Audi has set itself the ambitious goal of successively reducing vehicle specific CO₂ emissions by 30% by 2025 over its entire product lifecycle.

In order to accomplish this, Audi is focusing on building electric cars, which have the lowest carbon footprint of all drive systems over their entire service life. The electric initiative was started by the Audi e-tron, which has been available at dealerships since March.

Before the end of this year, the brand will also present the Audi e-tron Sportback. This will be followed by series production versions of the Audi e-tron GT concept, to be produced by Audi Sport GmbH, and the compact SUV Audi Q4 e-tron concept, which was presented at the Geneva Motor Show.

Audi also plans to offer 30 electrified models by 2025, 20 of which will be purely electric. The proportion of electrified vehicles is forcasted to amount to 40% of total unit sales. The brand is also continuing to develop conventional engines with a focus on universal mild hybridisation with the 48V electrical system, while plug-in hybrids will also be an essential element of the electrification initiative.

As electric cars are more energy intensive to manufacture than models with combustion engines, Audi has set itself the long-term goal of decarbonising the supply chain.

Since the end of 2018, the company has been conducting CO₂ workshops together with its suppliers to agree on effective measures. Audi also demands the use of green electricity in battery cell production from its battery cell suppliers. The battery housing of the Audi e-tron is also made of sustainable, certified aluminium.

The company intends to operate its plants on a CO₂neutral basis in order to achieve the 2025 milestone. Its Brussels plant has been CO₂ neutral since the start of production of the Audi e-tron in 2018, thanks largely to the changeover to green electricity and the supply of heat from renewable energy sources. Audi Brussels has reduced its CO₂ emissions by a total of up to 40,000 tons per year.

The next step will be the conversion of the car and engine plant in the Hungarian town of Gyor. This year, the largest European solar roof system with a peak output of 12MW will be built on the roofs of Audi Hungary two logistics centres, covering an area of approximately 160,000sqm. Generation of renewable energy will start in 2020. The solar energy park will produce more than 9.5GWh of energy annually, equivalent to the energy requirements of 5,000 households. Audi Hungary already covers about 70% of its heat supply from geothermal energy.