What we can all learn from the VW emissions saga

The Volkswagen emissions scandal reveals a lot about corporate governance in different countries

A year and a half after the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) alleged Volkswagen had installed software to circumvent emissions standards, the company has plead guilty to three criminal felony counts. Volkswagen (VW) will pay $4.3 billion in criminal and civil penalties, and six executives and employees have been indicted.

But the VW scandal is not indicative of systemic problems in the German Corporate Governance system. Rather it highlights huge issues with corporate influence peddling and regulatory capture in Brussels, Washington and Canberra.

The German context

German corporations have faced a number of scandals recently – on