Daimler

Daimler increased its low-carbon vehicle sales at the rate required by its 1.5°C pathway between 2015 and 2020. In 2015, its low-carbon vehicle sales accounted for 0.6% of total sales, increasing to 8.3% by 2020. Much of this increase was between 1.9% in 2019 to 8.3% in 2020. The company aims for low-carbon vehicles to make up 50% of Mercedes-Benz sales by 2025 and for sales to be 100% low-carbon vehicles by 2030. These targets align with its 1.5°C pathway, which expects 34% of sales to be low-carbon by 2025 and 64% of sales in 2030.

Daimler had research and development (R&D) expenditure in mitigation technology of USD 4,749 million in 2020. However, the company does not disclose financial information on what proportion of its R&D expenditure was spent on non-mature low-carbon technologies. The company has committed to dropping investment in internal combustion engines and plug-in technologies by 80% between 2019 and 2026. It will redirect the money to electric vehicles development. Further disclosure on the types of technology where R&D funds were spent would improve the transparency of the company’s transition plan.

The average vehicle-in use emissions produced by vehicles sold by Daimler increased from 92.7 grams of CO2 per passenger kilometre (gCO2/p.km) in 2015 to 100.9 gCO2/p.km in 2020. This contrasts with the company’s 1.5°C pathway which requires substantial decreases in scope 3 emissions intensity, with the company expected to reach 43.1 gCO2/p.km by 2025. The increase between 2015 and 2020 is partly due to more accurate emissions testing from 2018 onwards. However, the company has only seen a very small decrease in emissions since 2018. `

Daimler is engaging with suppliers to encourage them to monitor their emissions impact and share best practices. The company uses CDP’s supply chain programme to request emissions information and have sent a letter of intent for sourcing CO2-neutral products to all its suppliers. Suppliers that signed this letter commit to Mercedes-Benz AG’s climate goals. The company could go further by making the letter of intent compulsory and requiring suppliers to set science-based targets to reduce emissions. Daimler is collaborating with companies such as Automotive Cells Company to improve the value chain for battery cells.

The company has set a target to reduce its scope 1 and 2 emissions by 50% by 2030 compared to 2018. The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) has verified that this target is consistent with a 1.5°C pathway. The company has set an approved SBTi scope 3 target for a well-below 2 degrees pathway.

Mercedes-Benz has set science-based targets to reduce its scope 1 and 2 emissions by 50% by 2030 and scope 3 use of sold production emissions by 42% per vehicle kilometre by 2030. This is a science-based target for the Mercedes-Benz AG, not companywide. It is aiming for 50% of its sales in 2025 to be from low-carbon vehicles.

Daimler, through Mercedes-Benz, is committed to investing EUR 40 billion in R&D between 2022 and 2030. From 2025, all newly architectures will be electric-only, and a fully electric alternative will be available for every model the company makes.

To align with its 1.5°C pathway, Daimler made significant increases in low-carbon vehicles sales between 2019 and 2020. The company did not disclose what proportion of its R&D expenditure was dedicated to non-mature low-carbon technologies.

Daimler’s scope 3 emissions intensity increased from 92.7 grams CO2 per passenger kilometre (gCO2/p.km) in 2015 to 100.9 gCO2/p.km in 2020. The company’s scope 1 and 2 emissions intensity per vehicle produced marginally increased from 2019 to 2020 after consistently declining from 2015 to 2019.

Daimler setting science-based scope 1, 2 and 3 targets for Mercedes-Benz AG, suggest it is committed to the low-carbon transition. Its high share of electric vehicles provides evidence of actions taken to achieve these targets. However, its poor fuel efficiency performance shows that there are improvements to be made.