Driving industrial decarbonization through energy efficiency and renewable energy
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How can industrial facilities be decarbonized while maintaining their competitiveness? At Renault Group, the industrial energy transition is based on a combination of energy efficiency measures and low-carbon energy sourcing. Wind power, solar photovoltaic energy, biomass, process optimization and smart energy management are all levers that help reduce the carbon footprint of industrial sites while supporting the Group’s ambition to cut greenhouse gas emissions from vehicle manufacturing by 72% by 2035, compared to 2019.
Key takeaways
- Renault Group’s industrial decarbonization strategy is built on energy efficiency improvements and the use of renewable energy across its manufacturing plants.
- Wind power, solar energy and biomass enable industrial sites to cover a significant share of their electricity and heating needs.
- Energy efficiency measures, including plant footprint optimization and improvements to the most energy-intensive processes, help reduce the carbon footprint of our factories.
- These efforts support Renault Group’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from its industrial sites by 72% by 2035 compared with 2019 levels.
- The Tangier plant in Morocco, where more than 90% of energy needs are covered by wind power and biomass, is a particularly illustrative example of this strategy.
Combining sustainability with business competitiveness and profitability
FutuREady, Renault Group’s strategic plan, positions sustainability as a key driver of operational excellence. Our roadmap translates into concrete actions aimed at:
- Reducing greenhouse gas emissions throughout the vehicle lifecycle, both upstream and downstream of production.
- Adopting a more resource- and energy-efficient approach.
- Helping reduce biodiversity impacts across the Group’s sites.
Most importantly, this transformation towards more sustainable mobility must be achieved while preserving the company’s competitiveness and profitability. This is the approach Renault Group has adopted for the decarbonization of its industrial sites, both in France and internationally.
Optimizing energy consumption at industrial sites
Renault Group’s approach is built on two main pillars: energy efficiency and the supply of renewable energy, low-carbon electricity and decarbonized heat to its manufacturing plants. Together, these initiatives support the objective of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from vehicle manufacturing by 72% between 2019 and 2035, a target validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) in June 2026.
Several levers are being deployed to improve energy efficiency. Increasing the compactness of industrial sites helps optimize the areas that require lighting and heating. Since 2023, the Douai plant in France, the Tangier plant in Morocco and the Revoz plant in Slovenia have together reduced their industrial footprint by more than 100,000 m2.
Implementing less energy-intensive industrial processes is another cornerstone of Renault Group’s energy efficiency strategy. Vehicle painting alone accounts for approximately 40% of a plant’s total energy consumption, making it a key area for optimization.
Simplifying painting processes, together with the recycling and reuse of already heated air within paint booths, has become a major focus for Renault Group’s Paint Engineering and Technical teams. These initiatives reduce heat energy requirements during this stage of vehicle production by more than 25%. They have already been deployed at Sandouville in France and Chennai in India, will soon be introduced in Pitești, Romania, and are expected to be rolled out to additional sites in the future.
At the local level, the paint shop at Renault Group’s Tangier plant in Morocco also operates with the support of a biomass installation developed in partnership with Veolia. The solution relies on locally available resources - residues from olive oil production and recycled wood from the site — to replace fossil fuels. Over the past fifteen years, this system has generated more than one million MWh of energy and avoided the emission of over 100,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually.
Finally, innovations and real-time energy management tools provide valuable support in reducing the consumption of electricity, gas and compressed air across Renault Group’s manufacturing plants.
Promoting the use of low-carbon energy
Renault Group’s industrial decarbonization strategy also relies on supplying its manufacturing plants with renewable electricity. Depending on their geographical location and the characteristics of the local energy grid, each site works to identify the most appropriate energy mix.
The Palencia and Valladolid plants in Spain, for example, use solar power, while the Pitești plant in Romania relies on electricity generated by hydropower dams. In Morocco, the Tangier plant sources green electricity from the country’s wind farms. In France, the national electricity mix, which includes a significant share of nuclear power, provides access to low-carbon electricity.
This industrial decarbonization strategy is reflected in Renault Group’s performance indicators:
- In Europe, 94% of the electricity used by Renault Group plants is low-carbon in 2026.
- At the International level, the figure reaches 91%.
Industrial decarbonization and competitiveness
Most importantly, Renault Group has been pursuing this approach for more than a decade without generating additional costs.“Our decarbonization policy across industrial sites follows a strict principle: never compromise the economic performance of our plants. In other words, the energy transition must take place without generating additional costs for the company and can, in some cases, even create value and savings,” Pierre Gilbert, Industrial Decarbonization Project Director, Renault Group.
The Tangier plant: a benchmark for water management, another pillar of Renault Group’s environmental strategy
In addition to using wind power and biomass to cover more than 90% of its energy needs, Renault Group’s Tangier plant also operates one of the most advanced water recycling systems in the automotive industry.
Its wastewater treatment facility operates in a closed-loop system: all industrial wastewater is treated and reused, with zero liquid discharge into the environment. The process combines physical-chemical and biological treatments, ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis and double evaporation to produce purified water that is reinjected into industrial processes.
This system reduces freshwater requirements by 40% and avoids the withdrawal of nearly 265,000 cubic metres of water every year, a major achievement in a region facing significant water stress.
FAQ
Renault Group leverages two complementary approaches: improving the energy efficiency of its industrial sites and increasing their use of renewable energy, low-carbon electricity and decarbonized heat. Together, these initiatives support the Group’s target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from industrial operations by 72% by 2035 compared with 2019 levels.
