Sea journeys of production material destined for Volvo Cars will now be made with renewable fuel instead of traditional fossil fuel.

Working together with logistics partners Maersk, Kuehne+Nagel and DB, Volvo will achieve an immediate reduction in fossil CO2 emissions from intercontinental ocean freight by 55,000 tonnes over a year and lower CO2 emissions by at least 84 per cent.

The fuel, Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAME), is based on renewable and sustainable sources, mainly waste cooking oil. No feedstock related to palm oil or palm oil production is used.

“Renewable fuel is not the end game for removing CO2 from the world’s ocean freight needs,” said Javier Varela, COO and deputy CEO. “Yet this initiative shows that we can act now and implement solutions that achieve significant results during the wait for long-term technological alternatives.”

When renewable fuel is not available on a specific shipment, renewable fuel allocation will be used by the logistics partners for another customer’s route elsewhere, so the overall cut in fossil fuel use is kept on par with actual use in container vessels. The methodology, called mass-balancing, is third-party audited regularly. The renewable fuel itself is certified and not produced in competition with food crops.

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