Audi-backed CO2 project gets to the root of the problem

Audi has taken a literal approach to nurturing the proverbial ‘green shoots of recovery’ in 2010 by funding the planting of 36,000 oak trees. Forming the basis of the ‘Oak Forest CO2 Reservoir’ project, the budding mighty oaks cover six hectares in Kosching, near the Audi manufacturing facility in Ingolstadt, Germany, and are the first of a planned series of forestation schemes funded by Audi.

Almost completely destroyed in 2007 by bark beetles, drought and severe storms, the Kosching Forest has been replanted with 36,000 young Pedunculate Oaks with funding from Audi in conjunction with the Bavarian State Forestry and the Chair of Forest Yield Science at the Technical University of Munich. The revitalised forest provides a diverse biosphere for a wide variety of animal and plant species, and equally importantly can also store large amounts of carbon. The aim of the project is to identify the relationships between stand density, CO2 sequestration potential and biodiversity.

The Kosching Forest project will spawn several others on sites with different climatic conditions. Another trial site with an area of four hectares at the Audi production site in Gyor, Hungary, will be planted with more than 13,000 Pedunculate Oaks. Plans are underway for additional sites at international locations.

The newly sown forest is a particularly ‘visible’ indicator of the Audi commitment to sustainability and environmental protection, but it is just one example of the numerous measures the prestige car manufacturer is systematically implementing to conserve resources in both the cars themselves and in their production.