Each year, Volvo Cars transports tens of thousands of containers packed with production materials across the world's oceans, destined for its factories. From this point forward, these voyages will primarily be powered by renewable fuels, significantly mitigating the company's carbon footprint.
The impact of this switch is remarkable, reducing emissions equivalent to the amount generated by a truck driving around the equator 1,200 times. This bold step forms part of Volvo Cars' ongoing commitment to sustainable practices and its ambitious goal of becoming a climate-neutral company by 2040.
The renewable fuel in use, known as Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAME), originates predominantly from waste cooking oil, ensuring no involvement of feedstocks related to palm oil production. FAME will power the ocean container transports bringing production materials to Volvo's manufacturing plants in Europe and the Americas, and all global spare parts distribution.
Commenting on the initiative, Javier Varela, Chief Operating Officer and Deputy CEO of Volvo Cars, said, "Renewable fuel is not the end game for removing CO2 from the world’s ocean freight needs. Yet, this initiative shows that we can act now and implement solutions that achieve significant results during the wait for long-term technological alternatives."
While Varela stressed the initiative wasn't seen as a competitive advantage, he expressed a hope that other car manufacturers would follow suit. The aim is to stimulate demand for carbon-efficient ocean transports and position renewable fuels as an effective interim solution.
Behind this initiative stand Volvo's logistics partners, Maersk, Kuehne+Nagel, and DB Schenker. As of June 1, 2023, these providers have switched to renewable fuel for all container transports serving Volvo Cars. In cases where renewable fuel isn't available for a specific shipment, the allocation will be used on another customer's route to maintain overall fossil fuel reduction.
Source: Volvo