Volvo Cars Launches Plan to 'Radically Reduce Carbon Emissions'

Swedish car brand Volvo recently launched one of the most ambitious plans in the automotive industry, aiming to reduce its lifecycle carbon footprint per car by 40 percent between 2018 and 2025. The said plan is the initial step to becoming a climate-neutral company by 2040. The move came after 'The Future of Electric Forum' organized by Volvo Philippines, which served as a platform for sustainable mobility discussions. The said forum paved the way for the introduction of T8 Twin Engine Plug-in Hybrids, making Volvo the first luxury vehicle company in the country to bring such locally. The Volvo vehicles with the T8 Twin Engine Plug-in Hybrids variants are the Volvo S90 sedan, and the Volvo XC60 and Volvo XC90 SUVs. The forum opened with a daring reply to the call of the times with Volvo PH President and Chief Executive Officer Atty. Alberto Arcilla proudly saying, "Yes, we dare." This bold statement is a reflection of the global Volvo community’s response to the global environmental woes. As a near term step towards its 2040 ambition, Volvo Cars is implementing a set of ambitious, immediate measures in its efforts to reduce the company's lifecycle CO2 footprint per car by 40 percent between 2018 and 2025. At that point in time, the company also aims for its global manufacturing network to be fully climate neutral. "We are transforming our company through concrete actions, not symbolic pledges," said Håkan Samuelsson, chief executive. "So at Volvo Cars, we will address what we control, which is both our operations and the tailpipe emissions of our cars. And we will address what we can influence, by calling on our suppliers and the energy sector to join us in aiming for a climate-neutral future." To realize the significant 40 percent reduction of its CO2 footprint per car by 2025, the company has devised a number of ambitions for different parts of its operations. The previously communicated goal of generating 50 percent of global sales from fully electric cars by 2025 is a prominent one, which would result in a 50 percent reduction in tailpipe carbon emissions per car between 2018 and 2025. Other short-term ambitions include a 25 percent reduction of CO2 emissions related to its global supply chain by 2025, a 25 percent share of recycled plastics in new Volvo cars by 2025, and a 25 percent reduction of carbon emissions generated by the company’s overall operations, including manufacturing and logistics. Volvo Cars was the first conventional car maker to commit to all-out electrification and phasing out cars powered only by an internal combustion engine. As of this year, every new Volvo launched will be electrified starting with its first fully electric car, the XC40 Recharge. At the forum, Niclas Bratt, head of Propulsion Energy Systems and Controls & Calibration for Volvo Asia Pacific, emphasized that the time to go electric is now. Global trends such as urbanization, road traffic and commuting time, and air pollution have led people to look for other more sustainable ways of traveling. Volvo's Market Area Director for the Asia Pacific, Jakob Olsson, shared that Volvo is fully committed to sustainability and electrification. Climate change and pollution issues are taken very seriously at Volvo that is why there are a host of programs that are already in place to achieve the target of putting 1 million electrified vehicles on the road by 2025.