Bentley Obtains Carbon Trust Standard Award

Bentley Motors has become the first automotive manufacturer to be awarded the triple Carbon Trust Standard for carbon, water and waste reduction

The certification was completed by the Carbon Trust, one of the world’s leading independent authorities on delivering carbon reduction and achieving greater resource efficiency. Bentley has separately secured the Carbon Trust Standards for carbon, water and waste having made significant reductions in these three key environmental areas at its Crewe, Cheshire headquarters.

The certification has independently verified Bentley’s environmental achievements between 2011-2013, which saw the company achieve a 16 per cent reduction in CO2 relative to the number of cars manufactured, a 35.7 per cent reduction in water use, and an absolute reduction in the amount of waste being produced.

Major projects have included Lightsource’s solar power installation of over 20,000 solar photovoltaic (or PV) panels mounted on roofs across the factory, which have reduced CO2 generation by over 2,500 tonnes per year and contributed 286,200 kWh of clean electricity back to the national grid. Last month 20 per cent of the company’s electrical requirements were generated by solar energy.

Michael Straughan, Bentley’s member of the board for manufacturing, commented:

“There has been manufacturing here for nearly 80 years and customers admire the character and unique history of the site which we continue to respect. However, we have managed to also create an increasingly environmentally-friendly, modern manufacturing environment and will continue to target future reductions.”

The 339,000m³ factory is home to Bentley’s engineering and manufacturing functions with 3,700 colleagues working on site and producing a record 10,120 cars in 2013. Darran Messem, managing director of certification at the Carbon Trust said:

“We would like to congratulate everyone at Bentley for achieving the Carbon Trust Standard and contributing to clear year-on-year reductions of carbon emissions, water use and waste outputs. Bentley is clearly passionate about continuing to improve its environmental performance, which is reflected by the fact the company has consistently invested in new technology.

“We’ve also been impressed with the excellent levels of employee engagement with Bentley employing a dedicated Environment team and colleagues across the factory acting as Environmental Champions and pro-actively identifying new ways to save valuable resources.”

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