Luxury car manufacturer, Aston Martin, has achieved carbon-neutral manufacturing at its Gaydon and St Athan facilities in the UK, one year after announcing its Racing Green sustainability strategy. The company has made progress in reducing its environmental impact, following initiatives to cut CO2 emissions from its manufacturing processes and supply chain. Aston Martin’s Racing Green program has expanded to offset Scope 1 and 2 emissions through Gold Standard-verified projects tackling climate change. The company plans to achieve PAS 2060 certification by the end of 2023 and operate net-zero manufacturing facilities by 2030.
Aston Martin is partnering with Climate Impact Partners, specialists in carbon market solutions for climate action, to provide financing for projects that are reducing CO2 emissions and supporting the transition to a low-carbon global economy. The company supports a wind power portfolio project in Turkey, which has over 120 wind turbines installed and generates around 575,000 MWh of clean electricity annually.
Since 2019, all of Aston Martin’s manufacturing facilities have been powered by 100 per cent renewable electricity. The company is committed to advancing new renewable electricity generation projects across its facilities, including installing solar panels at the historic Aston Martin Works facility and heritage dealership in Newport Pagnell. Meanwhile, thousands of solar panels will be introduced to the DBX SUV manufacturing plant in St Athan, capable of generating around 20 per cent of the plant’s total annual demand.
Aston Martin’s Racing Green sustainability strategy has achieved a 12.2 per cent decrease in electricity used (MWh) across facilities. Installing LED lighting at St Athan alone has saved over 24,000kg of CO2 emissions yearly. In 2022, the company saw a 3.9 per cent fall in CO2 emissions per car manufactured compared to the previous year, mainly due to increased energy use effectiveness and manufacturing efficiencies through the streamlined paintshop strategy.
Aston Martin is also progressing towards an electrified future. In 2024, the company will begin delivering its first Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle, the Valhalla, with its first Battery Electric Vehicle targeted for launch in 2025 and a fully electrified sports car and SUV portfolio by 2030.
Amedeo Felisa, CEO of Aston Martin Lagonda, said: “Our Racing. Green. sustainability strategy is helping to shape our transformation as we take action to turn aspirations into reality, making sustainability central to everything we do.” The Racing Green program formalises core principles, aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, that reflects Aston Martin’s established approach to sustainability and sets bold new targets across all aspects of the business with a focus on tackling climate change, creating a better environment and building a stronger, more diverse company.
