Our concrete action plan
Vehicle use
Accelerating electrification
Vehicles are the main source of GHG emissions, owing to the exhaust fumes emitted by ICE engines, both petrol and diesel. These fumes account for 85% of total emissions. They are therefore our priority and the main way for carmakers to reduce their carbon footprint,.
Electrification is the first fundamental step to reducing our impact. Pioneers in electric mobility since around 2010, we now have around a dozen electric vehicles in our brand passenger car and LCV ranges.
This is a key strategic focus for the Group, which has set up an entity dedicated to electric mobility – Ampere – overseeing the sites producing the Group’s electric powertrains and vehicles.
Supporting the development of the electric ecosystem
We are also supporting the mobility market through the deployment of EVCI (Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure) points and charging services not only in our dealerships, but also in homes and businesses
We are also taking action to reduce the impact of our after-sales activities, in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and resource consumption. Applying the principles of the circular economy to extend the service life of products, we supply remanufactured, reconditioned original spares, equivalent to or even better than new parts in terms of quality. We also supply used parts from end-of-life vehicles and provide repair or retrofit services for converting ICE vehicles to electric power. To develop this range of products and services, Renault Group is supported by its entity dedicated to the automotive circular economy: The Future Is NEUTRAL.
Materials and end of life
Vehicle eco-design
From the design stage, we prefer low-GHG materials or recycled materials with a far smaller carbon footprint than new materials. We also work upstream with suppliers to source less carbon-intensive, recycled and/or bio-sourced materials. Our target is to achieve 33% of recycled content of by 2030.
Procurement
This is a fundamental issue, given that the process of parts and materials procurement for automotive production accounts for around 16% of the GHG emissions of each vehicle across its life cycle. Our target is to reduce emissions from the transportation of parts and vehicles.
Decarbonised procurement
Steel, aluminium, polymers, electronic components, glass and tyres. By focusing on these six components, we aim to reduce our carbon footprint. We will achieve this by developing a shared commitment with our key suppliers. To this end, we are working with our suppliers to implement carbon reporting for future projects.
We are also targeting a green, low-carbon, sustainable battery. We aim to reduce the carbon footprint of our batteries by developing low-carbon supply chains for batteries and materials such as nickel, lithium and cobalt.
Recycling and end-of-life
Recovering end-of-life vehicles is a key aspect of low-carbon mobility. Recovery is part of the process to build new cleaner vehicles with a lower impact. To achieve this aim, we are supported by The Future Is NEUTRAL, which has developed closed loops for recycling materials such as copper, plastic, steel and aluminium and feeding them back into the production of new vehicles.
We are keen to step up our efforts in this area, particularly for EV batteries, with the aim of reusing around 80% of recycled strategic ores – nickel, cobalt and lithium – in the manufacture of new batteries by 2030.
Production
Although the actual vehicle production process accounts for just a small proportion of the manufacturer’s carbon footprint (less than 1% in the case of Renault Group), it is nevertheless another area of action.
More compact plants
Reducing the size of our industrial facilities also contributes to reducing GHG emissions from our sites. Our objective is to reduce our covered surface area by 750,000m² by 2025. In 2023, the Douai site decreased its surface area by 63,000 m² and the Tangiers site by 13,000 m².
Optimising manufacturing processes
With the digitalisation of industry, energy use can be monitored in real time in order to improve efficiency. In 2022, we set up a dedicated energy portal – Ecogy – as part of our industrial metaverse. The portal gathers data on the use of electricity, gas, compressed air and water on a single interface. We have installed over 10,000 sensors, connecting them to the industrial metaverse to improve energy management.
Renewable energy supplies
To implement alternatives to fossil fuels at our manufacturing sites, we are working with a network of partners to make the transition to renewables, through initiatives involving photovoltaic, geothermal and biomass energies.
We are aiming to significantly reduce the amount of energy consumed for each vehicle produced, by 40% in France and 30% worldwide between now and 2025, compared with 2021. At end-2023, we had already achieved a 20% reduction across our plants. We are now two-thirds of the way to our goal.