Internal Environmental Award
With the internal Volkswagen Environmental Award, the Company honors the initiative of employees relating to environmental protection in their field of work at locations in Germany or Group sites within Europe. We awarded this distinction for the eighth time in 2011. In the “Production” category, the top prize in 2011 was awarded to an employee in process technology at the Braunschweig site – he developed a process for painting parts of shock absorbers using water-based paint. The lines on production equipment can now be flushed less frequently. Moreover, the emissions level of harmful volatile organic compounds was reduced from 490 g/l to 154 g/l. In the “Product” category, three employees from bodywork and acoustic development were honored with first prize. The team changed the material density on wing dampers so that the weight of the parts could be reduced by 43%. This is leading to material savings and lower CO2 emissions for all Volkswagen vehicles. In addition, two employees were recognized for their long-standing involvement in promoting natural gas vehicles and reducing fuel consumption.
External environmental awards
The Volkswagen Group received numerous prizes in 2011 for the environmental compatibility of its vehicles. We present the most important in this section.
Automobil-Club Verkehr (ACV) of Germany recognized the Polo BlueMotion from Volkswagen Passenger Cars with the “ ACV mobil” environmental prize. The members of the automobile club chose the Polo as the best car ecologically and economically with around 33% of the vote.
For the Touran 1.4 TSI EcoFuel and “Dynamic Light Assist”, the masked camera-based main beam headlight system, Volkswagen received a “Yellow Angel” in 2011 in the categories “Future” and “Innovation & Environment” from German automobile club ADAC.
erdgas mobil GmbH successfully entered the Challenge Bibendum in Berlin with the Volkswagen Passat TSI EcoFuel. It was the eleventh edition of the competition for environmentally friendly vehicles initiated by tire manufacturer Michelin. The natural gas-fueled Volkswagen performed successfully and earned a prize in each of the categories: “Fuel Efficiency”, “Well-to-Wheel CO2 Emissions” and “Local Emissions”.
For the second time in a row, Volkswagen Passenger Cars was chosen as the most environmentally friendly car brand. In an online vote, more than half of over 2,300 readers of trade magazine “Firmenauto” chose the German market leader in the fleet customer business.
More than 11,000 readers of German magazine “ AUTO TEST ” selected the Golf Blue-e-Motion as “e-Car of the Year” in the “Concept Car” category. The recognition in four categories relating to e-mobility was awarded for the second time.
For the third time in a row, the most recent environmental vehicle list published by Verkehrsclub Deutschland rates the Touran TSI EcoFuel with 
DSG (direct shift gearbox) as best vehicle in the seven-seater class. Numerous other Volkswagen Group models found their way onto the environmental vehicle list. Models with the forward-looking BlueMotion and TSI EcoFuel technologies from Volkswagen were particularly successful. In the category of vehicles that are best for the climate, for example, the Polo 1.2 TDI BlueMotion with CO2 emissions of only 87g/km took second place – as a fully-equipped five-seater.
In cooperation with suppliers, Volkswagen developed and patented a new system for the manufacture of carbon fiber reinforced plastics. The innovative material will be used in 2013 in the small series of XL1 one-liter cars with a plug-in hybrid drive. The process brought Volkswagen second place in the “ÖkoGlobe 2011” environmental awards in the category “New Materials in Vehicle Construction”.
Spanish trade magazine for logistics and transportation “El Vigia” recognized the SEAT brand for its “ SEAT in the sun” photovoltaic project with the “Award for the Best Initiative in CSR ”. As part of this project, solar cells were installed on several of the brand’s production buildings. The area covers more than 135,000 square meters. The system delivers annual CO2 savings of 2,800 tonnes for SEAT.
The TGX 18.400 heavy truck from the MAN brand was recognized with the “Green Truck 2011” award, given for the first time jointly by two prominent commercial vehicle specialty journals. The truck prevailed over 13 competitors with 96 out of a possible 100 points in the economic efficiency rating. The decisive factors were its low consumption and emission levels. Additionally, the MAN TGX 18.440 took third place.
