–Innovate product and process design for:184 –Resource efficiency: This can be achieved by automating manufacturing, reducing yield losses in operations and reducing packaging use. For example, 85% of Mahindra’s sites already send zero waste to landfill (ZWL), instead redirecting it to reuse or recycling operations. They aim to reach 100% of ZWL sites by 2030.185 –Use of recycled and renewable materials: This can be achieved by co-designing materials with upstream providers to improve recycling rates, adjusting material specifications so that a higher scrap intake is possible, innovating to accelerate the use of scrap steel186,187 and replacing existing materials with alternatives. The latter can be implemented, for instance, by switching from virgin plastics to recycled plastics and bio-based materials or using soybean-based foam in seating and headliners.188 –For example, Continental Tire has produced and tested the first tyres with treads made from 100% dandelion- derived rubber polymers.189 To accelerate this agenda, WBCSD’s Tire Industry Project is working to identify and address the potential human health and environmental impacts associated with tires.190 –More broadly, many automotive companies, including Volvo Cars,191 Mercedes-Benz,192 Renault193 and Stellantis,194 and tyre companies such as Pirelli195 and Michelin,196 aim to use between 30% and 40% reused, repaired, recycled or renewable materials in new models or fleets by 2030. –Circularity: Investments should be made in circularity, including by promoting standardization and compatibility of products and processes, and designing products for repair, disassembly and remanufacturing. For example, this can be accomplished by designing modular vehicles197 to facilitate dismantling and part replacement. –Long and extended life: Product longevity should be prioritized, for instance by designing for reliability, durability, customer attachment and trust, and facilitating maintenance, repair and upgradability. –Invest in reuse, remanufacturing and EOL management at scale: –Invest in automated processes, new technologies for reuse and remanufacturing, and large-scale facilities to increase cost competitiveness. –Establish efficient mechanisms for vehicle collection and disassembly, for example, through digital asset tracking. –Define requirements for EOL material processing to reduce downcycling. –Develop improved waste collection and sorting systems in factories for processing scrap and EOL materials to increase process efficiency and enable higher- value recovery. –Establish alliances to ensure quality scrap is returned to material suppliers without contamination and is available for reuse. –Invest in enhanced scrap treatment facilities to better manage the increased volume and diversity of scrap. –For batteries specifically, collaborate with other automotive companies and industries to establish a system for battery recycling. This is currently challenging given high costs and a lack of standardization across manufacturers – however, battery recycling could be cost-effective given the value of the metals within, and could support supply security of critical minerals. As a next step, several companies are establishing pilot plants to expand circularity, for example: –Renault created the Refactory in Flins, France, a plant dedicated to vehicle revalorization business models, which aims to dismantle an average of 10,000 vehicles and recondition 45,000 vehicles annually by 2023, and repair 20,000 electrical batteries per year by 2030.198 –Several companies have set up facilities focussed specifically on battery circularity, including Volkswagen Group, which opened their first pilot facility for recycling high-voltage vehicle batteries in Salzgitter, Germany, in 2021.199 Another example is Mercedes- Benz, which is constructing a pilot plant for recycling lithium-ion battery systems in Kuppenheim, Germany.200 Others have also formed partnerships to promote circularity scale-up or support established consortiums to advance research and development (R&D). For example, Volkswagen Group has established a research consortium, HVBatCycle, which aims to prove that the most valuable components of traction batteries can be recovered and reused multiple times through recycling.201 Companies will need to identify appropriate solutions for the initial financing of circularity levers. Third-party investors and public funds could play a critical role by financing large-scale capital projects or funding research into promising technologies.202 Nature Positive: Role of the Automotive Sector 33

Nature Positive Role of the Automotive Sector