THE SUSTAINABILITY INTERVIEW
“ I think there ’ s an inherent fear of change in traditional industries , not only automotive , but all industries ”
up and the dialogue around . In Glasgow we had this zero-emission vehicle declaration that we had high hopes for . The result : very few car companies signed that .
In Glasgow we realised that the automotive industry is very silent about the climate topic , very siloed , which is weird since passenger vehicles stand for 15 % of global greenhouse gases . So , we went to Dubai with a clear message , which was shared in our pathway report , that the automotive industry needs to take collective action now to start decreasing emissions from passenger vehicles .
There are three very impactful levers that we can use . We can use the scale up of the technology that we have ; the scale-up potential within a decade . We can , and should , scale up so that we don ’ t sell ICE cars after 2032 . And then make sure we build out renewable energy so that it can power the charging grids . The third one is to focus on the supply-chain-related emissions and decarbonise the production of cars .
But we were very lonely down there in Dubai . I saw a handful of OEMs , the big ones I didn ’ t even see or take notice of , not even on transportation day on the 6th of December when we could show up and talk about our commitments .
Q . WHAT IS THE BENEFIT OF BEING A PURE – PLAY EV COMPANY ?
» It does make it possible for us to really start tapping into the business potential of technology and renewable energy . It puts us in a position where we can really be in the forefront . I think it ’ s weird that other OEMs have not positioned themselves in a better way . But then again , look at Volvo , it is a great example of an OEM that is taking really bold steps to phase out fossil-fuel-powered cars and also turning to the decarbonisation efforts within production . I really don ’ t think OEMs are tied back by their interests in ICEs . It is now a matter of shifting as quickly as possible for their own benefit .
Q . WHY DO YOU THINK COMPANIES ARE SLOW TO COMMIT ?
» I think there ’ s an inherent fear of change in traditional industries , not only automotive , but all industries . If you ’ ve been around for a while , you ’ ve settled into your way of working and this inevitably creates a fear of change . But I do think that we need to give props to many of the automotive players because I ’ m seeing very exciting things that they are doing in terms of building the infrastructure for electric vehicles and so on .
Those are the things we want to see more of , because that will enable this ecosystem . We also have OEMs looking into shared services . I do think that there are good things going on that we need to respect and I would like to see more of that . Also an
16 February 2024