goTozero Impact Logistics

Volkswagen Group Logistics is committed to the goTOzero impactlogistics initiative and networks all sustainable logistics activities in the Group, from the brands to the plants. It works on various fields of action to become even more sustainable and ensures that these activities are also coordinated uniformly for the logistics service providers.

Volkswagen Group Logistics

Volkswagen Konzernlogistik GmbH & Co. OHG is responsible for managing and optimizing the Volkswagen Group's logistics chains. Based in Wolfsburg, the more than 800 employees primarily coordinate the transportation of production materials as well as the transport and distribution of new and used vehicles.

The company thus plays a central role in the Volkswagen Group's supply chain management and ensures that 200 million parts and around 43,000 vehicles are moved by ship, rail and truck every day in order to network more than 8,500 suppliers, 114 production plants and over 150 sales markets.

As the “Head Office of Logistics,” Group Logistics also performs a governance function for brand logistics by strategically and tactically shaping the cross-brand network for the optimal supply of production and retail. In addition to security of supply, the focus is on efficiency and – pursued via the goTOzero impact logistics program – sustainability.

4.7

million

vehicles transported per year

150

sales markets

180,000

TEU containers shipped per year

114

production sites

7,800

ship departures per year

How goTOzero impact logistics works

No production without logistics. And just like production, the Volkswagen Group's logistics must also be efficient and sustainable in order to achieve the Company's climate targets.

The environmental impact of all transport solutions should therefore be constantly minimized and kept as low as possible. This is what goTOzero impact logistics, the Volkswagen Group's sustainability program in logistics, is working on.

goTOzero impact logistics complements the activities of the Zero Impact Factory in the Group's factories by sustainably optimizing material transports to the factories and vehicle transports to customers.

Simon Motter, Head of Volkswagen Group Logistics — **Simon Motter** Head of Volkswagen Group Logistics

The decarbonization of the logistics of the Volkswagen Group is taking place in three steps:

Volkswagen Group Logistics is committed to the goTOzero impact logistics initiative and is networking all sustainable logistics alternatives in the Group, from the brands to the plants. Group Logistics is primarily working on the area of climate change through decarbonization, as this is where logistics can have the greatest influence. In addition, resources are being conserved by optimizing packaging and protecting ecosystems by reducing harmful emissions. Management systems are used to monitor all environmental impacts.

1. Transport optimization – a continuous core task in logistics. The optimal utilization of containers, wagons and trucks reduces the number of transports. Digitalization will create process transparency and help to solve the task of increasing capacity utilization, avoiding empty runs and optimizing routes.

2. Network optimization in order to use the most efficient modes of transport. One example is to shift transports – especially long-distance transports – from road to rail. Combined transports intelligently join the strengths of truck and rail. This not only benefits the climate, but also relieves the roads and helps to counteract the shortage of truck drivers.

3. Use of low-emission drive technologies and alternative energy sources. Examples include the use of green electricity on the railways and electric trucks on the roads.

In the case of road and rail, it is a matter of intelligently combining both modes of transport according to their strengths. In this way, the growth in transport performance can be decoupled from its emissions, and the transport sector can make a significant, absolute contribution to reducing emissions.

The greatest lever for reducing CO₂ lies in road transport: Although road transport accounts for less than 50 percent of transport performance, it is responsible for more than half of CO₂ emissions. Sea transportation is the second-largest emitter of CO₂ with a transport performance of over 50 percent, as large quantities are transported over long distances.

The premises:
Wherever green electricity and infrastructure are available, the use of battery-electric trucks instead of fossil fuel-powered trucks is encouraged.

Where these conditions are not met, biofuels and synthetic fuels will remain an option for defossilization. As the availability of such nonfossil fuels is limited, they should be prioritized for use in maritime transport and, if necessary, in air freight. This is because there are currently fewer CO₂-neutral alternatives for these types of transportation.

The decarbonization of the logistics of the Volkswagen Group is taking place in three steps

Target vision 2050

Our vision is a shared transport network for material and vehicle transportation with a focus on rail as a mode of transport. In the future, the sustainable network design will essentially be influenced by five parameters: minimum energy use (MJ/tkm) and emissions, economic efficiency, security of supply, range and availability of green energy carrier capacity and associated infrastructure.

Sustainability is teamwork. In the goTOzero impact logistics initiative, Volkswagen Group Logistics and the Volkswagen Group brands are working together.