Truck, bus and construction equipment company Volvo Group announced today a series of climate initiatives and targets, including a goal to achieve net zero value chain emissions by 2040. The company also announced that its climate targets have been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), and that it has committed to the SBTi’s Business Ambition for 1.5 °C.

The new initiatives follow Volvo’s pledge last November to set science-based emissions reduction targets, aligned with its goal to be a net zero emissions company by 2050.

SBTi was formed as a collaboration between CDP, World Resources Institute (WRI), the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), and the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), with the goal to establish science-based environmental target setting as a standard corporate practice. Achieving approval of targets by SBTi is a significant milestone for companies’ sustainability efforts. Volvo Group’s targets align with SBTi’s most stringent category of limiting global warming to 1.5°C, and the company has joined the Business Ambition for 1.5°C, a call to action from a global coalition of UN agencies, business and industry leaders, spearheaded by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), urging companies to commit to set ambitious science-based emissions reduction targets, aligned with limiting global warming to 1.5°C.

Volvo Group announced that it has developed its own pathway towards the 1.5⁰C target for trucks and buses, with a targeted emissions reduction of 40% per vehicle km by 2030. Additionally, the company stated that its targets for indirect emissions covers an industry leading approximately 95% of products sold, well above SBTi’s minimum requirement of 67%.

For the new net zero value chain emissions goal, Volvo explained that with an average product lifetime of ten years, a 2040 target is necessary for its entire rolling fleet to have net-zero emissions by 2050.

Martin Lundstedt, President and CEO of Volvo Group, said:

“Climate change is real and one of the greatest challenges of our time. The Volvo Group has embarked on an irreversible transformational journey to change our offering with an ambition to be 100 percent safe, 100 percent fossil-free and 100 percent more productive. We are ready to drive the needed transformation journey for our industry together with our customers, partners and society.”

The post Volvo Group Targets Net Zero Value Chain Emissions, Climate Goals Approved by SBTi appeared first on ESG Today.