Case Study: Volkswagen Communications achieves comprehensive carbon footprinting and emissions‑reduction roadmap with Sphera

Carbon Footprinting for Sensible Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets Toward Net Zero

Volkswagen’s communications department commissioned Sphera’s Sustainability Consulting to calculate its departmental carbon footprint and define sensible boundaries for emissions accounting. The challenge was to capture the diverse set of activities that cause direct and indirect emissions, distinguish department‑level impacts from the wider VW Group, and identify unknown hotspots and allocation methods to support credible reduction targets.

Sphera worked with the communications divisions to compile all emission‑relevant activities and apply GHG Protocol accounting using primary emission factors from Sphera’s GaBi life‑cycle database plus economic input‑output and third‑party factors. Sphera calculated the carbon footprint (including scope 1, 2 and 3), identified emissions hotspots, transparently selected methods, and developed targeted reduction actions—giving Volkswagen a clear, measurable basis and roadmap to reduce emissions and move toward net zero.

Volkswagen

Robin Aschhoff

Chief Executive Officer