In Europe, rules and systems are being developed to become carbon neutral (CN) throughout the entire vehicle life cycle.

The EU intends to compile a common methodology for assessing CO2 emissions over the entire life cycle of passenger cars/vans by 2025 and introduce it from 2026 onwards. Legislation on the recovery/recycling of batteries, components and raw materials is also being developed to put the Circular Economy into practice.

All car manufacturers are accelerating their efforts to achieve CN throughout the entire lifecycle, covering processes from procurement to re-use. To reduce the carbon footprint (PCF, CFP) at the product level, OEMs are imposing certain CO2 reduction targets on their suppliers in the procurement of parts and materials with a high CFP. Increasingly, targets are also being set for each component product through Life Cycle Assessments (LCA). Mechanisms are also being developed to share primary data from the supply chain for the accurate calculation of PCFs.

Procurement Policies, LCA and Circular Economy Practices for Carbon Neutralisation and CN in the European Automotive Supply Chain focuses on analysing the strategies and policies of OEMs and Tier 1s to become carbon neutral in the automotive supply chain in Europe. It covers the latest developments in the promotion of each company’s LCA approach, OEM/supplier-to-OEM and industry-wide cooperation towards supply chain CN and circular economy practices, and considers the direction of CN for the entire automotive supply chain.

For example, in addition to the CN policy for the entire business, the presentation will also focus on LCA approaches to reduce CFP for each product, and explain the standardisation of LCA methods and legislation for mandatory recycling across the industry, including examples of circular economy practices and closed-loop recycling in the automotive industry. Trends in industry collaboration to ensure supply chain traceability and CFP calculation will also be included.