VW to appoint “aggressive” climate activist to scrutinize policies
German group is first big carmaker to create post as it steps up drive to go green and electric. …
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Volkswagen’s chief executive has pledged to employ a young climate campaigner to “aggressively” challenge the company’s environmental policies, as he acknowledged the world’s largest carmaker was moving too slowly in the race to roll out electric vehicles.
“I’m looking to hire an activist,” Herbert Diess told the Financial Times. “We have so many ideas, but they take too long to implement in our big organization, so I need someone really aggressive internally.”
In a rare move for a multinational, the appointee will be granted direct access to Diess and other top VW executives.
The 61-year-old boss, who is overseeing the German group’s €33 billion push into battery-powered vehicles, has been increasingly vocal about the need for a CO2 price—a carbon tax that applies to all industries as opposed to individual sectors—and has called on Brussels to crack down on coal-fired energy plants in Europe.
Volkswagen hopes to sell 1 million emissions-free cars in the next three years, which would see it eclipse the likes of Tesla and other electric vehicle pioneers. Its first mass-market electric hatchback, the ID.3, is due to go on sale later this year, as is VW-brand Porsche’s luxury Taycan sports car.
But the company has faced the ire of activists in Germany and beyond for its reliance on the profits generated by fuel-intensive sport utility vehicles, described by campaigners as “climate-damaging city tanks,” and for not abandoning the production of combustion-engine cars fast enough.
“We are too slow,” Diess admitted. “We have established management teams in strategy departments, in communication departments, and many others and I think we need some more
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