BERLIN (Reuters) – Mercedes-Benz aims to halve its CO2 emissions by 2030, the carmaker said on Monday, providing a half-way goal to its existing target of becoming CO2 neutral by 2039.
The company will also work towards covering 70% of the energy it needs for production with renewable energy by 2030, up from 45-50% at present, it said.
Around 15% of this energy should come from solar and wind plants on or linked to Mercedes-Benz’ own sites, production chief Joerg Burzer said in a presentation.
The rest will be sourced through so-called Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), where power producers are paid to generate a certain amount of energy over a number of years at a set price.
The carmaker is in advanced discussions to purchase additional wind energy through PPAs worth a billion euros ($1.09 billion) by 2025, Burzer added.
For now, Mercedes-Benz still relies on gas as a back-up supply source. “We obviously still need the gas,” Burzer said. “We are working on minimising that.”
($1 = 0.9174 euros)
(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee; Editing by Paul Carrel)
