Decarbonisation: the automotive industry faces up to its contradictions

Decarbonisation only became an issue in its own right in the automotive industry at the end of the 1990s, even if the reduction of carbon and particulate emissions had been the subject of innovation for longer via propulsion systems. The methodologies available (GHG Protocol, carbone footprint, SBTi, etc.) alone do not enable the subject to be addressed thoroughly. Decarbonising highlights deep-seated structural problems. How can we align customer requirements with supplier practices? Is the data, whether from suppliers or in-house, available, reliable, accessible and free to use? Where should the subject be positioned within the company to legitimise it? Can we decarbonise our activity without disappearing? But can we survive without decarbonising? This vital transformation is revealing the difficulties that industry and its managers face. With twenty-eight years’ experience in automotive R&D, Jean-François Giroux offers an unvarnished analysis of this transformation.