BMW Group puts sustainability at core of corporate strategy

The BMW Group — parent firm to brands like BMW, Mini, Rolls-Royce, and BMW Motorrad — has previously announced its aim to become a circular company with plans of achieving climate neutrality by 2050.

The company shared that it is well on track in achieving the abovementioned targets as it places sustainability at the core of its corporate strategy.

“We are consistently driving the issue of sustainability with our innovations. The current raw materials debate also validates our drive toward a circular economy. We want to make the best possible use of the raw materials in our end-of-life vehicles and recycle them in the production of new vehicles. We will continue to reduce CO2 emissions and conserve natural resources through maximum energy and raw material efficiency,” said BMW Group Sustainability and Mobility Lead Thomas Becker.

Plans laid out by the BMW Group are based on a scientifically validated and transparent path that is in line with the most ambitious target of the Paris Climate Agreement.

One of the ways the BMW Group plans to achieve its sustainability goals is by using secondary raw materials.

Up to 10,000 vehicles from the BMW Group’s brands are recycled each year at the company’s Recycling and Dismantling Center (RDZ) in Munich. The RDZ has also used innovative methods for many years to recycle high-voltage batteries from electrified vehicles.

In China, the BMW Brilliance Automotive (BBA) joint venture has now, for the first time, established a closed cycle for reusing the raw materials nickel, lithium, and cobalt from high-voltage batteries.

The BMW Group has also established closed loops for steel and aluminum between its production sites and suppliers. Per the BMW Group, around 70 percent of the steel waste from the pressing plants and the aluminum residues is being reused.

An average of almost 30 percent of BMW Group vehicles are already made from recycled and reused materials today. In the longer term, the “Secondary First” approach aims to increase this figure to 50 percent.

The BMW Group has also paid special attention to responsibly sourcing raw materials and the conservation of natural resources. The firm believes that in order to build the most sustainable supply chain in the automotive industry, it has to focus on protecting natural resources, complying with environmental and social standards, and reducing CO2 emissions.

Speaking of which, the BMW Group has implemented the use of green electricity to reduce the overall CO2 emissions in its supply chain. The company has been sourcing aluminum from the United Arab Emirates since February 2021 using electricity generated from solar energy. In addition, the BMW Group has also inked more than 400 contracts with its suppliers to use 100-percent green electricity.

CO2 emissions are also being continuously reduced in the steel supply chain. From 2025 onwards, the BMW Group will purchase CO2-reduced steel that is produced not using fossil-based raw materials such as coal but instead using natural gas or hydrogen and green electricity.

The BMW Group is consistently driving forward the electrification of its entire fleet. By 2030, at least one in two cars sold by the BMW Group will be fully electric. The Mini and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars brands will offer only fully electric vehicles from 2030.

“However, sustainability means much more for the BMW Group than merely building and selling electrically powered vehicles. Only a comprehensive sustainability approach from resource to recycling actually achieves a bottom-line reduction of CO2 emissions,” Becker said.

CO2 savings in the supply chain are becoming enormously important as e-mobility ramps up, especially in view of the energy intensive production of high-voltage batteries. The BMW Group aims to buck the trend by reducing CO2 emissions in the supply chain by 20 percent by 2030.

Photos from BMW Group

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