows damaged beyond repair in the future. In doing so, Audi will successfully shift the “GlassLoop” pilot project into standard production. Audi, in cooperation with its partner companies, is the first premium auto manufacturer to set up a glass cycle of this kind. Until now, car windows damaged beyond repair – mainly windshields and panoramic roofs – have been used for less demanding purposes, such as bottles or insulation, in what is known as downcycling. The pilot project was the first to demonstrate that glass could be reused at comparable quality. Audi will show just how that works from June 14 to 16 at the 2023 GREENTECH FESTIVAL in Berlin. The company has supported the sustainability conference as a founding partner since 2020.

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