© Reuters. A Volkswagen brand is seen on a Volkswagen ID.5 electrical automobile on show at a showroom of a automobile vendor in Reze close to Nantes, France, November 13, 2023. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe
BERLIN (Reuters) -Volkswagen should present extra transparency in its worth chain and guarantee its China operations are repeatedly reviewed, two of the carmaker’s buyers stated on Wednesday, after an audit of its collectively owned Xinjiang website discovered no signal of pressured labour.
The feedback by Union Funding and Deka Funding mirror ongoing concern over Volkswagen (ETR:)’s engagement within the Xinjiang area, the place rights teams have documented abuses together with pressured labour in detention camps.
Beijing denies any such abuses.
Volkswagen late on Tuesday stated that the much-anticipated audit, carried out by Germany’s Loening Human Rights & Accountable Enterprise GmbH and two Chinese language legal professionals from a agency in Shenzhen, had offered no proof of pressured labour.
Whereas calling the audit a step in the fitting path, Henrik Pontzen, who heads sustainability and ESG at Union Funding, stated Volkswagen had not but reached its objective.
“There is still a lot to do: In China, audits must not remain a one-off exercise. A functioning complaints management system must also be established. The weak corporate governance at VW also remains an Achilles heel,” he stated in a press release.
Welcoming the audit, Ingo Speich of Deka Funding, which in response to LSEG knowledge owns $99 million value of Volkswagen’s most popular inventory, stated extra transparency was fascinating concerning Volkswagen’s provide chain.
