Volvo Cuts Carbon Footprint With New Delivery Strategy
Iconic Swedish luxury automaker reduces CO2 output dramatically by switching from trucks to trains for transporting new Volvo models.
Volvo vows to become a climate-neutral company by the year 2040. This doesn’t just apply to the emissions standards of their cars, either. They plan on the entire company, including manufacturing and shipping logistics, being climate-neutral. Obviously, this is no easy task. Though 2040 may seem like a distant future at this point, the efforts required to make this goal a reality take a drastic toll on the company’s current functionality.
However, Volvo recently took a big step toward that goal by changing their shipping methods. Instead of delivering new Volvos on trucks, they are now shipping on trains. Though it may seem like this change may not make a huge improvement, the numbers will probably surprise you.
According to Volvo, their CO2 output saw a decrease of 75 percent between their Ghent, Belgium production plant and their purpose-built distribution depot in northern Italy. On another rail-based expedition from the same Belgium plant to Austria, they saw a decrease of nearly 50 percent. Volvo aims to reduce its overall carbon footprint per vehicle by 40 percent by 2025, and this is a major step in the right direction. Additionally, they are seeking ways to further their use of rail transport throughout China and The United States. The cars are already transported from their plant in China to their Belgium plant by train two times a week. Additionally, they use trains to transport cars from their Charleston, North Carolina plant stateside. According to Volvo, this is offsetting the emissions of dozens of trucks.
“When we said we planned to significantly reduce emissions across all our operations, we meant it. Our logistics network is just one piece of that puzzle, but an important one nevertheless. This is one example of our commitment to reducing our impact on the environment through meaningful, concrete steps,” said Javier Varela, Senior Vice President of Manufacturing and Logistics at Volvo Cars.
Overall, this effort combined with Volvo’s excellent lineup of plug-in hybrid cars and future ventures in fully electric vehicles is driving them toward their goal. It is going to be a struggle to meet these goals. However, we are excited to see Volvo’s future ventures.
Photos: Volvo