FAW-Volkswagen promotes environmental protection with public welfare grants

FAW-Volkswagen Automotive is bringing forth new ideas to protect the environment, as part of the automaker's efforts to perform its corporate social responsibilities, an area in which it has already achieved outstanding results.

On April 20, in Beijing, the joint venture between China's FAW Group and the German auto giant Volkswagen wrapped up the application process for its third public welfare program, which will fund nongovernmental environmental protection organizations, nonprofit social organizations and environmental protection research institutes.

After professional evaluation, on-the-spot investigations and final review, the third public welfare program selected 13 environmental protection projects out of 222 applications nationwide.

At the event in Beijing, the program announced that the 13 projects would get total funds of 5.04 million yuan ($748,930). The fund for each project varies, ranging from 20,000 yuan to 1 million yuan.

The Guangzhou Charity Association has got the maximum fund of 1 million yuan this year, for its project conserving the agricultural cultural heritage of the rice terraces in Honghe county, Southwest China's Yunnan province.

All the funds are managed and granted by the FAW-Volkswagen New Future Fund, which is a special fund for public welfare set up by the automaker in 2016 under the administration of the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation. The carmaker's public welfare program has also gotten guidance and assistance from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China, with which the program has funded 60 environmental protection organizations and institutes since 2016, with a total fund Exeeding 15 million yuan.

"As ecological environmental protection is a course that requires all the people to take part, I sincerely hope that this program can be continued, so as to drive and help more environmental protection organizations and the public to construct the ecological civilization and make joint efforts to build a beautiful China," said Zhuang Guotai, vice-minister of ecology and environment at the event in Beijing.

His words were echoed by Xu Guang, director-general of the China Environmental Protection Foundation, who said most social environmental protection organizations face the problem of insufficient funds, which the joint venture is helping resolve. In this way, the organizations are capable of playing unique and advantageous roles in the process of improving our overall ecology, Xu added.

To follow up its third public welfare program, the FAW-Volkswagen launched a fourth program at the same event.

The fourth program will feature a new theme, new participants and activities, according to the carmaker.

"The FAW-Volkswagen New Future Fund has been accepted and supported by all sectors of society in the past three years, which makes us more confident and determined to take the road of sustainable development," said Fan Xijun, Party secretary of FAW-Volkswagen.

According to the carmaker, the FAW-Volkswagen New Future Fund will benefit more social fields, including disaster relief and traffic safety.

Li Zhihong, secretary of the board of FAW-Volkswagen, said at the event: "FAW-Volkswagen fulfills its corporate social responsibility from the perspectives of environmental protection, disaster relief, care for children and traffic safety, playing a pioneering role in the practice of social responsibility by enterprises."