Volvo's Taizhou plant achieves climate-neutral status with switch to biogas

Swedish car manufacturer Volvo announced on April 12 that its Taizhou plant in China has transitioned to biogas, marking it as the company's first climate-neutral plant in the country. This switch from natural gas to biogas is expected to lead to a reduction of over 7,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions/year.

“The switch to biogas at our Taizhou plant demonstrates how each of our manufacturing locations across the globe is developing its own climate-neutral energy mix, based on what's available in the region," Javier Varela, Volvo Cars' deputy CEO, said.

The plant's energy supply comprises electricity and heating, with approximately 40% of its electricity generated onsite from solar panels—a proportion expected to increase in the future. The remaining 60% of electricity, sourced from the grid, also comes from climate-neutral solar energy. With the adoption of biogas for heating, the Taizhou plant now fulfills all its heating requirements using climate-neutral energy sources.

Volvo has set a target to achieve zero greenhouse gas emissions across its operations by 2040.