SDG 13 – Climate action

The main environmental impact from the lifecycle of Scanias products comes their use. Therefore Scania is working on many levels to minimise emissions from the transport industry. Making the product more efficient, promoting the use and expansion of low carbon fuels and electrification and also looking at the complete system of transport making it more efficient with the use of digitalisation technologies.

In 2020, we became the first heavy goods vehicle manufacturer to set science-based targets for reducing our carbon emissions. These targets are part of our corporate targets, and guide our business decisions across business areas, from production to product development and sales priorities. We have committed to halving emissions from our own operations between 2015 and 2025. But our commitment goes far beyond that. Since more than 90 percent of all Scania’s emissions comes from our vehicles when they are in use, we are aiming for a 20 percent reduction in CO2 emissions from our products (trucks and buses) in use over the same period.

Scania initiated The Pathways study to see how a future fossil-free transport system could look like by 2050. Taking a “back-cast” modelling approach Scania could see how different scenarios could look like. The main conclusions from the study is that it is possible but also financially attractive from a societal perspective. CO2 emissions can be reduced by over 20 percent simply by optimising transport systems, for example through improved routing and better load management. Moreover, there are several fuel- and powertrain pathways to a fossil-free future. Biofuels offer the highest CO2 emissions reduction pathway and electrification is the most cost-effective. Other technologies, such as hydrogen fuel cells and e-highways, have important use cases to consider and may be critical for select geographies and applications.

To reach this goal, the industry must begin to change rapidly and immediately. New technologies can take a long time to achieve wide adoption, as the existing stock of vehicles turns over slowly. This means that for 2050 to be fossil-free, changes at scale are required already by 2025, including not just new technologies but also new infrastructure, behaviours, and partnerships