Visions of the future in Manchester: Audi brings young talents to the One Young World Summit

“One Young World is much more than the usual networking between like-minded business leaders and companies. It is a meeting place for young activists, future leaders, and current decision-makers from business, politics, and society. If we really want to make a difference for our future, we need to inspire others to join us on this path,” says Xavier Ros, who has been Member of the Board of Management for Human Resources and Organization at Audi since May 2022, in summary of Audi’s commitment to One Young World. Ros will use his keynote speech at the beginning of the conference – which will also be his first public appearance as Audi’s new Member of the Board of Management for Human Resources and Organization – to support sustainable innovation and business models in direct dialogue with young talents.

This year’s conference will focus on conflict prevention, gender equality, ocean ecosystems, ethical leadership, and health. More than 2,000 participants from over 190 countries are expected to attend, among them high-ranking guests from the world of politics and science, such as former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The Audi delegation consists of ten selected Audi employees from all production sites and four Bentley employees, as well as 15 external scholarship holders whose projects are supported by the Audi Environmental Foundation. All 29 representatives are between 21 and 35 years old and have launched promising projects aimed at sustainability, environmental protection, and social justice. This deliberate mix of employees and young founders who are independent of Audi is Audi’s way of promoting the exchange of ideas within and outside the company.

Focus on a sustainable future

One delegation member is Philipp Eder. The sustainability strategist from Audi Procurement is working on implementing material cycles, his efforts already resulting in pilot projects with automotive glass and mixed plastic waste. “At Audi Procurement, our goal is to use secondary materials wherever it is technically possible and makes ecological and economic sense,” says Eder, who works for Audi in Ingolstadt. “For me personally, it is a great pleasure to be part of Audi’s sustainability story. I am able to put my personal passion for sustainability into practice and make our supply chain more sustainable and circular every day.” Next, Eder wants to work with partner companies from the Audi supplier network to process irreparable car windows so that they can be used as secondary material in new car glass.

Franziska Trautmann is participating in the conference as an Audi Environmental Foundation scholarship holder. The American commissioned the first glass recycling plant in the state of Louisiana. There, Trautmann and her team from “Glass Half Full” now process glass into sand, which is then filled into the sandbags that are essential for survival in flood-stricken Louisiana. “My vision is to roll out Glass Half Full throughout Louisiana and the United States. There are so many large cities without glass recycling that also have problems with coastal erosion and where sand can be an advantage,” says Trautmann. In total, “Glass Half Full” has already collected and recycled more than one million kilograms of used glass. “I look forward to networking with other young executives from all over the world and learning from them about their organizations and their expertise,” says Trautmann about her anticipation of the event.

Part of Audi’s “Mission:Zero” strategy

On the conference stage, Rüdiger Recknagel, Chief Environmental Officer at AUDI AG and Managing Director of the Audi Environmental Foundation, and Peter Bosch, Member of the Board for Manufacturing at Bentley Motors Ltd., will also discuss the efforts of the brand with the four rings to reduce its ecological footprint. “Audi is bundling all environmental protection activities in production and logistics in the Mission:Zero environmental program,” explains Recknagel. “Mission:Zero focuses on four areas of activity: decarbonization in production and logistics, water use, resource efficiency, and biodiversity. Our ambitious goal is to achieve net carbon-neutral production by 2025 and to halve water consumption at all plants by 2035.” About Audi subsidiary Bentley, Peter Bosch says: “Our “Beyond100” strategy outlines our road to sustainability. It builds on the carbon-neutral status of our factory since 2018 and continuing to off-set less. Our intention is to become carbon neutral, end-to-end, and 100% electric, from 2030.”

First held in 2009, over the years the One Young World Summit has become a permanent annual fixture for decision-makers and future leaders around the world. Audi has attended every year since 2016.