SUSTAINABILITY AT BMW.

We know how to think of sustainability holistically. This is why we apply leverage during the development and production of our vehicles. Our goal is a sustainable value added chain that covers its own needs with recycled materials and regenerative raw materials – including the energy supply. Admittedly, we have not arrived there yet – but have already achieved trailblazing successes on the way. It is not only the handling of resources that plays such a key role in BMW Group business model, but also the reduction of CO2 emissions. Due to the increasing proportion of electrified models and the manufacture of their high-voltage batteries and intensive use of energy and resources this entails, we have to integrate particularly far-reaching measures along the value added chain with respect to reducing CO2. Among the measures to achieve this, the BMW Group will be establishing the CO2 footprint for the material supply chain as a criterion to be considered when awarding contracts to suppliers and will thus be assuming a pioneering role as the first car manufacturer with specific CO2 targets for its supply chain. After all, if we failed to do this, the increasing electrification would result in a sharp increase in CO2 emissions in the supply chain. We are initiating the turnaround and have set ourselves the target of lowering CO2 emissions in the supply chain in the year 2020 by 20% compared with 2019.

With the signing of the United Nations Environment Programme, the "International Declaration on Cleaner Production", in 2001, we committed ourselves to keeping environmental impacts and resource consumption in our worldwide production as low as possible. The BMW Group with its locations and plants is already a benchmark in resource efficiency with regard to low CO2 emissions. Because we do not only want to be part of a sustainable future - we want to be the driving force behind it. We have therefore set ourselves the highest targets in the industry for the year 2030. In order to monitor and analyse our far-reaching measures, we have introduced environmental management systems at all our existing production sites, which are constantly being developed and optimised. Only in this way can we meet our claim to the verifiable effectiveness of our standards and regulations.

Alongside the continuous expansion and use of renewable energies and regenerative raw materials in our production, we are also setting an important course with our recycling operations. Today, 99% of the waste generated by our global internal production of 2.5 million vehicles annually is recycled and recovered. And we are constantly working on raising this bar still higher. It is therefore by no means a coincidence that our figures for the CO2 emissions per vehicle produced, for example, lie significantly below those of the rest of the German automobile industry.

The BMW Group has a direct influence on the CO2 emissions of its own plants and locations and already represents a benchmark there in terms of resource efficiency. By the year 2030, we aim to reduce the CO2 emissions of our locations by 80%. To this end, we have been obtaining our entire external electricity from renewable sources. And, as from 2021, our plants and locations will become completely climate-neutral: firstly, by reducing overall energy consumption and, secondly, by then only using renewable energies that we have generated ourselves to the greatest possible extent. To achieve this, we are systematically investing in optimising the energy efficiency of our locations and are conducting on-site examinations on the best way to obtain energy – such as whether it be through the use of hydrogen, biogas, biomass or geothermal energy. The use of green hydrogen can also play a key role here at suitable locations, and we are currently in the process of examining its efficiency for heat generation in a pilot plant. At the same time, we are optimising the energy efficiency of our production: we are reducing the demand for heating, by reusing more waste heat from processes and securing thermal cycles. The use of digital techniques such as data analytics enables us to reduce electricity consumption through intelligent control and simultaneously minimise the quantity of scrap parts.

Our claim is to always give 100% - especially when it comes to sustainable driving pleasure. That is why we are breaking new ground in the automotive industry with our corporate goals and their implementation - which we also open up to our customers with the world's largest fleet of electrified models.
 

We developed the BMW eDrive Zone to help support emissions-free driving through areas designated as low-emission zones or similar. This enables your BMW plug-in hybrid to automatically recognise when you are driving through an environmental zone and automatically switch to an emissions-free, all-electric mode. With the BMW Points programme, you collect bonus points for every kilometre travelled in electric mode – and twice as many in environmental zones. You can view and manage your points in the My BMW app*. The BMW Points can then be converted into useful rewards, such as free BMW Charging quotas.