Achieving economic progress and social justice consistent with the ecological limits of our planet: The United Nations has set 17 goals for a sustainable future...

Designers of a future worth living: Audi is sending young talents to the One Young World Summit

• AUDI AG and the Audi Environmental Foundation are sending 26 employees and scholarship holders to the One Young World Summit in London
• Focus on climate protection, education and social projects in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals
• Rüdiger Recknagel, Managing Director of the Audi Environmental Foundation: 'We want our employees to become ambassadors for environmental protection and social commitment'

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AUDI AG and the Audi Environmental Foundation are sending 26 employees and scholarship holders to the One Young World Summit 2019 in London.

Achieving economic progress and social justice consistent with the ecological limits of our planet: The United Nations has set 17 goals for a sustainable future worth living. These Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the focus of the tenth One Young World Summit. Audi and the Audi Environmental Foundation are enabling 26 employees and external scholarship holders to participate in the global forum, which is taking place in London from October 22 to 25.

Audi takes its responsibility for the environment and society seriously and has anchored consistent, sustainable action in its corporate culture. The Group is pursuing the ambitious goal of completely CO2-neutral operations by 2050 and taking its employees with it on this journey. As a result, Audi places great importance on promoting young talent and encouraging employees in their social commitment so that they become creative thought leaders and role models.

Audi has been participating in the One Young World Summit since 2016 and this year is enabling eleven young employees from six sites (Ingolstadt, Neckarsulm, Beijing, Brussels, Győr, Hungary and San José Chiapa, Mexico) to participate in the global forum. 22-year-old Austen Lowe is one of them. As part of the Leadership Culture & Diversity team at Audi Brussels, he is working to help achieve the UN goal of reduced inequalities (diversity) with the '4,000 x me = 1 we' program. 'About 4,000 employees from 30 nations work together at Audi Brussels in four working languages,' says Lowe, 'with my project, I am trying to recruit diversity ambassadors from all departments in order to promote understanding and reduce inequality.'

27-year-old Emmanuel Acosta works in production and is committed to promoting responsible consumption. An awareness campaign at his home site in San José Chiapa, Mexico, sensitized employees to the environmental damage caused by discarded cigarettes. Just one cigarette-end pollutes about 40-60 litres of groundwater. With colleagues, he collected the carelessly discarded stubs and initiated contact with a local recycling company, which removes the poisons from them and processes the material into books, cartons or flower pots.

For Audi, however, environmental protection goes far beyond its own factory gates. The company established the Audi Environmental Foundation back in 2009 with the aim of promoting green technologies and making a contribution to environmental education. This year, the Foundation will enable 15 scholars from twelve countries to participate in One Young World. Among the scholarship holders are startup founders who combat marine pollution with macro- and microplastics or supply rural areas with green electricity.

Rüdiger Recknagel, Managing Director of the Audi Environmental Foundation and Audi ambassador at One Young World, says: 'I am proud of my young colleagues and the scholarship holders. Global challenges require global, innovative solutions. At Audi and the Audi Environmental Foundation, we are committed to turning young talents into ambassadors for environmental protection and social commitment.'

The One Young World Summit brings together young people between the ages of 18 and 30 from more than 190 countries who are committed to environmental and climate protection as well as to solving social challenges such as equal opportunities and combating poverty. Delegates can discuss their projects and ideas with business and political leaders and can think ahead to develop solutions for the global challenges of our time. This year's guests include former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, musician Bob Geldof and Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus.

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