Episode 31: Auto Industry Giants Discuss the Road Map to Net Zero

Ride: The Urban Mobility Podcast

GUESTS: Dr Thomas Becker, BMW Group; Monica Perez Lobo, Toyota Motor Europe; Kunal Phalpher, Li-Metal.

ABOUT THIS EPISODE
This episode of the Ride podcast is brought to you in partnership with Reuters Events. It was recorded at Reuters Automotive Europe 2022 in Munich earlier this year, where Ride hosted a panel on ensuring net zero throughout the automotive value chain, featuring:

• Dr Thomas Becker, VP Sustainability, Mobility at BMW Group;
• Monica Perez Lobo, VP Corporate Affairs and Sustainability at Toyota Motor Europe;
• Kunal Phalpher, President of Li-Metal and Advisor to Li-Cycle.*

For consumers, clean mobility is all about zero emissions at the point of use.

There’s a perfectly reasonable expectation that everything that happens before and after they own or use the vehicle is equally clean.

For the various industry stakeholders providing those zero emissions vehicles, it’s all about ensuring a net zero value chain, from raw material sourcing through to end of life vehicle handling--and that means establishing and implementing business strategies and partnerships to meet net-zero emissions targets.

During the discussion, we talked about

• What net zero means for each organisation;
• How and whether companies can ensure net zero runs throughout the value chain, with correct practices and net zero activities even at the very distant ends of the supply chain, such as battery raw material mining at one end, and EV battery recycling at the other;
• We discussed the pursuit of different zero emission vehicle technologies, and their reliance on infrastructure development as well as consumer demand;
• And we talked about the complexity of balancing the three Rs - reduce, reuse, recycle.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

• Dr Thomas Becker: Connect with Thomas on LinkedIn here
• Monica Perez Lobo: Connect with Monica on LinkedIn here
• Kunal Phalpher: Connect with Kunal on LinkedIn here

*Shortly after this interview was recorded, Kunal changed roles from Chief Strategy officer at Li-Cycle, a lithium-ion battery recycling company, to President of Li-Metal, a lithium metal and lithium metal anode company. He remains an Advisor to Li-Cycle.
Thank you to Reuters Events for collaborating on this recording. Learn more about Reuters Events at Reutersevents.com

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