Sustainable Procurement News

All of Volvo’s future electric cars will be 100% leather-free, as the Swedish carmaker takes an ethical stand for animal welfare. By 2025, Volvo wants 25% of the material in new cars to consist of recycled and bio-based content. This goal is also driven by a concern about the negative environmental impacts of cattle farming, including deforestation.

When automobiles are at the end of their life, as much as 20% of their materials — referred to as automotive shredder residue (ASR) — currently end up in landfills, according to Eastman. Now, the specialty materials company is partnering on a feasibility study in hopes of demonstrating that ASR can be recycled back into automotive parts to further circularity in the automotive supply chain.

Last month, Tesla released its Conflict Mineral Report for the fiscal year ending on December 31, 2019, and emphasized the importance of sourcing only responsibly produced materials. “This means having safe and humane working conditions in our supply chain and ensuring that workers are treated with respect and dignity,” the company said in its SEC filing.

Volvo has joined forces with Swedish steel manufacturer SSAB to explore the development of fossil fuel-free steel for its cars.

This makes Volvo the first automaker to embark on the search of a green alternative for steel production, which is otherwise responsible for about 7% of global direct carbon emissions.

Specifically, steelmaking has a big carbon footprint, generating last year over 3 billion tons of CO2. That’s because the furnaces that melt iron ore to make steel consume vast amounts of coal, which is a major energy source, but a fossil fuel nonetheless. 

Toyota Motor Manufacturing’s plant in Wales, UK, could be powered by biogas with the help of EQTEC.

EQTEC has signed a collaboration framework agreement with Toyota Motor Manufacturing for the development of a waste-to-energy project in Flintshire, Wales.

The agreement will be in place through EQTEC’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Logik WTE, the existing project special purpose vehicle for the Deeside Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) project in Flintshire.

In June, Tesla released its 2019 Impact Report, which outlines its commitment to responsibly sourcing the materials used in its battery cells. In the report, Tesla stated that it would not be willing to obtain materials from mines and entities who were using immoral mining practices, including child labor. Through due diligence practices, Tesla can source its materials from companies that abide by the automaker’s wishes. It appears that other car manufacturers are adopting the same techniques as the Elon Musk-headed company.

Mercedes-Benz has announced that it will begin sourcing cobalt and lithium from mining sites certified in practicing moral mining techniques. While EVs are zero-emissions vehicles, the entire supply chain must follow the lead as much as possible to confirm the product is as eco-friendly as possible.

“Additionally, Bridgestone has partnered with leading sustainability ratings provider EcoVadis to identify suppliers that uphold best practices in environmental, social and ethical performance across our supply chain,” Higgins says...

BMW has announced a supplier’s carbon footprint will be a key factor in tendering decisions under a wide-ranging sustainability initiative.

The carmaker said it is aiming for carbon emissions from production and sites to be lowered by 80% per vehicle and it believed its changes would give it the most sustainable supply chain in the auto industry.

Oliver Zipse, chairman of the board of management at BMW, said a key part of the company’s strategy was the development of electric vehicles.

As consumers increasingly expect the automotive industry to improve its sustainability profile, many in the sector have admitted it needs to step up and take collective responsibility for its contribution to escalating greenhouse gas emissions. However, despite improved efforts, new research has found that automotive firms are still lagging to meet global sustainability targets

Mercedes-Benz Cars has launched a pilot project to improve transparency on how much CO2 is emitted in the transport of source materials, starting with recycled cobalt. 
The trial will extend the company’s existing use of blockchain technology by tracking climate-relevant gases and other material along battery cell manufacturers’ supply chains, giving greater weight to carbon dioxide savings and proof of environmentally sustainable handling of resources in procurement.

At a digital event in the run-up to the Extreme E race in Greenland, Continental gave an overview of its commitment to the Extreme E series as well as the current sustainability projects of the Tires business area. “We have been investing in research and development for many years to drive innovative technologies, alternative and sustainable materials, and environmentally friendly production processes,” says Philipp von Hirschheydt, Head of Business Unit Replacement Tires at Continental. “Our cooperation with Extreme E is additionally an integral part of our strategy to roll out the priority of sustainability to new target groups.”

