The Volkswagen Group and the project developer Permian Global have signed a Joint Development Agreement to create climate protection projects. With the support of Permian Global, the Volkswagen Group will begin developing climate protection projects to protect tropical forests in the second half of 2020. Following successful verification, the avoided deforestation and restoration of endangered forests will lock away carbon and deliver carbon credits that will be used to compensate for CO2 emissions from the supply chain, production and logistics of vehicle, as long as these CO2 emissions cannot be avoided and renewable energies cannot be used currently.
“We are delighted to be driving forward another element of the Volkswagen Group’s climate protection strategy with Permian Global being a developer of successful climate protection projects. The planned projects focus on the protection of endangered forests in the tropics and subtropics. Protecting and expanding these very effective natural CO2 sinks is an important task the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has repeatedly emphasized,” said Ralf Pfitzner, Head of Sustainability at the Volkswagen Group.
Stephen Rumsey, Chairman of Permian Global, said: “Healthy natural forests provide myriad benefits to people and the broader environment. This includes the capacity to sequester and store enormous amounts of carbon. Given the urgency and the scale of the climate crisis, it is vital that industry leaders become the driving forces of positive change. And we are delighted to find in Volkswagen, a partner that both understands the challenge ahead and is committed to play a key role in the solution.”
Scope of climate protection projects
Under the terms of the agreement, the two companies will initially develop projects on a total area of one million hectares, ten times the size of Berlin, in South America and Asia. The projects will have multiple benefits: protection and restoration of threatened tropical forests; local communities will benefit in the long term through sustainable alternatives to deforestation; biodiversity will be preserved and; at the same time a contribution will be made to overcoming the climate crisis. The projects will also support achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). All projects will be independently audited and certified according to the highest standards, in particular the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and the Climate Community and Biodiversity Standard (CCB) or Gold Standard.
Note to editors
Volkswagen Group
The Volkswagen Group has committed itself to the Paris Climate Agreement. The company adopted a decarbonisation strategy in 2019 with the aim of becoming a net CO2-neutral company by 2050. By 2025 the company wants to reduce the carbon footprint of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles across the entire value chain by 30 percent compared to 2015. The company is following three principles in doing so. First: Reduce CO2 effectively and sustainably. Second: Switch energy supply to renewable energies. Third: compensate for unavoidable emissions.
The Volkswagen ID.3 is the first vehicle in the Volkswagen Group to be delivered to customers net CO2-neutral. To compensate for the currently unavoidable CO2 emissions from the model, the Volkswagen Group is already supporting the Katingan Mentaya Project, a tropical peatland restoration and conservation project on the Indonesian island of Borneo.
Permian Global
Permian Global is a business that is working to drive large-scale recovery and protection of natural tropical forests, recognising the vital role forests can play as a means of tackling climate change. Headquartered in the UK, the international team works with governments and local communities across Asia, Latin America and Africa. And along with its partners, Permian Global is not only making a significant contribution in efforts to addressing climate change, but also enabling the restoration of vital biodiverse ecosystems; supporting local economic growth; while also making substantial and demonstrable contributions to achieving the UN SDGs.
The Katingan Mentaya Project protects over 150,000 hectares of tropical peat swamp forest in Central Kalimantan on the Indonesian island of Borneo. For more details: https://katinganproject.com/