VW to employ “aggressive” climate activist to push policies

Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess says he wants to employ a young climate activist to “aggressively” question the Group’s environmental policies internally. He promises the appointee direct access to himself and other top VW executives as he hopes to hurry measures along.

This is not the joke you might take it for. “I’m looking to hire an activist,” Herbert Diess told the mighty serious Financial Times. “We have so many ideas, but they take too long to implement in our big organization, so I need someone really aggressive internally”. “We are too slow,” he added.

Diess even promised the appointee would have direct access to himself and his executives. Whether that includes executive powers for any such “young activist” willing to give it a go is unclear at this stage.

We also do not know, whether headhunters have managed to reach Greta Thunberg just yet but Diess told the paper, he had identified some candidates.

To be fair, the CEO could be seen pushing for a more progressive agenda, including calls for a carbon tax lately. Also, the new climate appointee would not be all alone as the German car giant already has a sustainability advisory board, established in the wake of Dieselgate. It counts Margo Oge, former director of the US Environmental Protection Agency, and former EU climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard among its members.

ft.com (paid content) via arstechnica.com