BHP will now supply some of the world’s lowest-carbon nickel to Tesla, while BASF will supply Porsche with high-energy HED™ cathode active materials and recycle battery-production waste to close the loop.

Rolls-Royce believes that the development and application of advanced technologies will allow ”the benefits of flying while having it at net zero”, according to its chief executive.

The UK propulsion specialist yesterday revealed its strategy for achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 at the latest. “Wholesale transformation of the systems that make up the backbone of our global economy is required to achieve net zero,” it says.

BMW Group has announced it is to begin sourcing aluminium produced using solar electricity with immediate effect in a move that could deliver significant reductions to its supply chain emissions.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has made it official: the government will bring forward the ban on the sale of cars with combustion engines by five years to 2030. This measure is part of a new ten-point plan for a “green industrial revolution”.

There is an exception for certain plug-in hybrids: they will receive a grace period until 2035, provided they can cover a “substantial distance” purely electrically. The required electric range has not yet been defined in more detail. What is clear is that new cars with a combustion engine may no longer be registered in ten years.

With the “green industrial revolution”, the Prime Minister wants to combat climate change and create jobs, for example in the energy sector – and to preserve those in the automotive industry as far as possible. The government is talking about 250,000 “green jobs” and wants to invest 12 billion pounds (13.4 billion euros) by 2030 and hopes that three times this amount will be added by private industry. The new incentives will add four billion pounds for immediate release. Critics have said that this is not enough for the transformation envisaged.

Tesla has joined the Fair Cobalt Alliance, a group dedicated to the development of fair cobalt by ensuring responsible mining practices and challenging investments into mine improvements. The organization also aims to minimize the environmental impact of cobalt mining and create decent working conditions for those who work at a mine.

FCA works to keep children from working within any cobalt mine as well, as the group establishes control and monitoring mechanisms to ensure fair labor that does not include underage workers.

Tesla is one of ten total members of the Fair Cobalt Alliance, joining Glencore, the company’s cobalt provider.

US firm commits to slashing its vehicle use, supply base and building greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Paris Agreement by electrifying its fleet, embracing a circular business model and transitioning all its manufacturing plants to clean energy by 2035.

Importance of the supply chain in the transport and automotive sectors?
In the transport sector, the electric vehicle is a very good example representing supply chain challenges: If the electric car is really a future solution for individual mobility, it is important to redirect the market toward lighter cars and to start thinking about limiting the environmental impacts related to their production today.

For example, in France Stratégie’s analysis paper, “How can we now reduce CO2 emissions from cars?” I recall that manufacturing an electric car battery consumes as much energy as the car itself.

The waste generated by residential buildings may seem enormous, but the waste produced by factories is an awful lot more. In Europe, factories produce 46 million metric tons more waste than households every year. Surprisingly, unlike households, they are not as incentivized to reduce and retrieve waste. European Union waste legislation, for instance, contains targets that focus mostly on household waste whilst industrial waste landfilling is still often cheaper than incineration or recycling. In France, for example, the average cost of recycling, excluding taxes, is $156.10 per metric ton compared to $113.82 for incineration and $73.71 for landfilling.

Even though 62% of auto organisations have a comprehensive sustainability initiative, the report by Capgemini found that focus on the entire supply chain isn’t consistent enough.

52% of auto companies were found to be deploying an initiative that involved ‘supporting and promoting a circular economy’, while just 8% cited ‘sustainability in IT’ as a priority

Fiat Chrysler (FCA) recently joined forces with the Responsible Sourcing Blockchain Network in a move to improve its sustainability efforts. The automaker will begin using blockchain technology to help ensure sustainable sourcing and production practices through audits that map the mining history of its raw cobalt supply.