Faurecia : Energy management is the 1st step toward Net Zero

Fortunately, Faurecia teams have engaged in a company-wide CO₂ neutrality plan since 2019. We are now on this ambitious journey with HELLA, since the creation of our combined Group FORVIA - the world's seventh largest auto technology supplier. Together, we have committed to reach Net Zero, the most ambitious, scientific-based standard for climate targets, by no later than 2045. Simply put, this means that by 2045, we need to reduce 90% of our absolute CO₂ emissions - and neutralize the final 10% by capturing them in sustainable materials, such as plastics.

FORVIA is the world's first automotive company to get the SBTi Net-Zero standard certification - proving that our actions are science-based and realistic. The challenge ahead is considerable: as FORVIA we start in 2019 with an annual CO₂ footprint of 40 million tons! - as much as 4 million European citizens a year. But we are a community of 150,000 employees who can make a difference.

We use less and better energy

Our trajectory has 2 intermediate milestones: CO₂ neutrality in all our industrial sites by 2025; and -45% scope 3 emissions by 2030.

2025 is fast approaching but we are on track on the execution front.

We concentrate our actions on using less and better energy.

Using less - through our program "Energy as a Service", we have contracted energy service providers to identify and implement energy reduction measures in our sites. By the end of 2023, Faurecia will achieve more than 20% electricity savings compared to 2019. With gas prices hitting all-time highs in Europe and the uncertainty about the availability of natural gas supplies, we are also exploring ways to replace gas as much as possible in seven identified production processes fueled with gas. We will also switch gas building heating to electric heat pumps as much as possible. Digitalizing our energy systems and operating our machines at the just needed energy contributes to this effort too.

Using better - through the use of decarbonized energy. As of 2025, we will not use electricity from fossil fuels any further. We entered into partnerships with leading players, EDP and ENGIE, to install solar panels on the roofs of 150 of our sites. This means 100 hectares of solar panels by end-2023, representing a cumulative capacity of 100MW and covering 7% of Faurecia's electricity needs. 30% of this total capacity will be installed by the end of the year already! Meanwhile, we are also negotiating Power Purchasing Agreements to buy energy from renewable sources, such as wind farms.

Energy care should be everyone's concern

All of us at FORVIA can contribute, by measuring, monitoring, continuously improving our habits: even individually, we can switch off the power, change HVAC settings, switch off production machines during non-productive times. In this spirit we launched the global "We save energy" awareness campaign across our Group to involve all our employees. Meanwhile, we are now integrating CO₂ neutrality criteria in the variable compensation scheme of 5,000+ of our senior managers to engage them in our journey.

We are already transforming our products together with our ecosystem

More than rethinking the way we produce, we are also striving to reach CO₂ neutral products: by changing how we design, produce, and recycle them. We are moving towards frugal, leaner architectures. OEMs now expect us to use more recycled materials, and this is exactly what we do. Through our recently signed partnership with Veolia for instance, we target to achieve 30% of recycled plastics for the automotive interior we produce by 2025.

Each of our products will be sustainable ultimately: one example is the "Seat for the Planet" concept we have created: a seat with only half of its current CO₂ footprint thanks to a lean architecture, green steel, and plastics with recyclates. Our dedicated Sustainable Materials division is accelerating this transformation.

Customers, suppliers, partners, business networks such as Enterprises for the Environment, Movin'On or the French Business Climate Pledge, …we involve our entire value chain in this transformation to make our industry change.

This collective adventure is gaining momentum, and we are thrilled to organize FORVIA's first Sustainability Day on November 4 to present the actions and technologies paving the way to our 2045 Net Zero ambition.