Shaping sustainable innovations: Audi is a founding partner of the GREENTECH FESTIVAL

“Climate change does not take a break,” says Nico Rosberg, sustainability entrepreneur, Formula One world champion and one of the three founders of the GREENTECH FESTIVAL. “That is why we are taking advantage of digitalization as an opportunity for our festival in the time of the coronavirus.” The organizers are using the lockdown to give the event a completely new orientation and to enhance online participation. In this way they are taking account of current regulations on hygiene and distancing, and at the same time lending impetus to the dialog on environmental topics. As part of this re-orientation, Audi has joined the festival as one of the main partners and will take over, in the role of founding partner, the GREEN AWARDS, which honor disruptive ideas and innovations that counter climate change. Alongside an exhibition, the GREENTECH FESTIVAL CONFERENCE powered by Salesforce and a concert, the awards are one of four core modules of the festival. It is presented to pioneers, movers and innovators whose ideas and deeds for sustainable lifestyle lead to lasting change. Audi is also represented in the exhibition, presenting its own approaches for greater sustainability together with the Audi Environmental Foundation.

“This new, long-term partnership with the GREENTECH FESTIVAL emphasizes that sustainability is clearly on the agenda of the Four Rings. We are delighted to be involved as a founding partner, and with the GREEN AWARDS to promote and support sustainable ideas that can contribute to a better future with a higher quality of life. In this connection we wish to explicitly encourage innovators to continue working on their ideas,” says Henrik Wenders, senior vice president for the Audi brand.

Audi has given itself the ambitious vision of achieving a carbon-neutral balance across the company by 2050. For this purpose the company has set intermediate aims in all business units, initiating projects for sustainability and environmental protection. By 2025 Audi plans to reduce the carbon footprint of its fleet by 30 percent. To achieve this, the brand is, among other activities, increasingly pressing ahead with electromobility and other alternative forms of powering. The Artemis project unit was established a few days ago to develop a highly efficient electric car that is scheduled to be on the road as early as 2024. A further task for Artemis will be to develop a wide-ranging ecosystem around the automobile and thus to create a new business model for the entire period of use. Furthermore, all Audi sites aim to achieve a neutral carbon balance by 2025. Audi Brussels, the first certified carbon-neutral site in the company, has been a pioneer since 2018. Audi Hungaria is expected to follow this year. Moreover, since the start of this year all Audi plants have used green power.

Since the beginning of the corona pandemic, Audi has introduced its own digital formats. In the year of their 30th anniversary, the Audi summer concerts will take place from 2 to 5 July online for the first time, with four live-streamed concerts. In the online Audi TechTalk, Audi engages in direct dialog with journalists about innovations relating to the technologies of the Four Rings. Via AudiStream visitors can enjoy digital factory tours. As founding partner of the GREENTECH FESTIVAL GREEN AWARDS, Audi would like to contribute to establishing an important platform for the exchange of ideas in connection with sustainability and climate change; the partnership is planned for an initial period of three years.