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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