Developing the circular economy plays a pivotal role in reducing Renault’s carbon footprint. At the start of 2021, the Group announced the rollout of the Re-Factory plant in Flins, France, which is wholly dedicated to the circular economy. It is structured around four areas of activity: Re-Trofit (extending the life of vehicles), Re-Energy (producing, storing and managing renewable energy), Re-Cycle (optimizing the management of resources) and Re-Start (making innovation accessible to all). The plant transformation plan will be carried out in phases between 2021 and 2024. At the same time, an assessment of the emissions avoided by the new areas of activity to 2030 will be performed.
The Group’s objective is to halve its sites’ emissions by 2030 compared to 2019 by adapting industrial processes and using low-carbon energy. In addition to improving the environmental performance of its production facilities, these steps will help to reduce the Group’s overall energy bill. The model factory in Tangier, Morocco, is equipped with a biomass boiler fueled with local agricultural by-products (olive waste and crushed wood from packaging used at the plant, for example). It is also powered by locally produced, renewable electricity, which covers 92% of its energy needs and avoids more than 100,000 metric tons of CO2e emissions per year. The Group has announced the goal of using 70% renewable energy at all its sites by 2030.
Additionally, incentives offered by governments to promote solar power enabled the Group to undertake large projects to install photovoltaic panels at six French plants, three Spanish plants and the Group’s South Korean plant, in tandem with financial and technical organizations.
The solar panels installed on Renault sites in France, Spain and South Korea cover a total surface area of 86 hectares, or the equivalent of nearly 120 soccer fields. In 2020, the 94 MW of fully renewable electricity that they generate enabled the prevention of more than 30,000 metric tons of CO2e emissions. In addition to these environmental benefits, with this project, Renault Group was able to protect a large expanse of newly built vehicle storage areas from the risk of hail. This alone represented a cost saving of several million euros.
In 2018, the Group created a specific program team, called the CAFE Control Tower, to monitor emissions reduction and adjust the road map to 2022. Starting in 2019, the Group also developed a tool to forecast CO2 levels for its registered vehicles in Europe. The CAFE Control Tower reports its results to the Board of Management (BoM) every month.
Outside Europe, the Group must meet similar regulatory constraints. In total, around 70% of the Group’s sales worldwide are subject to CAFE-type regulations. The strategy and organization described above enabled the Group to achieve its CAFE targets for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles in 2020.
CO2e vehicle emissions are also closely monitored via the global carbon footprint KPI. In addition, specific targets are set to ensure that products are competitive in terms of fuel consumption and CO2e emissions. The BoM reviews these indicators each year to ensure their alignment with short-, medium- and long-term strategy.
