BMW Shifts Climate Action into Overdrive with Bold New Commitment
The race to a sustainable future just got a new benchmark, and it’s set by one of the world’s most famous automotive brands. BMW Group announced today a significant expansion of its climate protection targets, effectively doubling down on its long-term commitment to decarbonization. The news is a powerful signal that the move toward a circular and emissions-free economy is accelerating within the global auto industry.
The headline-grabbing number is a newly established mid-term goal: to cut the equivalent of its CO2 emissions by at least **60 million metric tons by 2035** compared to 2019 levels. This figure represents an ambitious increase, translating to an additional reduction of roughly 20 million tons of CO2 equivalent beyond the company’s already-established targets for the year 2030. For context, this is a massive undertaking, touching every part of the company’s global operations.
Achieving this level of reduction means going far beyond simply electrifying the fleet. BMW’s strategy is a comprehensive, 360-degree approach that tackles a vehicle’s carbon footprint across its entire life cycle. This starts with the design and raw material sourcing, moves through the production process, and concludes with the vehicle’s use on the road.
A key pillar of the strategy is the “Secondary First” approach, a push toward a circular economy model. The company has set a goal to significantly increase the proportion of recycled and reusable materials, aiming for at least 50 percent of its vehicle materials to be secondary materials by 2030. This initiative includes sourcing CO2-reduced steel for its European plants, which is produced without fossil-based raw materials like coal, potentially slashing emissions from that process by up to 95 percent.
Of course, electric vehicles remain crucial to the plan. BMW is committed to having at least one in two cars sold globally be fully electric by 2030. The ramp-up in electric model sales is seen as the single most important factor in reducing emissions during the use phase of a vehicle, which historically accounts for the largest share of an automobile’s lifetime carbon impact. This push is being supported by the upcoming “Neue Klasse” family of products, which are designed from the ground up to feature sustainable architecture and highly efficient electric drivetrains.
It is not just internal targets that are driving this change. The automaker is the first German car manufacturer to have its carbon reduction goals validated by the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi). This independent validation ensures that BMW’s path is aligned with the most ambitious goal of the Paris Climate Agreement, which seeks to limit global warming to 1.5°C.
The new 2035 milestone shows that the German manufacturer is not only chasing climate neutrality by its ultimate goal of 2050 but is also building significant momentum in the short to mid-term. By embedding sustainability into everything from supply chain logistics to material science, the company is proving that environmental stewardship and industrial innovation can move forward hand-in-hand.