The Swedish/Chinese car manufacturer Volvo Cars switches to renewable fuels for ocean freight. The company claims that this will cut fossil CO2 emissions by 84%.

“Every year, tens of thousands of containers of production material destined for Volvo Cars factories are carried across the world’s oceans on container ships. From now on, most seafaring journeys are made with renewable fuels instead of traditional fossil fuels,” says the press release.

As the first global carmaker to announce such a switch, Volvo claims it will achieve an immediate reduction in fossil CO2 emissions from intercontinental ocean freight by 55 000 tons over a year.

“Thanks to renewable fuel, CO₂ emissions are reduced by at least 84% compared to fossil fuel,” says Volvo. “The reduction is equivalent to the CO₂ emissions of a full truck driving around the equator about 1 200 times.”

FAME

“The fuel used is Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAME) and is based on renewable and sustainable sources, mainly waste cooking oil. No feedstock related to palm oil or palm oil production is used,” Volvo insists.

Volvo will use renewable fuel for inbound ocean container transports of production material destined for manufacturing plants based in Europe and the Americas and all spare parts distribution made globally by ocean container transports.

“Renewable fuel is not the end game for removing CO₂ from the world’s ocean freight needs,” says Javier Varela, Volvo’s COO and Deputy CEO. “Yet, this initiative shows that we can act now and implement solutions that achieve significant results while waiting 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 carmakers into action, increase demand for carbon-efficient ocean transports, and establish renewable fuels as a mid-term solution that works. We all have a responsibility to act.”

Logistic partners

Volvo has been working on this initiative with its logistics partners Maersk, Kuehne+Nagel, and DB Schenker. 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.

When renewable fuel is unavailable on a specific shipment, the resource allocation is 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.

“This methodology, called mass-balancing, is third-party audited regularly. The renewable fuel is certified and not produced in competition with food crops. Therefore, it is sustainable, according to the EU Renewable Energy Directive,” explains the manufacturer.

Ambitious

“We’re continually exploring sustainability opportunities across all aspects of our supply chain and our overall business,” Javier Varela further explains. “Our list of initiatives keeps growing as we work toward our ambition of becoming a climate-neutral company by 2040.”

Volvo’s ambition is to reduce its lifecycle carbon footprint per car by 40% between 2018 and 2025, which requires a 25% reduction in operational emissions, including logistics. The aim is also to have climate-neutral manufacturing by 2025. “These milestones are important steps toward our climate-neutral ambitions,” the press release concludes.