Volkswagen
VOW3
4
exclusion reasons
2 themes
This page is part of our public exclusion list — a transparency tool that shows which companies we screen out and why. It is not investment advice, and it is not an accusation. But it is subject to change as our understanding of the facts evolves.
Volkswagen appears on the UN OHCHR database of companies involved in activities in occupied Palestinian territories. VW subsidiary Traton's Scania trucks and equipment have been documented in settlement-related infrastructure.
Volkswagen's climate policy record extends beyond the 2015 Dieselgate emissions fraud into sustained lobbying against emissions regulations. InfluenceMap rates VW's direct climate policy engagement as unsupportive of Paris-aligned targets, documenting that from late 2024 onward the company actively advocated for delays to the EU's 2025 CO2 reduction target for light-duty vehicles. VW operates through ACEA, the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association, which leaked a position paper advocating a two-year delay in the 2025 CO2 target and has consistently lobbied to weaken both light- and heavy-duty vehicle emissions standards. The pattern is performative electrification — expensive EV advertising under former CEO Herbert Diess — while the company's regulatory engagement works to weaken the binding standards that would require fleet-wide decarbonization.
Volkswagen is excluded for documented environmental damage. The company's operations and products have been linked to significant ecological harm, most notably through the 2015 Dieselgate scandal where Volkswagen installed illegal software in millions of diesel vehicles to cheat on emissions tests. This deliberate deception resulted in vehicles emitting up to 40 times the legal limit of nitrogen oxides, a major air pollutant linked to respiratory illness and environmental damage.
Beyond this systemic misconduct, Volkswagen's global manufacturing footprint and complex supply chains carry inherent risks for toxic contamination, habitat destruction, and other environmental impacts. A thorough review of recent enforcement records, remediation sites, and supply chain audits is required to detail the current scale and materiality of Volkswagen's environmental damage.
DOJ criminal and civil settlement for Clean Air Act violations using defeat device software to falsify diesel emissions test results across ~500,000 US vehicles (Dieselgate); $4.3B total criminal and civil penalties including $2.8B criminal fine; pled guilty to conspiracy, fraud, and violation of the CAA; one of the largest CAA criminal fines in US history; additional $14.7B civil settlement with vehicle owners
Research Sources
3 organizations
Related Exclusions
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A digest of changes to our exclusion list — new additions, removals, and the evidence behind them. We review the list continuously as new evidence surfaces.
Companies appear on our exclusion list based on our investment judgment — not because they've done anything illegal. This is a difference of values and opinion, not an accusation of wrongdoing. Exclusion does not constitute a recommendation against investing in any company, and absence from the list does not constitute a recommendation to invest.
This information is provided for educational and transparency purposes only and should not be relied upon as investment advice. Data is drawn from independent watchdogs, NGOs, government registries, and Ethical Capital's ongoing research — see Research Sources for the full list.
Ethical Capital LLC is a state-registered investment adviser in Utah (CRD #316032). Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training.