Volvo Cars recently hosted a panel discussion on sustainability in association with #bigbmeetup, an initiative by Bigbfotografi founder Bosco Menezes.
For Volvo Cars, sustainability is as important as safety as the brand aims to be a climate-neutral company by 2040. Hosting the #bigbmeetup on sustainability helps drive this key message for Volvo cars.
#bigbmeetup is a community initiative started by Menezes in 2018. Menezes is a photographer, artist and social activist. The mission statement of #bigbmeetup is to inspire, inform, educate and bring diverse communities together. The initiative is focused on four themes: sports and wellness, This Ability – championing people who are differently-abled, celebrating artists and estedaama (sustainability).
Sustainability panel
The event brought together sustainability champions and environmentalists who discussed the challenges confronting sustainable practices. They spoke about their personal experiences and accomplishments in leading a more sustainable life. The four panellists included Evergreen Organics owner and Enbat Holdings CEO Ghanim Al Sulaiti; Greener Future founder Aisha Al Maadeed; wellness advocate and fitness instructor Reem Al Muftah; and renowned architect Dr Ferhan Sakal, who plays an integral part in the Environment Action Protection Group in Qatar. The event was also graced by Sweden’s Ambassador to Qatar, HE Anders Bengtcén and Dr Saif Al Hajri, a noted environmental advisor from the NGO, A Flower Each Spring.
The guests shared their thoughts on sustainability, its importance in Qatar and how their organisations are driving sustainability in Qatar through their own initiatives and through collaboration with various other organisations. The event was attended by a number of sustainability enthusiasts and environmentalists and live-streamed on #bigbmeetup virtual channels.
Safety and sustainability
According to Domasco Volvo Managing Director Jonathan Pollock, Volvo cars has always been known for safety, however, for Volvo, sustainability is as important.
As an automotive manufacturer, Volvo has recognised that indeed they need to be part of the solution to global warming, not be part of the problem. Volvo is looking to make a meaningful contribution to global efforts to limit warming to 1.5 degrees to avoid significant harm to the planet and society. With Volvo’s long-term visions and short-term ambitions, they have made it clear that carbon reduction will be a top priority for them as a company, and even for people who work with them. They pledge to be fully transparent about the progress made in this regard.
Volvo is currently working on reducing its CO2 footprint, aiming to become a circular business, developing second-life applications for electric vehicle batteries and producing sustainable batteries.
Driving sustainability
Volvo Cars have been driving sustainability across its value chain. In addition to their long-term ambition to be climate neutral by 2040, they have several short-term targets to immediately reduce their CO2 footprint per car by 40% by 2025. These reductions also consider their entire operations addressing CO2 emission across the value chain.
Long-term visions, as well as detailed short-term ambitions, include a 50% reduction in fleet tailpipe carbon emissions, a 25% reduction per car in supply chain carbon emissions, 25% reduction per car in operational carbon emissions, including from manufacturing and logistics.
Volvo Cars also aims for annual savings of QAR400 million and reductions of 2.5 million tonnes in carbon emissions from 2025 using circular business principles. Supporting the company’s long-term goal of becoming a circular business by 2040, Volvo Cars will create closed material loops for emission-heavy materials such as steel and aluminium, as well as remanufacture, repair, reuse and refurbish parts.
Volvo Cars now ‘remanufacture’ parts such as gearboxes and engines to make better use of material and reduce emissions. In 2020, around 40,000 parts were remanufactured, saving nearly 3,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions. By 2025, Volvo Cars aim to more than double its remanufacturing business. To ensure that valuable material can be kept in circulation, the company recycled 95% of its production waste last year. This included 176,000 tonnes of steel, avoiding the generation of nearly 640,000 tonnes of CO2.
Sustainable car batteries
Earlier this year, Volvo Cars Group announced a planned collaboration with Northvolt to develop and produce sustainable batteries. These will be tailored to power the next generation of pure electric Volvo cars and secure a future supply of sustainable batteries needed to support growth.
The collaboration with Northvolt is key to Volvo Cars’ ambition to become a leader in the premium electric car segment and sell only pure electric vehicles by 2030. As Volvo Cars are moving towards becoming an all-electric car company, the importance of sustainability increases in parallel. While the company will increase the battery energy in its cars over the coming decade, it will also work to continuously reduce its carbon impact. Battery cells from Volvo Cars’ planned collaboration with Northvolt aim to use 100% renewable energy in production while working with other battery suppliers to do the same by 2025.
Volvo Cars also have a clear strategy to further reduce the carbon impact of batteries by making better use of the valuable material contained in them. Wherever possible, it intends to remanufacture or reuse batteries. It is also investigating potential second-life applications, such as energy storage.
Volvo cars are distributed in Qatar by Doha Marketing Services Company (DOMASCO), a leading multi-brand company in Qatar and a member of the Al-Futtaim Group. It has a diversified portfolio of passenger cars, motorbikes, commercial vehicles, marine and power products, watches and electronics, representing some of the world’s most visible and award-winning brands. Al-Futtaim Automotive is one of the five divisions within the Al-Futtaim Group providing quality products and services that enrich people’s lives and aspirations.
Visit volvocars.com for more information about Volvo cars available in Qatar.
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