CSR management

LAND ROVER

What makes Land Rover unique, Julian Whitehead, head of corporate social responsibility, explains is that the vehicles are not conventional road cars.

“If you want to go off road, you have to have a vehicle that is robust enough to do that. So, inherently, it has to be tough enough to do that. One of the attributes of the car is that it can pull three and a half tonnes behind it – you cannot do that with a conventional lightweight vehicle,” he says. “At the end of the day, we make Land Rovers, we don’t make Nissan Micras.” he says. “A Nissan Micra would be a more energy efficient vehicle.”

So, according to Whitehead, it is about growing the brand and staying competitive in the market but also meeting “all our aspirations for sustainability while still producing vehicles that are clearly Land Rovers”.

MANAGEMENT OF CSR

Whitehead’s role at Land Rover and Jaguar was established twelve months ago in response to the growing debate around the sustainability of the car industry. Land Rover and Jaguar are two British brands that are owed by the Ford Motor Company and many of the challenges around the environmental impact of the vehicles relate to both organisations.

Whitehead reports to the managing director of Land Rover, recognising the external reputation issues that Land Rover faces – more so than Jaguar. The board of directors for both brands is responsible for the overall implementation of CSR across the business.

SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY

The Land Rover brand is the main focus when it comes to environmental policies because, Whitehead points out, sports utility vehicles (SUVs) have been in the media spotlight with regard to their environmental credentials. “We are worried about the amount of negative publicity we get – of course we are – and we are concerned that our customers are aware of the efforts we are making to address these issues,” he states.

Land Rover is acutely aware of its reputation as a brand that has had a less-than-perfect impact on the environment but it is trying to address this through the development of new energy efficient technologies, sustainable manufacturing, carbon offsetting schemes, and partnerships with non-profit organisations to carry out conservation and humanitarian work. As part of this effort the company has started to communicate its sustainability projects to its stakeholders – its employees, customers, shareholders and suppliers as well as the general public – through an online communication initiative called Our Planet.

“This is a complex industry with long lead times and we are addressing these technologies responsibly and introducing them at soon as possible. But at the same time we are working with partners to have a positive impact on the environment and society through our carbon offset as well as humanitarian schemes,” Whitehead explains.

Whitehead sums it up: “We have a dual challenge – there is the technology challenge of improving the environmental performance of our vehicles, and then there is the challenge of looking at the impact of our manufacturing operations – our offices, our factories and assembly lines.”

Environmental technology

“One of the things about the motor industry is that it takes a long time from the drawing board to the showroom when developing products,” Whitehead explains. So, Land Rover will introduce sustainable technology in an incremental way “revolutionising the way in which we develop our vehicles”.

As the process of developing new technologies is not a quick one, the first approach that the brand has taken is to introduce a number of small changes, which “in themselves do not reduce fuel consumption or emissions very much but, as a collective whole, make a significant improvement to the way in which the vehicles are produced.”

An example of a small change is a stop-start mechanism for Land Rover vehicles. The mechanism works in such a way that when a driver stops at traffic lights and lifts his or her foot off the clutch, the car will automatically switch off (thus reducing the carbon dioxide emitted from the tailpipe while waiting at the traffic lights) but when the driver places his or her foot back on the clutch, the car will again automatically start. No need for a key turn.

Land Rover believes that this brings about a 7% improvement on carbon dioxide emissions. The brand is also looking at “dust-to-dust” measures such as integrating more recyclable and recycled products into the interior design of the vehicles.

Whitehead adds that Land Rover designers and engineers are working on the development of hybrid vehicles as well as more lightweight models.

The main goal of the company is to develop sustainable luxury sports vehicles and it is aiming to do so in a way that is supportive of environmental issues but at the same time providing its customers with cars that can still perform in difficult driving conditions.

Sustainable manufacturing

The development of new technology is an important step in Land Rover’s strategy toward the production of sustainable vehicles but “we also need to recognise our wider responsibility as a manufacturer”, says Whitehead.

Land Rover has been looking at the reduction of carbon emissions at all its offices and factories and, for example, has measured a 30% reduction in emissions at its site in Solihull over the last decade. The company is making year-on-year improvements through scorecards that measure commitments made across the business with regard to water use, energy, waste and the use of volatile chemicals.

Carbon offsetting

According to Whitehead, carbon offsetting enables Land Rover to make a positive contribution to the environment while the technological changes are being developed, tested and implemented. That is, carbon offsetting is a temporary quick-fix solution.

Land Rover considers carbon offsetting as double-pronged: customers buying the cars need to offset their emissions but – at the same time – the brand itself needs to consider the carbon emitted during the assembly process in its factories.

So, Land Rover offsets, and is reducing, the carbon dioxide emitted in its manufacturing process and also offers its customers the opportunity to offset emissions for the first 45,000 miles driven in the new vehicle. The customer offset scheme was launched in Norway and is being rolled out in other markets.

Climate Care, the non-profit organisation, manages the carbon offset schemes on behalf of Land Rover, and an independent board of governance, chaired by Dr. Sally Uren of Forum for the Future, the sustainable development organisation, oversees the effectiveness of the schemes.

Conservation and humanitarian work

“What we are aiming to do is not only to invest in projects that reduce overall carbon emissions, which is the fundamental purpose of the scheme, but to also have a humanitarian impact,” says Whitehead. And for this reason, Land Rover has partnered with many humanitarian organisations over the years – for example, the Royal Geographical Society, Born Free Foundation and Earthwatch Institute.

The company supplies 25% of the international aid agency vehicle requirements annually, and further provides British rescue and police services with Land Rover vehicles in times of crisis – for instance when heavy snows in the UK threatened parts of the West Midlands in February.

A more recent partnership is with the International Federation of Red Cross & Red Crescent Societies. The Red Cross is now the main beneficiary of funds raised from the Land Rover G4 Challenge – an off-road driving competition that takes place bi-annually. Land Rover has pledged to raise £1m for the Red Cross over the next two G4 Challenges.

Land Rover not only provides vehicles but also trains people to drive them responsibly. Therefore, it has developed the Land Rover Driving Code, which outlines how to drive responsibly and with minimal impact on the environment. This is also implemented with regard to its partnerships with humanitarian organisations.

OUR PLANET

In view of Land Rover’s sustainability strategy, Whitehead and his colleagues “felt that that time was right to start talking proactively, and externally, about our approach to the good things that we do in the world.” And this brought about the Our Planet campaign.

“One of the reasons Our Planet has been launched is to set the record straight. To say to people that this is what we are doing in terms of developing technology and here are some of the projects we are involved with. Stuff we have been doing for years but simply haven’t felt the need to publicise,” Whitehead states. “But in the face of ill-informed criticism, we decided to contribute to informed debate.”

THE FUTURE

Land Rover has partnered with Forum for the Future to help the brand assess and measure its sustainability performance.

However, irrespective of this, the car industry as a whole, and Land Rover, do face challenges, which will be more difficult to overcome no matter how advanced and sustainable its vehicles.

The European Union is soon to announce further legislation to reduce automobile carbon emissions. Responding to such pressures may completely change the way in which cars are developed, manufactured and ultimately, how the cars perform.

A further challenge for Land Rover is that both the Land Rover and Jaguar brands are facing ownership change in the near future. The Ford Motor Company is considering a bid from Tata Motors and may sell the Land Rover and Jaguar brands to the Indian motor manufacturer. And whether or not this will change the future of sustainability at the company is not clear.

But Whitehead is optimistic: “Our objective is to integrate sustainability into the heart of the business – it is as simple as that. There is a long way to go, and it is a continuing journey, but we have made some significant steps so far.”