BMW Group walks the talk on clean energy

At its Annual Account Press Conference 2015, the BMW Group announced that, for the first time in the history of the Group, 51 percent of its electricity worldwide is being supplied from renewable sources. This is a significant milestone for the company, its aim being to gradually increase the share of renewable energy to 100 percent over the coming years.

The BMW Group says it has a step-by-step plan to transition the company to 100 percent electrical energy supply from renewable sources. The first step is to increasingly improve the efficiency of energy consumption at facilities worldwide. In a second step, systems that generate electricity from renewable sources will be installed at individual locations. A third step will see the BMW Group purchasing electricity from renewable sources from energy companies worldwide.

Ursula Mathar, head of Sustainability and Environmental Protection at the BMW Group, says: “We have a clear objective and a concrete plan for the transition to renewable energy. However, economic viability is essential for implementation. Only under the right framework conditions can we put our plans into action step by step in individual markets worldwide.”

Some 51 percent of the electricity supplied to the BMW Group worldwide is already being drawn from renewable energy sources. In Leipzig, Germany, the BMW Group is using wind power. In mid-2013, four wind turbines started operation on the premises of the plant, with 100 percent of the power produced going into the production of the BMW i3 and BMW i8. At the Spartanburg plant in South Carolina, USA, a methane gas system provides around 50 percent of the energy required for production. At the Rosslyn plant in South Africa, the foundation stone for a combined heat and power unit fired by biogas was laid at the end of 2014. The gas used is sourced from the waste products created on cattle and chicken farms. Commissioning of this system will already enable the company to cover over 25 percent of the energy required by the production plant this year.