The Future of the Automotive Circular Economy

By far the greatest environmental impacts of the automotive industry come about during the vehicles’ use phase. However, the ramp-up of alternative powertrain technologies is causing the CO2 hotspots to shift to the upstream supply chains (materials, manufacture).

The German automotive industry’s strategy for reducing its CO2 footprint is therefore directed at far more than a vehicle’s use phase and covers its entire lifecycle from the raw materials to production and all the way to recycling. This holistic view covering all stages of value creation and their environmental impacts, is reflected in the automotive industry’s “Design for Sustainability” strategies and continued in the debate on the development of circular economy.

迄今为止，汽车行业对环境造成的影响主要发生在车辆的使用阶段。然而，随着替代动力技术的大规模推广，二氧化碳的高点正在逐渐转移到上游供应链（材料、制造）环节。因此，德国汽车行业减少其二氧化碳足迹的策略，不仅针对车辆的使用阶段，而且涵盖了从原材料到生产乃至回收的整个生命周期。这种涵盖价值创造所有阶段及其环境影响的全景式视角，体现在汽车行业的“可持续发展设计”策略中，并在关于循环经济发展辩论中得到延续。