Engagement & environment

Audi’s Mission:Zero environmental program

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 quattro at Böllinger Höfe: Production of the e-tron GT quattro at 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 quattro 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 carbon credits from certified environmental projects.
• Recycling: Audi introduced the Aluminum Closed Loop at the Neckarsulm site in 2017. Aluminum sheet offcuts from the press shop are sent directly back to the supplier companies, who process and recycle them. Audi then reuses these reprocessed aluminum sheets in its production process. Additionally, polymer waste from A6 and A7 assembly is sorted, chopped up, and processed into special fibers. These filaments are used by the 3D printing team to produce assembly tools for production.
• Sustainable water use: Audi plans to significantly reduce water consumption at the Neckarsulm site by 2025 by setting up a water cycle with the sewage treatment plant operated by Unteres Sulmtal next to the plant. This will reduce consumption of fresh water by up to 70 percent. Audi will further treat the water for production using filter systems and membranes. Afterwards, the processed water flows back into the treatment plant. The aim is to cut consumption of water in half by 2035.
• 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. A key carrier for the site also uses trucks powered with biomethane for road transport.
• Conserving resources and avoiding waste: Together with suppliers, the Audi Supply Chain is optimizing packaging at all locations 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.
• Audi supports various social institutions in the region, for example with donations.
• As part of an inclusion program sponsored by Audi Neckarsulm and the Astrid Lindgren School in Neckarsulm, young people with mental and physical disabilities are given insights into professional life. The school students work at learning stations at the Audi plant in addition to their classroom work.
• Other collaborations and partnerships in science and education include the experimental science center in Heilbronn, the “Kreative Köpfe” (creative minds) competition for creative and inventive school students, the University of Heilbronn, the Campus Founders entrepreneurship and innovation center in Heilbronn, the 42Heilbronn programming school, and the Innovation Park Artificial Intelligence (IPAI).
• Audi works 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.
• 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 at the boundaries 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 12 cells each, which come from dismantled Audi test vehicles.

Audi Neckarsulm supports sports clubs and events in the region. In 2023, the site extended its partnership with TSG Hoffenheim to 2027. Cooperations with Sport-Union Neckarsulm, the Trollinger Marathon in Heilbronn, and the Triathlon Heilbronn will also be continued. The Friedrichshall sports club is another long-standing sponsoring partner.