Corporate news 2012

Europe’s most prestigious golf tournament, the Volvo World Match Play Championship, will take place this week as 24 of the world’s best golfers come together in Spain.

The Volvo China Open has grown steadily in importance and stature to the stage where it is now the most important tournament in the country and probably the region. This national open championship attracts world-class golfers and therefore creates an excellent platform for business from many perspectives.

As part of the Academic Partner Program (APP) Volvo Group signed a 3 years Preferred Talent Partner agreement with EM Lyon and INSA Lyon, France, on March 27. The two universities were chosen for their academic excellence and promising talent pools.

The CSR and Sustainability Report outlines how the Volvo Group takes economic, social and environmental responsibility to contribute to sustainable development. The report describes how we address CSR and sustainability issues and the results achieved.

The Bio-DME project aims to assess whether there is a market for Bio-DME (Di-Methyl-Ether) for commercial vehicles. Halfway through the two-year project the preliminary results show that Bio-DME already functions in daily commercial operations. If diesel fuel were to be replaced by Bio-DME, CO2 emissions would be able to be reduced by a massive 95 percent.

The fifth Volvo Ocean Race Stopover took place in Auckland the past week. There were several successful customer events arranged by Volvo Group. Read more in the newsletter Stopover Stories Auckland!

Volvo Trucks’ New River Valley (NRV) assembly plant in Dublin, Va. is the first U.S. facility to be certified to the ISO 50001 standards under a pilot program supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is a viable lower-carbon alternative to diesel for heavy-duty long-haul trucks, but the necessary infrastructure for it in Europe is lacking. Volvo Trucks is involved in efforts to establish ‘blue corridors’ with strategically placed filling stations to make the fuel more widely available.

Volvo Construction Equipment and Volvo Buses have joined the Volvo Group’s cooperation with WWF Climate Savers. The cooperation is based on the Volvo Group’s commitment to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions by 30 million tons from construction equipment, buses and trucks manufactured through 2014. Volvo’s joint-venture company, SDLG, which manufactures construction equipment in China, will also become the first-ever Chinese company to be a member of Climate Savers.

Volvo has now sold a total of 100 buses powered by hybrid technology in the Nordic countries. The latest order to be received by Volvo Buses is for 25 hybrid buses for Göteborgs Spårvägar (Gothenburg Tramways), which operates public transport services on behalf of Västtrafik.