HOW WE
REDUCE CO2
EMISSIONS FROM
PRODUCTION
‘Green’ electricity
Any electricity
purchases in the
Czech Republic come
from renewable
sources.
Solar energy
In India, the carmaker
is building solar
power plants.
Bioheating
The ŠKO-ENERGO
heating plant has
increased the
biomass share to
30 percent.
Consumption
reduction
The energy-saving
programme already
includes almost
1,000 measures.
Solar energy
Solar power plants
on the roofs of the
plants based in Mladá
Boleslav or in India
generate up to 37
MWh.
Transition to biomass
Today, 30 percent of
the volume burnt by
the Mladá Boleslav
heating plant comes
from biomass
(95,000 tonnes of
pellets); in the future,
this share will increase
to 100 percent.
Ecological energy
sources
We use the gradual
biomethane
introduction to focus
on purchasing energy
from renewable
sources for our plants.
NOW ONLY
ECOLOGICAL
SUPPLIERS
LAST AUGUST, ŠKODA AUTO
INTEGRATED SUSTAINABILITY
ASSESSMENT INTO ITS
PURCHASING PROCESS
T
he new practice builds on a Group-wide strategy that applies to all
brands and whose aim is to provide the
carmaker with information about the extent to which its suppliers are meeting
the S-Rating (sustainability rating). A positive result in this evaluation has become one of the carmaker’s conditions for
awarding contracts and approving suppliers. Mutual cooperation without benefits
is impossible. At first, the process referred only to production material suppliers, but at the end of last year, providers
of services and non-production material
were added to this group. This year and
next, their volume will further expand;
only micro-suppliers (with fewer than
10 employees) will not have to go through the S-Rating, provided they get specific approval.
Based on a self-assessment questionnaire, the supplier rating evaluates how
the potential suppliers respond to environmental challenges or which measures
they adopt to take an environmentally responsible approach. As far as suppliers are concerned, they have to assess whether they take energy and raw
material savings into account, minimise
greenhouse gas emissions, use renewable resources and minimise damage to
the environment and health when developing, manufacturing and using products. After a successful evaluation, the
selected supplier will receive the corresponding S-Rating, or the Purchasing
staff will recommend an additional audit.
IRENA ZEGGEL, ŠÁRKA FILIPOVÁ
READ ONLINE
THE THIRD PILLAR
THIS YEAR, VRCHLABÍ PLANS
TO PLANT 39,000 TREES TO
SUPPORT CO2 NEUTRALITY.
THE EXTENDED MAY ISSUE IS
AVAILABLE AT
www.skodamobil.cz
PLANS FOR
THE FUTURE
GO TO ZERO
VRCHLABÍ
THE PLANT AT THE FOOT OF THE KRKONOŠE
MOUNTAINS WILL BECOME CO2-NEUTRAL
I
n the second half of the decade, the plant in Vrchlabí will become the first to meet the carmaker’s long-term goal of achieving
full carbon neutrality. The vast majority of the (originally approximately 45,000 tonnes of) carbon dioxide
emissions emitted by the plant every
year have already been reduced,
mainly by purchasing electricity from
renewable sources. Consequently, the current plan is to focus on
the remaining roughly 3,000 tonnes
of CO2 emissions that have not yet
been “neutralised”.
Three steps to primacy
In order to achieve the goal, the carmaker is building on three pillars in
Vrchlabí. “The first is to reduce energy consumption in operations.
The less primary energy you consume, the less CO2 you have to deal
with overall”, explains David Harazim
from PSU – Ecology and Occupational Safety. Therefore, the plant became part of an intensive energy-saving programme at the beginning of
the year. The second step is to use
renewable sources, thanks to which
the plant already covers the vast majority of its electricity needs. “All we
have to do is to satisfy the remaining energy needs, which we do by
burning natural gas”, adds Milan Poddaný from the ŠKO-ENERGO Energy Services department. The third
step is to purchase carbon credits or
offsets. In 2020, ŠKODA AUTO will
support projects that almost entirely
neutralise carbon dioxide emissions.
“These include supporting renewable energy production in India, protecting rain forests and other similar
activities”, says Harazim. From 2021
onwards, the plan is to use only biomethane in Vrchlabí instead of burning natural gas, and in the following
years, ŠKODA AUTO will focus on
CO2 neutrality at other Czech plants,
too. LUDĚK VOKÁČ
The Vrchlabí
path
The Go to Zero group
mission focuses on CO2
neutrality and ŠKODA AUTO
is gradually introducing it on
a worldwide scale.
Consumption reduction
Reconstructing the heating
equipment from 2012–2013
saved up to 6,700 MWh per year.
Use of "green” electricity
Thus, 41,500 MWh of electricity
cover the vast majority out of the
47,000 total annual amount.
Biomethane combustion
Exchanging natural gas for
biomethane, the Vrchlabí plant
will become CO2 neutral
since 2021.
CO₂ NEUTRALITY AT THE
VRCHLABÍ PLANT WILL FORM
THE FIRST PEAK IN THE
CARMAKER'S EFFORTS WITHIN
THE GO TO ZERO PROJECT.
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