Bentley’s #GoToZero Accelerates Drive for Sustainable Luxury

Part of the Volkswagen Group’s overall #GoToZero campaign - involving production sites around the world - Bentley Motors has reinforced its #GoToZero plan with a series of colleague and team engagement activities focused on climate change and sustainability. 

Production Sites Immerse Themselves in #GoToZero Projects

Focusing on environmental sustainability, Bentley Motors’ 4,000 colleagues have directed their attention to the Bentley’s Beyond 100 sustainability initiative to become end-to-end carbon neutral by 2030. 

The week-long programme of knowledge-sharing and best practices was designed to drive long-term change. In doing so, the programme aims to help colleagues better understand their carbon footprint and identify actions that can be adopted both personally and professionally.

Knowledge Sharing

Knowledge shared included the setting out of key aspects of the Beyond100 strategy, and how Bentley’s Crewe site became the first carbon-neutral luxury automotive factory in the UK. The site has been certified to PAS 2060 standards by the Carbon Trust.

Audi and Reviews

Other activities included an audit and review of progress made against the Go Paperless and Power Down initiatives launched in April. The potential areas for reducing plastic packaging on fuel and brake line parts were also highlighted earlier in the year, identifying opportunities to eliminate over 1,000m of shrink wrap per day, as well as reduce outbound seat protection packaging from 13 items to six. 

Travel and 'Bee Bombing'

Colleague travel was also a focal point, with Bentley highlighting the launch of new facilities including a bike repair station, and 30 now free to use colleague charging points under its 7.7MW solar array. 

Earlier in the summer, Bentley ‘bee bombed’ a 5,600 square metre area to provide the bees with an enhanced natural habitat.

“#GoToZero is our vision of a zero-impact factory and generates momentum for our efforts to decarbonise our business, reduce waste, recycle and improve resource efficiency, and refocus everyone’s attention on our vision to become leaders in sustainable luxury and our journey to becoming carbon neutral by 2030,” said Peter Bosch, Member of the Board for Manufacturing, Bentley Motors.

“Our colleagues are key catalysts for change and harnessing their insights and proving opportunities for them to network and learn from one another is helping to drive further progress from the inside out. It has been great to see the creativity and interest the activities have generated and as board members, we got involved by holding our own workshop to review our programme and identify opportunities to accelerate our journey further still,” added Bosch.

“It’s a journey that has gained additional pace with the launch of our second hybrid model, the Flying Spur Hybrid, in June and we are on track to deliver our first full BEV in 2025, before offering BEVs and hybrids only in 2026 and becoming BEV only by 2030.  There is still much more work to do to get there, but I’m convinced that the passion, creativity and commitment our colleagues have shown this week will help us to succeed on our journey,” he concluded.