Investors ‘in for a shock’ as scope 3 disclosure requirements kick in next year with truckmaker emissions 50% higher than what they report to investors. The only sector T&E could find with an average carbon intensity higher than truckmakers is coal mining
T&E’s analysis shows that Mercedes-Benz and DAF fail to report on their scope 3 emissions entirely and as a result report just 0.1% to 0.2% of their overall emissions. IVECO only reports around a third of its scope 3 emissions, while Renault and Volvo also underestimate their emissions. MAN and Scania’s reporting is accurate .
Less than 3% of heavy-duty vehicle sales today are electric compared to 15% for cars. If EU truckmakers exclusively sold zero-emission vehicles, like Tesla and BYD already do, their carbon footprint could fall by 95%. A new EU regulation voted earlier this month requires truckmakers to increasingly sell zero-emission vehicles. T&E analysis shows this will already cut their emissions by 29% by 2030.
The study also highlights the failure of ESG ratings to give a true assessment of the climate impact of truckmakers, with most rating agencies giving truckmakers sustainability scores comparable to some renewables manufacturers. Mercedes-Benz, for example, performs better on Bloomberg’s environmental score than Siemens Gamesa — a wind turbine arm of Siemens. This is largely because less than 3% of Bloomberg’s environmental score is based on scope 3.
T&E takes a conservative estimate by only considering one of the 15 categories of scope 3 emissions . This constitutes between 94% and 97% of truckmakers’ total. T&E also uses CO2 emission factors from the EEA, which are based on what companies disclose and are normally lower than real-world factors. In reality, truckmakers’ emissions are therefore likely higher than estimated by T&E in this analysis.