16 AUTOCAR.CO.UK 2 1 AUGUST 2019
T
he automotive industry
is fully committed tothe development of
zero-emission cars, but
pressure is growing to achieve
CO 2 -neutrality across the
entire production and supply
process, including production
facilities, their networks of
suppliers, and the trains, trucks,
ships and planes that move
components and vehicles.
The industry already
acknowledges the issue, with
many car makers quoting the
quantity of CO 2 generated per
car during its manufacture. The
average figure for the BMW
Group, which includes Mini and
Rolls-Royce, currently stands
at 0.40 tonnes per unit – down
by a n i m p r e s s i ve 3 9 % ove r th e
Industry eyes CO
2
-free productionAmid the push towards clean EVs, car makers target emission-free manufacturing
WELL TO WHEEL: EV vs DIESEL CO 2 OUTPUT
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Golf Diesel e-Golf Kilometres driven
150,000 200,
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q
30
25
20
15
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past five years – although the
plan is to reduce CO 2 outputper unit to zero. For Nissan the
figure is 0.49 tonnes per unit,
for Toyota it is 0.39 tonnes and
for Volkswagen a rather less
encouraging 0.72 tonnes.
Dr Jury Witschnig, the
BMW Group’s head of product
sustainability, says having
reduced its own production
CO 2 footprint, the intention
now is to “help our suppliers”.
Most of the BMW Group’s
suppliers have already signed
up to such a programme, and
Witschnig adds that along with
the environmental and social
benefits of CO 2 reduction
comes the further incentive of
cost reductions.
Achieving CO 2 -neutral
production is slightly easier
with new-build plants. BMW’slatest, opened earlier this year
in Mexico, is “unique among
car plants for having solar
panels built in from the start”,
according to Witschnig. The
panels contribute towards
the factory’s 100% CO 2 -free
energy supply goal that is set
to be achieved by next year,
and experience from this plant
is now being rolled out across
the company’s brownfield
sites. Volvo, meanwhile,
already has one CO 2 -neutral
production plant and plans to
achieve the same across its
entire network by 2025.
BMW’s CO 2 -reduction
activities are part of a broader
environmental initiative. The
current one, triggered in 2012,
requires water, energy andsolvent use and waste material
production to drop by 45%
next year compared with 2006,
while 79% of the group’s
energy supply now comes from
renewable sources.
Mercedes, meanwhile,
aims to make all its plants
CO 2 -neutral by 2022, with the
goal that the cars themselves
become CO 2 -neutral by 2039.
It is focusing on eco-training for
its workforce, saying that will
make a significant contribution.
Nissan’s Sustainability 2022
p l a n i n d i c a te s th a t i t ’s n o t
always easy to hit such targets,
in the Japanese maker’s case
an 80% reduction in CO 2 from
corporate activities by 2050
over 2000. The 2.6 million
tonnes of CO 2 the corporationemitted last year is actually an
i n c r e a s e o n th e 2. 4 m p r o d u ce d
in 2005, but it should be noted
that BMW’s energy use also
rose last year. The reason, says
Witschnig, was the unusually
hot summer. Nissan has
nevertheless achieved a 33.7%
CO 2 reduction per vehicle
produced since 2005.
Nissan’s alliance partner
Renault plans a CO 2 -per-car
full-life-cycle reduction of 25%
from 2010 to 2022. The French
firm’s flagship eco-factory is in
Morocco, where its Dacia plant
draws on renewable energy
supplied by an innovative
biomass heating plant fuelled
by olive pits and wood, the ash
Production Use phase Recycling
An e - Go l f m u st d r i ve
77,000 miles to be
greener than a diesel