Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess has called for a faster switch to renewable energies in order to fight global warming. "So far, our efforts have not been consistent enough, a lot more can be done against climate change," said the head of Europe's largest industrial group on Tuesday at the IAA Mobility auto show in Munich. In the transport sector in particular, decarbonization must take place quickly in order to achieve the climate targets - and the global economy must not be damaged in the process. "The precondition for the decarbonization of the transport sector is the availability of green electricity from sun and wind."

With more than ten million cars sold per year, as the second largest truck manufacturer worldwide and as a manufacturer of around 80 percent of marine diesel engines on the seas, the group has the responsibility to reduce its CO2 emissions in all of its activities as quickly as possible, said Diess.

The transport sector is considered to be responsible for around 16 percent of all CO2 emissions worldwide.

End of the internal combustion engine

Diess has focused the group heavily on battery electric cars for the coming years.

From 2018 to 2030 VW wants to reduce the total CO2 emissions of its vehicle fleet by 30 percent.

Environmental organizations, however, strongly criticize the VW Group for not removing internal combustion engines from its range quickly enough.

With possible efforts, Diess referred to Sweden, which, among other things, had managed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to 4.2 tonnes per capita and year with a CO2 price of over 100 euros per ton.

Avoiding CO2 emissions is possible without sacrificing the standard of living, said the VW boss.

In Germany, the emission of one tonne of CO2 currently costs 25 euros, the burden is expected to rise to 55 euros by 2025.

"Decarbonization will make many things cheaper and not more expensive," said Diess, speaking of falling operating costs for electric cars and electric buses in local transport.

Meanwhile, in view of the high investments in new battery cell plants and self-driving cars, Volkswagen is not ruling out further financial requirements.

The Wolfsburg-based group is currently in a position to finance the costs of the transformation from the free inflow of funds due to well-running business, said supervisory board chairman Hans Dieter Pötsch of the Reuters news agency in an interview published on Tuesday.

“So we can both pay out good dividends and finance our business up front without any problems,” said Pötsch.

"But of course we are in an environment in which we cannot rule out the possibility of investing even larger amounts, for example in the field of autonomous driving."

Porsche goes public

Pötsch did not comment on a possible IPO of Porsche AG.

From today's perspective, the Group's financial situation looks relatively comfortable.

“And in the course of the large planning rounds that we carry out every year, we regularly check where there is a need.” Pötsch did not mention the possibilities for financing projects, nor did he say which ones they might be.

The chief supervisor simply said, "The shrewd financier will always have a list of ways that one could do to give the corporation expanded financial flexibility."

CEO Diess recently said that he was not giving priority to a possible partial IPO of the Stuttgart sports car subsidiary.

Nevertheless, investors hope that Volkswagen would not be averse to taking such a step.

Reuters had reported in May, citing insiders, that the family owners Porsche and Piech had simulated scenarios for a Porsche IPO.

Group restructuring almost complete

Pötsch also said that the Volkswagen Group's restructuring has largely been completed.

“We have formed a group of premium brands around Audi.

These include Bentley, Lamborghini and Ducati.

And nothing should change that. ”Investors had long speculated about a possible sale of the luxury sports car brand Lamborghini and the Italian motorcycle manufacturer Ducati.

Pötsch, who was the Group's CFO for a long time before moving to the top of the supervisory board in the wake of the diesel scandal in 2015, is also CEO of Porsche SE. The Porsche and Piech families hold the majority of the Wolfsburg-based car company through this holding company.