Swiss-based automaker Volvo Cars and some of its transport partners are shifting into renewable fuels to decarbonize container shipping of the vehicles across oceans.
Volvo Cars has announced a switch to renewable fuel, Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAME), instead of fossil fuel, for ocean freight to help achieve reduction of CO2 emissions by about 84 percent and 55,000 metric tons annually.
FAME is derived from renewable and sustainable sources and feedstock related to palm. It is certified and sustainable in accordance with the EU Renewable Energy Directive.
“We’re continually exploring sustainability opportunities across all aspects of our supply chain, and across our overall business,” said Javier Varela, Chief Operating Officer and Deputy CEO of Volvo Cars. “Our list of initiatives keeps growing as we work towards our ambition of becoming a climate neutral company by 2040.”
Volvo Cars' logistics partners Maersk, Kuehne+Nagel and DB Schenker have also switched to renewable fuel for equivalent energy needed for all container transports done to the company. The reduction in fossil fuel use is balanced with the actual usage in container vessels through the company's mass-balancing methodology, which is third-party audited regularly.
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The company will not only use renewable fuel for inbound ocean container transports of production material to be sent at manufacturing plants in Europe and the Americas, but will also utilize it for global spare parts distribution.
As part of Volvo Cars' climate neutral ambitions, the company aims to reduce lifecycle carbon footprint per car by 40 percent between 2018 and 2025, which requires a 25 percent reduction in operational emissions, including logistics. The company is also looking forward to climate-neutral manufacturing by 2025.
“We don’t view this initiative as a competitive advantage,” Varela added. "On the contrary, we want to spark other car makers into action as well, to increase demand for carbon efficient ocean transports and to establish renewable fuels as a mid-term solution that works. We all have a responsibility to act.”
