Having a greater impact together: Audi and its business partners

Audi is a member of the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI). The ASI’s mission is to promote responsible production, sourcing and stewardship of aluminum. Since the initiative was founded, Audi has been able to help develop a global standard for aluminum that defines requirement relating, among other things, to the Chain of Custody as well as environmental and social criteria, and successfully support its establishment. This standard requires, for instance, that mining companies specifically address ecological, social and governance criteria when mining bauxite aluminum ore, thus acknowledging and considering the concerns of the local residents. For this reason as well, representatives of indigenous peoples are an integral part of the organizational structure of ASI. Currently, the Ingolstadt, Neckarsulm and Györ sites are certified and recertified according to both the ASI Performance Standard and the ASI Chain of Custody Standard. Audi was the first car manufacturer to be awarded the “ASI Performance Standard” certificate and the “ASI Chain of Custody” certificate by the initiative in the process.

In addition, Audi requires the supply of ASI Chain of Custody-certified materials in selected material groups and is continuously working on a further rollout of these requirements for other relevant material groups.

The Volkswagen Group is involved in the The Copper Mark, an industry initiative that promotes transparency and due diligence processes along the copper value chain in accordance with the initiative’s requirements and aims to bring responsibly sourced copper to the market. On behalf of the Volkswagen Group, AUDI AG (since 2023) and MAN Truck & Bus SE (since 2022) are partners of The Copper Mark, with AUDI AG holding a seat on the advisory board.

The Drive Sustainability Initiative is a partnership of 16 leading automotive companies under the umbrella of CSR Europe. The aim of the initiative is to promote defined measures to improve risk analysis, supply chain transparency and recyclability in selected areas of the automotive value chain. The Volkswagen Group is a founding member of the industry initiative. At DRIVE, Audi is actively working within the Group on the further development of the Raw Material Outlook for risk analysis in raw material supply chains and the Sustainability Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ), which is part of the Volkswagen Group’s S-Rating process. In addition, the Group is active in the initiative through workshops and events and supports several on-site projects of DRIVE and CSR Europe.

In 2023, Audi became the first premium car manufacturer to become a member of the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS). The AWS is a global multi-stakeholder alliance that brings together companies, civil society organizations and public institutions to promote water stewardship and the responsible use of water resources.

Through the Audi Water Stewardship Program, Audi works together with partners along the supply chain to collect and assess information on water-related risks and challenges in relevant regions. These include aspects such as water availability, water consumption and water quality.

The Audi CO₂ program in the supply chain was initiated in 2018 with the goal of systematically reducing the carbon footprint before the vehicle production stage. The focus is on reducing emissions along the upstream value chain together with business partners. Key levers of the program include the increased use of green electricity, the incorporation of secondary materials and the use of low-carbon materials, including steel and aluminum. The objective is to achieve measurable reductions in CO₂ emissions across the supply chain.

Through the Aluminium Closed Loop, Audi is enhancing the recycling of a key lightweight material in the supply chain. Production residues from vehicle production are systematically returned to the material cycle, remanufactured and reused for producing aluminum components. Thanks to close collaboration with suppliers, Audi is reducing the use of primary aluminum and therefore – depending on component, material source and process – reducing the carbon footprint.

Since the beginning of 2025, AUDI AG has been a member of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the circular economy. The goal of the Foundation is to establish an economic system that avoids waste and environmental pollution, focuses on recyclable products and materials and contributes to regeneration of nature. Through the collaboration, Audi aims to consider the circular economy consistently from the outset. Together with partners along the supply chain and external stakeholders, Audi anchors the principles of Design for Circularity early on in development and design processes.This leads to the creation of circular solutions along the entire value chain.

Act4Impact supports supplier companies and other partners by providing training and work materials on human rights, environmental due diligence, risk-based supply chain processes and documentation in the supply chain. The initiative specifically addresses the areas of human rights due diligence, grievance management, energy and emissions, biodiversity, circular economy, water and methodological approaches to innovation in the sustainability context. The program is designed to help supplier companies build knowledge on selected due diligence and sustainability topics. The improvements achieved depend on how participating companies implement the program and on the measures they choose to adopt.

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