News & updates

Professor John Schellnhuber has been awarded the 2011 Volvo Environment Prize. He is a world-leading researcher within the complex research field of sustainability science dealing with factors that impact at the global environment.

Volvo Buses has received its largest hybrid bus order to date. The city of Curitiba in Brazil has ordered 60 buses that generate up to 35% less fuel consumption.

Volvo Trucks is enhancing its focus on alternative fuels with the launch of the new Volvo FM MethaneDiesel. This truck is powered by up to 75 percent gas. Thanks to its fuel-efficient technology – which extends the vehicle’s operating range – it can considerably reduce CO2 emissions from heavy and long-distance transport operations.

Between 2006 and 2010, emissions of carbon dioxide from the Volvo Group’s transportation of goods and products in Europe was reduced by 22 percent, measured as the average number of grams of carbon dioxide per ton per kilometer. This is one of the findings revealed in a report from Volvo Logistics, the Volvo Group’s logistics company, which develops and purchases transportation solutions. The report is a summary of the work that began in 2008 when Volvo Trucks and Volvo Logistics challenged its transportation suppliers. The reduction also includes transportation for Volvo Car Corporation.

Since May, Volvo Penta’s engine plant in Vara in Sweden has been powered without using any fossil fuel whatsoever. As a result, the plant is now operated completely carbon neutral.

Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2011 opens today (April 15th) at Boao, Hainan Province, China. In attendance were numerous heads of state and senior officials, who all spoke at the conference. The attendees included, Chinese President Hu Jintao, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and South African President Jacob Zuma. Chinese President Hu Jintao delivered the keynote address at the opening plenary. Mr. Leif Johansson, CEO of Volvo Group then delivered a speech, on behalf of all enterprise parties. While echoing the theme of this year’s Forum, “Inclusive Development”, Mr. Johansson shared his insights on economic recovery and sustainable development.

The Sustainability Report describes the Volvo Group’s efforts to develop its operations financially, socially and environmentally, as well as its contribution to society. The report also outlines how the Volvo Group organizes its work, its strategies for the future and key figures for the operations.

As part of the Volvo Group’s focus on hybrid vehicles, Volvo Trucks is now commencing sales of heavy hybrid trucks, under the name Volvo FE Hybrid, to customers in selected European markets. The hybrid trucks permit fuel savings of up to 30 percent and will be used primarily in distribution and refuse operations in an urban environment.

On March 7, the Håkan Frisinger Foundation for Transportation Research will be presenting its scholarship for 2010 to Bengt Johansson, Professor at Lund University. The scholarship, worth SEK 250,000, will be awarded to Bengt Johansson for his internationally successful and practically important research concerning combustion engines.

In the search for the fuel of the future, it is important that all of society’s players pull in the same direction. Together with universities, research institutes and industry, Volvo Technology is participating in f3 – Sweden’s hitherto biggest cooperative venture on alternative fuels.