IN its ambition towards carbon neutrality, Volvo Cars has announced the end of production of all its diesel-powered models by early 2024 at the New York City Climate Week or Climate Week NYC.
The company says that the last diesel-powered Volvo car will have been built in a few months from now, making the company one of the first legacy car makers to take this step.
This in part underlines the company's roadmap commitment towards all-out electrification which includes plans to sell only fully electric cars by 2030 and aim to be a climate neutral company by 2040.
The latest milestone follows the company's decision to exit the development of new combustion engines. In November 2022, the company sold its stake in Aurobay, the joint venture company that harboured all its remaining combustion engine assets.
The company has not since invested any portion of its research and development (R&D) budget on developing new internal combustion engines.
"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 Volvo Car chief executive officer Jim Rowan.
"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," he added.
Volvo says its decision to completely phase out diesels by early 2024 illustrates how rapidly both the car industry and customer demand are changing in the face of the climate crisis.
It added that the recent Global Climate Stocktake report issued by the United Nations underlined the urgency of the climate emergency faced by humanity, as well as the need for action.
This is, according to the company, examplified in how only four years ago that the diesel engine was Volvo's bread and butter in Europe, as was the case for most other car makers.
The majority of cars sold on the continent in 2019 were powered by a diesel engine, while electrified models were only just beginning to make their mark.
Volvo claims that the trend has largely inverted itself since then, driven by changing market demand, tighter emission regulations as well as our focus on electrification. Now the majority of Volvo's vehicle sales in Europe now consists of electrified cars, with either a fully electric or plug-in hybrid powertrain.
They claim that less diesel cars on the streets also have a positive effect on urban air quality; while diesels emit less CO2 than petrol engines, they emit more gases such as nitrogen oxide (NOx) that have an adverse effect on air quality especially in built-up areas.
"What the world needs now, at this critical time for our planet and humanity, is leadership. 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," said Rowan.
To further drive home the point, its chief sustainability officer Anders Kärrberg attended an event organised by the Accelerating to Zero (A2Z) Coalition at 2023's Climate Week NYC.
Launched at the COP27 climate summit, the A2Z Coalition provides a multi-stakeholder platform for signatories of the Glasgow Declaration on Zero Emission Vehicles, of which Volvo Cars is part of.
The A2Z platform is said to allow the Swedish automaker to collaborate and coordinate actions with others towards the coalition's collective target of 'making 100 per cent of global new car and van sales free of tailpipe emissions by 2040, and no later than 2035 in leading markets'.
While Volvo Cars own electrification target is more ambitious than that, the company hopes to inspire other companies to be bolder in taking action against climate change.
The company is all in on electrification, a continuous ambition for sustainability since the company first acknowledged at the United Nations' first Environment Conference in Stockholm in 1972 that its products had a negative environmental impact and that it was determined to act on it.