Where do CO2 emitions come from?
Transportation is a major contributor to global CO2 emissions, accounting for approximately 25% of the total emissions worldwide. Within the transportation sector, passenger road vehicles are a significant source of CO2 emissions, responsible for about 45% of the sector’s total emissions.
Car Manufacturing Life Cycle Assessment
By integrating LCA into their practices, big automotive brands aim to enhance the environmental performance of their vehicles, meet regulatory requirements, and respond to consumer demands for more sustainable and eco-friendly transportation options. It also helps them demonstrate their commitment to environmental responsibility and contribute to the broader goal of mitigating climate change and promoting sustainable mobility.
Audi
By 2025, production at all Audi locations is to become carbon-neutral, while plants in Brussels and Győr already successfully converted.
Life cycle Analysis
Production at Audi’s Brussels site has been completely CO₂-neutral since early 2018.
Audi on the road toward CO2-neutral production sites
Life cycle assessment: the entire life of a car in view
Fisker
Fisker starts with the full LCA in mind, seeking methods to onnovate and improve the environmental impact of their vehicles. The LCA works as a microscope, providing clear vision into the details of the production cycle.
Fisker Ocean Has the Lowest Published Carbon Footprint of Any Electric SUV
Polsetar
All the Polestar 2 (2020) variants have a lower cradle-to-grave carbon footprint, compared to Volvo XC40 ICE.
Carbon footprint of Polsetar 2 variants(PDF)
Three tonnes in three years. That’s Polestar 2’s total carbon weight loss (MY2024). In case you’re wondering how we ended up with that number – and why you should care about a brand’s sustainability calculations – you’re in the right place.
LCA reports 2023: Like I’m five
Renault: Zoe vs Clio (2012)
Renault created an LCA back in 2012 when first introducing the Zoe, with a lifespan of 10 years and 150.000km.
2012 Renault Zoe LCA report
2020 Univarsal Registration Document
Climate Report 2021
Tesla 2021 Impact report
Tesla’s purpose is to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy and have a positive impact on the world.
Volvo
This report covers the Carbon Footprints of the fully electric XC40 Recharge and an XC40 with an internal combustion engine (ICE) for comparison, performed according to ISO 14044:2006 standards.
Battery electric XC40 Recharge and the XC40 ICE
The C40 Recharge has approximately 5 per cent lower total carbon footprint than XC40 Recharge … which is mainly because of better aerodynamic properties.
The all-electric Volvo EX30 is designed to have the lowest carbon footprint of any Volvo car to date
A car is not just driven, it is also designed, developed, built and transported.
GreenNCAP
Green NCAP is an independent initiative which promotes the development of cars which are clean, energy efficient and cause as little harm to the environment as possible.
Green NCAP is hosted and supported by the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), the leading authority on car safety in Europe. Euro NCAP has been testing and rating cars for over 20 years and has helped to save over 78,000 lives. Green NCAP is a natural extension of Euro NCAP’s work and is a logical next step in the development of consumer information.
Green NCAP uses a broad range of tests to address the flaws in approval tests and, through consumer information, rewards those manufacturers whose vehicles go beyond the minimum requirements and offer excellent, robust, real-world performance. Regulatory testing is a good starting point. Green NCAP’s tests are an addition and complementary to these legislative requirements.
Life cycle assessment of long life lithium electrode for electric vehicle batteries
This report contains a comparative life cycle assessment of several different lithium batteries (only). It is a very detailed report, but it does not include the manufacturing of the car itself.
Leaf, Tesla and Volvo bus batteries - PDF
Life cycle-based sustainability standards and guidelines
An overview of the best-known standards and guidelines for the product level, the organization level, or both.
ISO 14040 describes the “principles and framework for LCA”, while the ISO 14044 “specifies requirements and provides guidelines” for LCA. ISO 14067 “specifies principles, requirements and guidelines for the quantification and reporting of the carbon footprint of a product” — that is, its impact on climate change
The Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard can be used to understand the full life cycle emissions of a product and focus efforts on the greatest GHG reduction opportunities.
Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard
Are electric vehicles definitely better for the climate than gas-powered cars?
It’s difficult to find a comparison in which EVs fare worse than internal combustion.
Yes (MIT)
How much CO2 is emitted by manufacturing batteries?
When it comes to clean technologies like electric cars and solar power, even the dirtiest batteries emit less CO2 than using no battery at all
15T of CO2 per 1T of mined lithium (MIT)
EPA - The greenhouse gas emissions associated with an electric vehicle over its lifetime are typically lower than those from an average gasoline-powered vehicle, even when accounting for manufacturing based of GREET 2 2021 (Argonne National Laboratory).