“We have integrated sustainability requirements into all our purchasing activities and awarding processes,” Schäfer said.
Mercedes production and supply chain boss Jörg Burzer said the automaker will make vehicle production CO2 neutral this year.
“It’s our ambition to make all Mercedes-Benz factories renewable energy production sites,” he said during the presentation. “Going forward, we will increase our use of clean energy, and we will also produce it on-site.”
In the U.S., Mercedes will power its Vance, Ala., assembly plant via an 80-megawatt Alabama Power solar farm. As part of a 15-year power purchase agreement, Mercedes will receive the entire electric output from the project after it goes live in March 2024.
“We not only want to produce the most desirable cars in the world, we also want to produce” them sustainably, Burzer said.
Mercedes’ factories are “basically CO2-free for electricity,” Burzer said.