Volvo announced plans to sell only fully electric cars by 2030 and become a climate-neutral company by 2040.
The Swedish automaker announced at Climate Week NYC its intention to stop making diesel-powered cars by early 2024. Volvo Cars will stop building diesel cars in a few months, making it one of the first legacy automakers to take that step.
The milestone follows the automaker’s decision to stop developing new combustion engines. In November, Volvo sold its stake in Aurobay, which held its remaining combustion engine assets. Today, it spends none of its research-and-development budget on development of new internal combustion engines, the company said in a press release.
“Electric powertrains are our future, and superior to combustion engines: they generate less noise, less vibration, less servicing costs for our customers, and zero tailpipe emissions,” said Chief Executive Jim Rowane. “We’re fully focused on creating a broad portfolio of premium, fully electric cars that deliver on everything our customers expect from a Volvo—and are a key part of our response to climate change.”
The release said, “We’re all-in on electrification because it’s the right thing to do.”
“What the world needs now, at this critical time for our planet and humanity, is leadership,” Rowan said. “It is high time for industry and political leaders to be strong and decisive and deliver meaningful policies and actions to fight climate change. We’re committed to doing our part and encourage our peers as well as political leaders around the globe to do theirs.”
Volvo Chief Sustainability Officer Anders Kärrberg also attended an event organized by the Accelerating to Zero Coalition at Climate Week NYC. The A2Z Coalition aims to help signatories of the Glasgow Declaration on Zero Emission Vehicles meet climate goals.
Volvo reported that the A2Z platform allows the company to collaborate and coordinate actions with others toward the coalition’s collective target of “making 100% of global new car and van sales free of tailpipe emissions by 2040, and no later than 2035 in leading markets.”
Volvo pointed out in its release that it’s electrification target is “more ambitious than that,” and said that it hopes its efforts “inspire other companies to be bolder in taking action against climate change.”
