Volkswagen sustainability score: 28/100
Below expectations starts at 31. The highest score on SINK is 71.
Volkswagen makes and sells passenger cars and light commercial vehicles, trucks and buses, and offers financial services; other businesses include large-bore diesel engines. External sales revenue in 2025 was €217,299 million from passenger cars and light commercial vehicles, €41,517 million from commercial vehicles and €57,853 million from financial services.
More about Volkswagen
Volkswagen AG was incorporated in 1937 and is based in Wolfsburg, Germany. It employed an average of 667,164 people, including its Chinese joint ventures, in 2025 and had sales revenue of €321.9 billion.
Founded 1937Head office Wolfsburg, GermanyStaff ~667,164 average including Chinese joint ventures (2025)Revenue ~€321.9B sales revenue (2025)Website ↗
Volkswagen's footprint was 887.4 Mt CO2e in 2025, up from 828.5 Mt in 2024. The rise is mostly its engines unit Everllence, whose use-phase emissions went from 48.92 to 177.83 Mt; car and van use-phase emissions fell from 297.97 to 279.15 Mt. Purchased electricity for plants outside China was 95% renewable, but 5.2 of the 6.1 million MWh it generated itself was non-renewable. Its Scope 1 and 2 target is SBTi-validated at 1.5°C and already met; its use-phase target is per vehicle-km, so absolute emissions can still rise. InfluenceMap finds it advocated weakening the EU's car CO2 targets in 2025 and backed weaker US CAFE standards in 2026.
Volkswagen scores 28/100 (Significant gaps) on SINK's independent climate assessment, scored from public data only. Scores are free. Nobody can pay to change a score, speed it up or hide it. Last verified November 2026.
That places Volkswagen joint 783rd of 1,023 companies scored, and joint 20th of 36 in Automotive.
What is Volkswagen doing well, and where does it fall short?
Strongest on Carbon Footprint: Operations and Transparency & Accountability (8/10, 8/10). Weakest on Emissions Trajectory and Controversies & Red Flags (0/10, 1/10).
Where Volkswagen lost points
For each question that lost points, the evidence our public rubric looks for that we didn't find.
What would raise this score
- Whether its emissions are fallingShow its emissions are falling.
- Its record on controversiesDeal with the findings under question 10, in public.
- Its effect on natureMeasure its effect on nature and have it independently verified.
Every question that lost points
- Emissions from its own operations8/10No verified figures published with their method and a falling trend.
- Emissions from its supply chain7/10No full value-chain map or supplier engagement programme.
- Whether its emissions are falling0/10No evidence its emissions are falling.
- How clean its energy is6/10Less than 90% of its energy shown to be renewable.
- Its effect on nature4/10Its effect on nature isn't measured or independently verified.
- How it uses materials and handles waste5/10No measurable waste or recycling targets reported publicly.
- Its effect on water6/10No water stewardship programme or verified fall in water use.
- Its climate targets6/10Its targets aren't validated by the Science Based Targets initiative.
- How openly it reports8/10No mission-locked structure, such as B Corp certification.
- Its record on controversies1/10Points deducted for controversies or its business model. The finding is under question 10.
A score changes when the evidence does. We use new published evidence at the next rescore. Anyone can send us new evidence, free. How to send it.
How is Volkswagen's SINK score calculated?
Same ten questions for every company. No private weighting.
SINK = (0.3 × Base + 0.7 × Performance) × ScaleHas Volkswagen's score changed?
Volkswagen's score has been reviewed 2 times and currently stands where it started, at 28.
- 28 → 286 November 2026
Re-scored on v2.5 (brand batch: car makers); owner rulings 2026-11-06
- Scored 288 February 2026
Initial score at platform launch
What evidence is Volkswagen's score based on?
15 sources used in this assessment. All publicly available. Each row shows which of the ten questions it informed.
40% of them were published by Volkswagen itself; the rest come from independent sources.
9 of 15 sources are independent of the company.
“By the end of 2025, the Volkswagen Group had already reduced absolute GHG emissions (Scope 1 and 2 combined) by 60% compared with 2018”
“We have conducted a limited assurance engagement on the sustainability statement”
“It builds on the EMAS biodiversity guide and the No Net Loss/Net Gain (NNL/NG) approach of the IUCN.”
“Total waste 1 tonnes 2,547,290 537,522 2,357,654 573,762”
“In the reporting year 2025, water withdrawal across the Group (excluding the TRATON GROUP and Everllence) amounted to 29.7 (32.5) million m 3”
“Subtargets of 50% each for the Environment (decarbonization index) and Social”
“the rating from ISS STOXX was C+ and from CDP A–”
“Volkswagen Group Disclosure Scorecard”
“Volkswagen’s passenger fleet emitted an average of 100 grams of CO2 per kilometre”
“Volkswagen Group, BMW Group, Daimler, PSA Groupe* and Groupe Renault run a high risk of contributing to deforestation of the Amazon rainforest”
“the KBA had wrongfully approved the Golf Plus TDI model in 2016, which contained two illegal “defeat devices””
“a plan to drop the EU's effective ban on new combustion-engine cars from 2035 after pressure from the region's auto sector”
“Volkswagen consistently advocated to weaken the EU’s CO2 targets for light-duty vehicles.”
“Some in public (like VW ) and many in private have asked for the targets to be either relaxed or fines waived.”
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How does Volkswagen compare with other automotive companies?
Where Volkswagen sits among automotive peers.
Among the 36 major automotive brands we've scored, Volkswagen is tied =20th of 36, with 2 others.
Who scores higher in Automotive?
The 3 companies in the sector scoring nearest above Volkswagen.
XPeng's footprint was 10,288,670 tCO2e in 2025, mostly from the parts it buys and the electricity its cars use, up from 6,091,947 t in 2024 as deliveries grew from 190,068 to 429,445 cars.
See the breakdown →Hyundai's footprint was 201,615,337 tCO2e in 2025, 2.2% below 2024 on a restated basis, and most of it comes from the fuel and electricity its vehicles use. 35% of its electricity was renewable in 2025, 88% overseas, but its Korean plants still run mostly on grid power.
See the breakdown →Mercedes-Benz's footprint was 119.4 million tCO2e in 2025, down from 134.2 million in 2024, but the company says the fall came mainly from lower sales, and its average EU new-car CO2 rose from 103 to 106 g/km.
See the breakdown →Which companies moved this week, and why.
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