Sustainability
“We play a crucial role in enhancing transparency in the historically opaque used car market. We are helping it transition towards a greener and more consumer-friendly future, and contributing to the development of an automotive circular economy.”
Christian Bertermann
CEO and Co-Founder AUTO1 Group
Markus Boser
CFO AUTO1 Group and ESG Ambassador
Our approach
As Europe’s leading online used car trading platform, our mission is to create the best way to buy and sell cars online. We believe that the integration of sustainability considerations in our daily work is central to this goal and the sustainable growth of our company. We support the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and integrate these into our strategic business decisions and daily operations. In line with the characteristics of our business model, our focus lies on the following three SDGs: "Climate Action", "Gender Equality" and "Decent Work and Economic Growth".
The Environment
We are committed to protecting the environment by being part of the automotive circular economy. Our unique business model, to buy and sell used cars, plays an important role in reducing the environmental footprint of automotive mobility in Europe.
Used Electric Vehicles
Ensuring that early adopters receive a fair price for their electric vehicle (EV), extending the life of used EVs, and ensuring that they are sold to the right owner across Europe is at the core of how we operate when it comes to pioneering the electrification of the used car market. To accelerate this transition, we have joined the CARA (Car Remarketing Association Europe) Battery Health initiative. Together with other large remarketing dealers we aim to create common standards to facilitate remarketing and support residual values of used cars through trust in the battery of battery electric vehicles.
CO2 footprint reduction
Our goal is to become CO2 neutral by 2030. Our operations as well as our principal product - used cars - have effects on the environment. We take our responsibility for climate protection seriously and have set ourselves the goal to become CO2 neutral. We continuously evaluate carbon reduction strategies that address the impact of our operations and are looking for ways to improve the efficiency of our distribution network and energy usage. In order to become CO2 neutral by 2030, we will reduce our CO2 footprint as much as possible.
Promote a circular economy
We reduce the need for producing new vehicles with its environmental and social risks by extending vehicle lifetimes. Enhancing our circular economy business model, the average car we trade is younger than the average vehicle age in most EU countries. The age of a car correlates with its impact on the environment: The older the car the more likely it produces more emissions in contrast to a younger and therefore more efficient vehicle. This means that, on average, AUTO1 Group trades vehicles which are more environmentally friendly than the average EU vehicle, replacing less environmentally friendly cars with younger and more environmentally friendly ones.
Our People
With approximately 5,500 employees in Europe, AUTO1 Group has built a team that lives our values: We choose challenge, we choose pace, and we choose growth.
At AUTO1 Group we see our diversity as a strength, we are proud to work with people from a variety of backgrounds, and we believe that this is a key factor in the success of our company.
Employee Diversity
We are a diverse group of 102 nationalities who are building the best way to buy and sell cars online. Our commitment is to increase gender parity in leadership positions: The goal is to have 25% women on the Management Board and 25% female leaders in the two management levels below the Management Board, on the SVP and VP level, by 2026.
Employee training and development
AUTO1 Group continuously grows and evolves as a company and we want our colleagues to grow with us. We offer employees different learning and development opportunities such as the AUTO1 Academy, our own online platform for onboarding training. Furthermore we have in-house trainers who offer coaching for various teams.
AUTO1 Communities
We are offering our employees the possibility to form funded AUTO1 Communities. Our goal is to create a safe space for employees to exchange ideas and experiences, network, create awareness within the company on certain topics, and nurture the exchange of ideas. We have the following AUTO1 Communities: Electric Vehicles, LGBTQ+ & Allies, Sustainability and Women at AUTO1.
Our Community
We are committed to positively contributing to the communities we work and operate in. We do this by providing transparency in an industry that has traditionally been opaque and complex.
Improving Mobility
We believe that our unparalleled, europe-wide selection of used vehicles brings access to affordable mobility to consumers and economic growth to our partners. Car dealers and consumers can choose from a wide range of vehicles at all price ranges so that they can find the used car that is right for them. Operating across 30 markets in Europe, we play a crucial role in distributing cars according to dealer’s and consumer’s needs and by doing so providing affordable mobility solutions across markets.
Social Impact
In 2019, we initiated our collaboration with the Berliner Tafel, a food bank operating in the Berlin area, by donating vehicles such as refrigerated delivery trucks and other vehicles to provide food delivery and mobility solutions to the organization. We continue our collaboration by providing the Tafel with funds for vehicle maintenance and the expansion of their fleet.
Transparency and Consumer Protection
We give our customers and partners the transparency they need to make informed purchase decisions around used cars.The secondhand car market is considered one of the most opaque industries in the EU, noting that it was the worst functioning goods market in the EU “due to particularly low scores in terms of consumer trust in dealers complying with consumer protection rules, comparability, consumer satisfaction and a relatively high proportion of problems” thus highlighting that consumers were often negatively affected by the characteristics of the market, its fragmentation, and lack of transparency.
The Consumer Market Study on the Functioning of the Market for Second-hand Cars from a Consumer Perspective by the EU Commission
We are changing that:
We offer consumers a haggle-free opportunity to purchase and sell used vehicles based on our transparent evaluation and pricing models.
In addition to this, we follow a strict non-cash business model, as a further measure to enhance transparency and counteract the risk of money-laundering which is traditionally present in highly fragmented markets.
Our Governance
At AUTO1 Group we pride ourselves in our corporate governance and compliance measures and believe that these directly impact our ability to pursue our envisioned sustainability strategy.
AUTO1 Group’s ESG Ambassadors
In addition to our overarching ESG governance structure, we have three dedicated ESG ambassadors as the principal team responsible for developing and implementing our sustainability strategy at all management levels across AUTO1 Group.
Our Supervisory Board ESG Committee, one of the Supervisory Board committees, monitors and advises the Management Board with regard to the areas environment, social, and governance.
All ESG decisions are made by the ESG Steering Committee, all decisions involve the Management Board, and are reported to the Supervisory Board.
Please find all our Corporate Governance policies and documentation such as the Code of Conduct, Whistleblowing channels here.
Lars Santelmann
Lars Santelmann, Supervisory Board member