Mercedes is determined that almost 90 per cent of its suppliers will deliver solely CO2-neutral products by 2039. Why the focus on suppliers? Partly because consumers are interrogating the entire cradle-to-grave carbon footprint of the products now but, crucially in the case of cars, it’s because the production of an electric car creates twice as much carbon dioxide as that of a petrol or diesel car (most of that is thanks to the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries).
Steel and aluminium are also carbon-heavy in their production, which means OEMs like Mercedes will become increasingly reliant on start-up and disruptor suppliers such as the new Swedish brand, H2 Green Steel. Early birds will conquer the castle and secure huge OEM supplier contracts, as long as they can tick all the right boxes about carbon-neutral energy sources on the procurement forms Mercedes sends them (in May last year, Mercedes asked all its key suppliers to formally declare how much of their electricity came from renewable sources). And points mean prizes: Big River Steel, an American firm, was awarded the Daimler Sustainability Recognition merit last year for its “outstanding achievement in climate protection and resource conservation” in the manner in which it manufactures steel.
The one question that remains is exactly what Mercedes means by “CO2 neutral”; it can be a slippery automotive-industry phrase, requiring offsetting policies and carbon credit swaps that fudge the issues (planting trees, in particular, needs careful consideration again about which trees and which soil are involved – the disruption of soil is always a bad idea because it stores twice as much carbon as all the vegetation on earth, according to the genius that is Pete Smith, Professor of Soil and Global Change at Aberdeen University).