At the recent Automotive Logistics and Supply Chain Live North America conference experts from Volkswagen and Kuehne + Nagel discussed what they are doing today to reduce carbon emissions, with the conversation centring on greenhouse gases, rather than other emissions, such as nitrogen and sulphur oxides.

Between the supply chain, the car’s production, its usage and recycling it at the end of its useful life, how many emissions each step generates is a complex and contested issue. Susanne Lehmann, director production North American region at Volkswagen De Mexico, said that in VW’s estimates, on average 13% of a car’s lifecycle emissions come from the supply chain, 1.8% come from the production itself, 12.7% from the fuel or electricity generation, 66.3% from the energy consumption and 6.2% from recycling the vehicle.