In partnership with the Kingdom of Morocco, Renault and Veolia Environment collaborated to build the world’s first zero-carbon and zero-effluent automotive manufacturing plant.

Renault’s Tangier automotive plant, which opened in February 2012, was the world’s first carbon-free automotive manufacturing plant, and it also produces zero industrial liquid discharge. The plant manufactures 170,000 vehicles a year, and this will increase to 400,000 vehicles a year with the commissioning of a second assembly line.

Carbon emissions have been slashed by 98%, and the remaining emissions are offset either by buying carbon credits or producing renewable energy. Water consumption has also been reduced by 70% compared to factories of a similar size. The thermal energy generation system consists of biomass boilers fuelled by sustainably harvested olive pits and eucalyptus wood. Aggressive energy recovery processes in the paintshop helped to reduce thermal energy requirements of the plant by 35%. Electricity consumed by the factory is 100% renewable, sourced from wind turbines and hydroelectric power.

Heavy manufacturing is typically an energy- and resource-intensive process. The design of this factory integrated locally available renewable energy and biomass resources to help reduce its environmental footprint. The innovative processes developed at this production facility can be replicated at automotive factories around the world.