Recently, mercedes-Benz Group held the first ESG (Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance) Forum and answered questions from the global media on carbon neutrality and related issues.
ESG reporting is a very hot concept in recent years, including three components: enviromental, which deals with emissions control, resource use, climate change, etc.; social, covering employment relations, supply management, community investment, etc.; corporate governance, related to board structure, bribery and corruption, etc.
In the context of the world's major economies seriously promoting carbon neutrality, ESG is an important reference for investors to examine the contribution of enterprises in promoting sustainable economic development and fulfilling social responsibilities, for example, Hong Kong has mandatorily required all companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange to disclose ESG content since 2016.
Holding the ESG Forum for the first time, the Mercedes-Benz Group also showed enough attention. Ola K llenius, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Mercedes-Benz Group, attended the ESG Forum, and the rest of the Board of Directors also appeared, which was no less than the Group's annual financial report.
Conlinson stressed that achieving carbon neutrality is one of the most important tasks for Mercedes-Benz until 2039. To this end, Mercedes-Benz has developed a clear roadmap, the most important of which are controlling CO2 emissions, developing a circular economy, using renewable resources, improving production efficiency and reducing water consumption.
How exactly can we achieve carbon neutrality? We can interpret Mercedes-Benz's strategy from the two dimensions of product and operation.
First of all, in terms of product strategy, Mercedes-Benz held a "electric strategy and re-upgrade" conference in July last year, the group's electric strategy was upgraded from "electric first" to "full electric", and the proportion of new energy model sales in 2025 doubled from 25% previously planned to 50%.
It is worth noting that 2025 is also an important node in Mercedes-Benz's comprehensive electric strategy. Kang Linsong said in response to a reporter's question that with 2025 as the node, Mercedes-Benz's product electrification strategy in the next decade is divided into two stages.
In the first phase by 2025, plug-in hybrid models will remain part of the overall carbon neutrality strategy given the marketization of charging infrastructure. Taking the Chinese market as an example, among the 8 new energy products launched by Mercedes-Benz in 2022, in addition to pure electric products such as EQS SUVs, EQE, Mercedes-AMG EQS 53 4MATIC+, it also includes plug-in hybrid products of C-class, S-class and other models.
However, Kang Linsong also said that Mercedes-Benz's "comprehensive electric" strategy is still a very clear focus on pure electric vehicle models, and at a certain point in time, Mercedes-Benz will gradually reduce the proportion of plug-in hybrid models. Combined with Mercedes-Benz's "all-electric" strategy and ESG report, this node will not be later than 2025, because all new platforms launched by Mercedes-Benz from 2025 are pure electric platforms.
Second, at the operational level, plant optimization and supply chain management will be a top priority. Several of Mercedes-Benz's production sites, including beijing, Bremen, Sindelfingen, Rastatt and Tuscalousa, already have eviction capacity and will increase the proportion of renewable energy used at the plant.
Taking the Mercedes-Benz Beijing factory as an example, the new EQE will be produced here. In terms of sustainable energy use, the Beijing plant has built more than 150,000 square meters of photovoltaic power generation and generated more than 26 million kWh of electricity per year. Considering that there are still 65,000 square meters of photovoltaic panels under construction, the Beijing Benz plant is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 18,000 tons per year in the future, equivalent to the mid-year amount of carbon dioxide for 1 million trees.
Along with the carbon neutrality challenge, Mercedes-Benz must also consider the impact of the new crown epidemic and rising raw material prices. But even with the potential impact of various black swan factors, Mercedes-Benz expects to continue its excellent performance in fiscal year 2021 in 2022, one of the bottom lines is the optimization of production efficiency, and the construction of a sustainable circular economy is an important means of efficiency improvement with an eye to the future.
For example, the battery recycling plant planned in Kuppenheim, Germany, planned in the "total electric" strategy is the product of Mercedes-Benz's sustainable circular economy guiding ideology, and battery recycling technology will also be an important reliance on Mercedes-Benz to ensure future recycling and processing of battery production capacity.
Third, in terms of supply chain management, Mercedes-Benz will focus on improving the transparency of the entire supply chain over the next decade, so as to track and measure the carbon footprint of the entire supply chain. And will cooperate with raw material suppliers to ensure the sustainable development of the entire raw material supply chain.
Judging from the information released by the ESG Forum, achieving carbon neutrality in the whole value chain by 2039 is by no means just a slogan, but an unshakable consensus within Mercedes-Benz, and a group mission that must be put into action. Kang Linsong even listed low-carbon and zero-carbon travel as a new definition of automotive luxury that attaches equal importance to digitalization and intelligence.
At present, the global financial market has a very clear understanding of the need for carbon neutrality, and the capital market has reached a consensus: only companies with a clear carbon neutrality strategy can have a sustainable future. In the case of Mercedes-Benz, under a series of layouts of product strategy, operational layout and supply chain management, it is expected that by 2030, the average carbon footprint of the whole life cycle of passenger cars will be reduced by 50% compared with 2020, and strive to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality by 2039.
The author of this article is kicking car gang Li Bingxue