Earth Day: Bugatti Committed to a More Sustainable Future

Sustainability has been a top priority at Bugatti for years. “With regard to carbon emissions, there’s a simple order that applies to us all – first avoid them, then reduce them, and then offset any remaining emissions,” says Stephan Winkelmann, President of Bugatti. “For this reason, we at Bugatti work hard to avoid emissions and other environmental impacts wherever possible in all of our development and production processes. We are also continuously lowering emissions on the basis of leaner processes and use green electricity and biogas in production. These are the upstream measures that our carbon offsetting projects then build on.”

In 2019, biogas replaced up to 30 percent of the company’s natural gas needs. In 2020, 100 percent of the energy used came from biogas. Since 2020, Bugatti has also been focusing on using 100 percent green electricity for production at its sites. From development through to the customers’ vehicles, the emissions caused at the company’s various sites and by the Bugatti hyper sports cars around the world have been fully offset by various projects since 2018. In addition to short-term carbon offsetting projects, a key role is played here by reforestation to provide sustainable local support in the medium and long term.

Employees of Bugatti and the organization Office National des Forêts (ONF) met in early 2021 to discuss further projects. Surrounded by forest in the heart of Alsace, the village of Grendelbruch is just a few kilometers from the Bugatti headquarters in Molsheim. This is where President of Bugatti Stephan Winkelmann, Bugatti’s Site Manager/Managing Director of Production and Logistics Christophe Piochon, and Jean-Philippe Kaes, Bugatti team member and mayor of the municipality, launched Bugatti’s reforestation initiative together with the ONF in 2020. As in the previous year, 3,650 new trees will now be planted. The reforestation with various tree species will make it possible for a forest ecosystem to be reinstated, a habitat to be created for a high degree of biodiversity, and carbon to be stored, thereby offsetting 1,018 tons of carbon emissions.

The French manufacturer of hyper sports cars can look back on a successful history – thanks to the initiative of Valérie Houdé, Bugatti’s Environmental Coordinator, and Thomas Faber, Head of Planning at Bugatti, the company has been offsetting the majority of the emissions it causes for years. Bugatti has established new environmental protection processes among other things with long-term projects like its reforestation in Alsace and by supporting the preservation of the Amazon rain forest in Brazil. Bugatti also acknowledges its responsibilities in the area of environmental protection and sustainability in its Code of Conduct – environmentally friendly, progressive, and efficient technologies, the responsible use of resources, the will to continuously reduce environmental impacts, and compliance with environmental protection legislation and regulations are just some of the issues this addresses in particular.

The Volkswagen Group’s environmental mission statement “goTOzero”

With its initiatives and endeavors, Bugatti makes a commitment to the Volkswagen Group’s environmental mission statement “goTOzero,” the umbrella under which all of the Group’s environmental protection measures as well as those of its brands are pooled. The Group is focusing on the four areas, climate change, resources, air quality, and environmental compliance and is pursuing multiple goals in these areas. The company aims to reduce the carbon footprint of its vehicle fleet by 30 percent over the entire life cycle by 2025 compared to 2015 and have made the entire Group carbon-neutral by 2050.

“Bugatti can look back on a long tradition of environmental protection. Ettore Bugatti created a forest in Alsace more than 110 years ago,” explains Stephan Winkelmann. At the Bugatti headquarters in Molsheim, there are currently 14 fallow deer living in a four-hectare forest area right by the Château in the midst of 250-year-old oak trees. The reforestation of the Alsatian forest alone demonstrates that Bugatti believes in long-term commitment. New shoots are contributing to the reforestation. They will be left to grow for 150 years, and will then be replaced with new shoots. This will create a new forest cycle – for the next generation.