Inaugural meeting of Sustainability Council – Volkswagen Group makes multi-million euro proactive fund available for projects

News

• Nine internationally renowned experts meet for the first time in Berlin
• Sustainability Council appoints Georg Kell, Founding Director UN Global Compact, as
  its chair and defines initial areas of focus
• Intensive dialogue with Board of Management Chairman Matthias Müller, Board
  of Management member Dr. Christine Hohmann-Dennhardt
• Volkswagen Group makes proactive fund of € 20 million available for the first
  two years

Recently appointed by the Volkswagen Group, the Sustainability Council made up of members from several nations set the agenda for its work at its inaugural meeting today. It elected Georg Kell, Founding Director UN Global Compact, as its chair. Its first areas of focus in 2017 will be the challenges of global CO2 pollution and the corresponding regulations post 2025, plus the company’s transformation process. For the proposal and funding of its own projects the Volkswagen Group is proactively making € 20 million available for the first two years.

Matthias Müller, Chairman of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen Group, said after the meeting: “Today is a good day for Volkswagen. I am delighted and grateful that nine such outstanding individuals have declared themselves willing to work with us on our newly created international Sustainability Council. The Volkswagen Sustainability Council will be equipped with far-reaching information and consultation rights, as well as rights to operate on its own initiative. It will advise the Management Board on matters of business ethics and integrity, as well as on central issues facing the automotive industry in the future, such as the transformation from car manufacturer to mobility services provider, on the radical technological change from internal combustion engine to electric mobility and on the question of finding a balance between profitability, good jobs and environmental protection.”

Georg Kell, Chair of the Sustainability Council, emphasised: “In today´s inaugural meeting we have already experienced a very intense and open discussion. We are fully aware of the large transformation that lays ahead Volkswagen Group. We were invited to be part of this journey and are very much looking forward on being actively involved in the development of this journey.”

Dr. Christine Hohmann-Dennhardt, Member of the Board of the Volkswagen Group for Integrity and Legal Affairs, stressed: “The Board of Management of the Volkswagen Group very much welcomes the intensive dialogue begun today between the company and the high-calibre experts from research, academia, science and politics. Their independent expertise and their recommendations will assist the Group in its endeavours to carry out its social responsibility, to promote integrity, to expand stakeholder dialogue and constantly to drive forward the sustainable development of the business.”

The Group’s Sustainability Council will in future not only convene with Members of the Board of Management but will also intensively interact with the General Works Council as well as with different departments within the Group and its brands in workshops, meetings and discussions.