According to Volvo Cars, thousands of containers of production material for Volvo Cars factories are carried across the world’s oceans on container ships. Like most manufacturers do as it is the cheapest way of getting bulk items from one end to another. However, from now, the container ships used by Volvo Cars are made with renewable fuel instead of traditional fossil fuel. Volvo Cars are the first to announce such a move. The Swedish company will achieve an immediate reduction in fossil CO2 emissions from intercontinental ocean freight by an estimated 55,000 tonnes over a year. Thus, technically saving many manatees, dolphins and polar bears in a single swoop.
Volvo Cars claim that CO2 emissions are reduced by at least 84 per cent* compared to fossil fuel. The reduction is equivalent to the CO2 emissions of a full truck driving around the equator about 1,200 times. The fuel used is Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAME) and is based on renewable and sustainable sources, mainly waste cooking oil. Also, no feedstock related to palm oil or palm oil production is used so the fuel isn't new material but totally from waste products.
Of course, for the moment, Volvo Cars will use renewable fuel for inbound ocean container transports of production material destined for manufacturing plants based in Europe and the Americas only, as well as all spare parts distribution made globally by ocean container transports.Still quite a good first step, as 55,000 tones is a lot. As I said, many dolphins would be pleased.
“Renewable fuel is not the end game for removing CO2 from the world’s ocean freight needs,” says Javier Varela, Volvo Cars Chief Operating Officer and Deputy CEO. “Yet this initiative shows that we can act now and implement solutions that achieve significant results during the wait for long-term technological alternatives.”
“We don’t view this initiative as a competitive advantage,” Javier adds. “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.”
Volvo Cars has been working on this initiative together with our logistics partners Maersk, Kuehne+Nagel and DB Schenker. These are very large and established logistics companies and it looks like they have embraced a lot of the current push for ESG (environment, social and government initiatives). These logistics service providers have from 1 June 2023 switched to renewable fuel for equivalent energy needed for all container transports done for Volvo Cars.
In the case where renewable fuel is not available on a specific shipment, renewable fuel allocation is instead used by the logistics partner for another customer’s route elsewhere, so the overall cut in fossil fuel use is kept on par with actual use in container vessels. The methodology, called mass-balancing, is third-party audited regularly. The renewable fuel itself is certified and not produced in competition with food crops. It is therefore 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,” Javier Varela says. “Our list of initiatives keeps growing as we work towards our ambition of becoming a climate neutral company by 2040.”
Volvo Cars’ ambition is to reduce their lifecycle carbon footprint per car by 40 per cent between 2018 and 2025, which requires a 25 per cent reduction in operational emissions, including logistics. We’re also aiming for climate-neutral manufacturing by 2025. Both these milestones are important steps towards Volvo Cars’ climate neutral ambitions. Good for them. Good for us.
* Comparison of fuels include emissions from production and use of the equivalent amount of energy,so called Well-to-Wake (WTW)
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