Follow this new series to stay up to date with what vehicle manufacturers are doing to reduce their carbon footprint and what deadlines they have set themselves to deliver.
Sustainable Development Goals
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or Global Goals are a collection of 17 interlinked global goals designed to be a "blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all". The SDGs were set up in 2015 by the United Nations General Assembly and are intended to be achieved by the year 2030.
COP21, the global climate conference, was held in Paris in 2015. At its close, 196 parties pledged to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The Paris Agreement’s focus is to keep the global rise in temperature “well below 2°C” while “pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C”. At COP26, a summit to bring parties together to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which took place in Glasgow in November 2021 the goal of 1.5°C was reconfirmed.
With this in mind and the need to reduce global emissions and avoid hefty penalties, around the globe vehicle manufacturers are required to take drastic action and some even banding together to keep their CO2 averages down. This includes infrastructure changes and of course the inclusion of electric vehicles.
Here is Part One of a new series on some of the manufacturers Sustainable Development Goals and the target dates they’ve set.
Hyundai
Hyundai Motor Group announced its long-term roadmap - ‘Fuel Cell Vision 2030’ - to reaffirm its commitment to accelerate the development of a hydrogen society by leveraging the group’s global leadership in fuel-cell technologies. Aligned with the roadmap, Hyundai Motor Group has pledged to drastically boost annual fuel-cell system production capacity to 700,000 units by 2030 and explore new business opportunities to supply fuel-cell systems to other transportation manufacturers of vehicles, drones, vessels, rolling stocks and forklifts.
Battery electric vehicles are still a part of Hyundai’s vision for clean mobility. Hyundai’s new IONIQ brand represents the company’s strong commitment to sustainability and innovation. The IONIQ 5 EV is all set to be released as of September 2021.
Volvo Cars
Is committed to becoming a leader in the fast-growing premium electric car market and plans to become a fully electric car company by 2030. By then, the company intends to only sell fully electric cars and phase out any car in its global portfolio with an internal combustion engine, including hybrids.
Ben Montgomery, Volvo New Zealand General Manager says, “the next decade will bring rapid change in this space and New Zealand customers of the Swedish marque have already begun to see the first steps in the transition towards a fleet of pure EVs. The rapid phasing out of all vehicles with an internal combustion engine is an acknowledgement that the fight against climate change has become one of the company’s highest priorities.”
Globally Volvo Cars aims for cost savings in the millions and a reduction of 2.5 million tonnes in carbon emissions from 2025 using circular business principles. Supporting the company’s long-term goal of becoming a circular business by 2040, Volvo Cars will create closed material loops for emission-heavy materials such as steel and aluminium, as well as remanufacture, repair, reuse and refurbish parts.
Toyota
Toyota New Zealand Chief Executive Officer, Neeraj Lala says Toyota is on a mission to reduce greenhouse gases from its manufacturing processes through to its product offering. It is focused on offering a hybrid version for the entire range, new battery electric vehicles, as well as investing into hydrogen fuel cell technology.
“It’s satisfying to report that the high number of hybrids sold is helping Toyota achieve two objectives – reducing our overall emissions as a brand and helping us support the New Zealand Government’s target to reduce gross carbon emissions by 30% by 2030,” Neeraj says.
Nissan
Nissan has set a carbon neutral goal for 2050, with 100 per cent of all new vehicle offerings in key markets to be electrified by the early 2030s. In Japan, Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. has set the goal to achieve carbon neutrality across the company’s operations and the life cycle of its products by 2050. As part of this effort, by the early 2030s every all-new Nissan vehicle offering in key markets will be electrified.
“We’re determined to help create a carbon neutral society and accelerate the global effort against climate change,” said Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida. “Our offering in electrified vehicles will continue to expand around the world, and this will make a major contribution to Nissan becoming carbon neutral. We will continue to drive innovation that enriches people’s lives as we pursue a sustainable future for all.”
Jaguar Land Rover
REIMAGINE, Jaguar Land Rovers new global strategy will see them reimagine their future: A sustainability-rich reimagination of modern luxury, unique customer experiences, and positive societal impact reimagination of Jaguar as an all-electric luxury brand from 2025 to “realise its unique potential”.
In the next five years, Land Rover will welcome six pure electric variants as it continues to be the world leader of luxury SUVs. All Jaguar and Land Rover nameplates to be available in pure electric form by the end of the decade and the first all-electric Land Rover model in 2024. Their aim is to achieve net zero carbon emissions across their supply chain, products and operations by 2039.
Jaguar and Land Rover have stated that collaborations and knowledge-sharing with industry leaders, in particular from within the wider Tata Group will allow the company to explore potential synergies on clean energy, connected services, data and software development leadership.
Stellantis N.V
Stellantis N.V is a multinational automotive manufacturer, formed in January 2021 on the basis of a 50/50 cross-border merger between the Italian-American Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and the French PSA Group, and headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Together, aspire to become the greatest rather than the biggest. They will take the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as a framework for their action in the transition to a more sustainable future.
Stellantis is committed to contributing to a decarbonised economy by engaging talents and assets on their road to carbon neutrality across all products, plants and other facilities. They offer their customers freedom of movement through sustainable mobility solutions that leverage on their leadership in clean and advanced technologies and support in fighting climate change. As of Day One, Stellantis has 29 electrified models available to consumers.
BMW Group
No premium without responsibility: BMW Group makes sustainability and efficient resource management central to its strategic direction. Chairman of the Board of Management, Oliver Zipse, announced initial details of this strategic direction in Munich and presented the targets the company has set itself for the phase up to 2030.
The objective is to reduce CO2 emissions from vehicles by 40 percent per kilometre driven. The main lever here is a far-reaching product strategy with massive expansion of e-mobility: In ten years, the goal is to have a total of more than seven million electrified BMW Group vehicles on the roads – around two thirds of them with a fully-electric drive train.
“The best vehicles in the world are sustainable. That is why premium and sustainability will be even more inextricably linked in the future,” said Zipse. “We are using our exceptional technological expertise in both hardware and software not only to make these vehicles desirable, but also to help reduce CO2 through them.”
The main focus of the company’s pioneering strategy is, on the one hand, to drastically reduce CO2 per vehicle by 2030. On the other, with the introduction of the “Neue Klasse”, the BMW Group will be massively promoting the use of secondary material and the forward-looking principles of the circular economy. The BMW Group is committing to a more sustainable pathway, with the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees C.
Ford
Ford Motor Company intends to achieve carbon neutrality globally by 2050, while setting interim targets to more urgently address climate change challenges. Ford is the only full line U.S. automaker committed to doing its part to reduce CO2 emissions in line with the Paris Climate Agreement and working with California for stronger vehicle greenhouse gas standards.
Carbon neutrality refers to achieving zero carbon emissions by balancing such emissions with carbon removal. To achieve its goal, Ford will focus initially on three areas that account for approximately 95 percent of its CO2 emissions – vehicle use, its supply base and the company’s facilities.
Ford said it is setting the 2050 goal fully aware of challenges, including customer acceptance, government regulations, economic conditions and the availability of renewable, carbon-neutral electricity and renewable fuels.
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz as part of its "Ambition 2039" initiative, is working on offering a CO2-neutral new car fleet less than 20 years from now. The company wants electrically powered cars including all-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles to account for more than half of its sales already by 2030.
AA Motoring News
If you are interested to following what manufacturers are doing to reduce their carbon footprint, be sure to sign-up to our AA Motoring News located on our website for Part Two of this regular update.