Volkswagen donates 2 million euros to European Biosphere Reserves to support nature conservation, sustainability and climate protection projects

The Volkswagen Group’s donation will benefit the Biosphere Reserves of Schaalsee in Germany, Puszcza Kampinoska in Poland and Bardenas Reales, La Rioja and Ordesa Viñamala in Spain. The selected projects will be focusing on sustainable mobility, education for sustainable development, the preservation of biodiversity and the improvement of local water supply will be supported.

The agreement has been successfully achieved thanks to the support of the German Commission for UNESCO.

The background to the donations is an agreement between the European Investment Bank (EIB) and Volkswagen AG in the course of dealing with the diesel crisis. The EIB had granted the Volkswagen Group a promotional loan in 2009, which was repaid in full in February 2014. Among other things, it included funds for the development of diesel engines. With the agreement of December 2018, Volkswagen AG voluntarily agreed with the EIB to spend a total of €10 million on environmental projects as part of its commitment to sustainability, €2 million of which will go to biosphere reserves.