The announcement – made at the Geneva motor show – will see the CO2 technology rolled out progressively across its vehicle fleet.

The move follows the recent furore over Daimler and its decision to flout EU legislation and continue using the current widespread R134a refrigerant instead of the newly-developed and climate-friendly R1234yf following its own testing programme. This was said to show that the latter could be highly flammable under certain conditions.

VW has attributed its decision to the environment, saying that its entry into CO2 technology forms ‘another systematic step towards protecting the climate and the environment’. With a GWP (Global Warming Potential) value of 1, the R744 CO2 refrigerant is 99.3% below the EU-specified GWP limit of 150 and offers significantly lower greenhouse gas effects than conventional refrigerants.