Volvo Construction Equipment is hosting a new initiative that will promote sustainability throughout the entire construction industry and provide much-needed funding for environmental research.
Launched in June, the new initiative works with partners to drive sustainability across the construction industry.
The Construction Climate Challenge (CCC) global initiative aims to create a dialogue with industry representatives, academics and politicians, as well as providing funding for new research and share existing knowledge and resources to help the industry make a difference for generations to come.
“Climate change is not going away, and the entire construction industry has an obligation to do something about it. As former Volvo Group president and CEO, Pehr G. Gyllenhammar said as long ago as 1972: ‘We are part of the problem, but we are also part of the solution’,” says Volvo CE.
“The key word here is part. Volvo CE has long been committed to reducing harmful emissions from its products and facilities (environmental care is one of the company’s core values) but reducing CO2 emissions requires a coordinated action from companies across the entire construction industry supply chain.”
Martin Weissburg, Volvo CE president, says: “We’ve been working on reducing emissions through our own internal initiatives for many years, and to considerable success. In December 2013, for example, we achieved carbon neutrality at our articulated hauler production facility in Braås, Sweden. However, we cannot address climate issues by ourselves.
“We joined the Volvo Group’s commitment to the WWF Climate Savers programme in 2012, becoming the first construction equipment manufacturer to do so, but still that’s not enough.”
The first step in the CCC involves evaluating existing research on environmental management, identifying research that still needs to be carried out and then making this information readily available to interested parties in the industry.
To this end, Volvo CE invited researchers, professors and PhD students from around the world, as well as R&D employees working at the company, to a two-day workshop on climate change in September 2013.
The participants determined a total of 112 activities within four research themes, such as sustainable business models, that a working party of Volvo CE employees will now refine and discuss with the other CCC participants.
In the future researchers will be able to apply for funding for projects falling within these themes, while participants will be kept up-to-date with all the latest findings.
“The CCC is the perfect complement to our work with the WWF Climate Savers programme and our commitment to be a climate leader in the construction equipment industry,” says Weissburg.
“Whereas the latter focuses on dramatically bringing down CO2 levels in the short term, the CCC is designed to foster a long-term widespread culture of sustainability.”
Volvo CE is already funding studies within its own Manufacturing Research Department (part of Operations Europe).
CCC: call for pre-study grants
With funding available of up to SEK 500,000 (€410,000/US$550,000), academic submissions are now being invited for pre-studies or similar projects that support the aims of the CCC.
The submissions are encouraged from all continents and people associated with universities, research institutes and similar organisations able to apply, with pre-studies being supported by the funding over a nine-month period.
The first step in the CCC involves consolidating existing research on environmental management, identifying research that still needs to be carried out and making this information readily available to the wider industry.
Research areas of interest include (but are not limited to) energy efficiency; enablers for change and innovation; circular business model research and emerging sustainable technologies.
Closing date for applications for a pre-study grant is 25h August, 2014, and applications should be maximum of four pages long and include study background, problem description, expected results, societal impact and budget.
The funded pre-studies will be officially announced in conjunction to the start of the Volvo Ocean Race in Alicante, Spain, on 8 October, 2014. (The grant receivers will be notified before 10 September).
Subsequently, the funded pre-studies are to submit progress reports to the CCC every two months, culminating in a final report at the end of the pre-study. Successful pre-study teams are also required to attend and present their results at the Construction Climate Challenge Summit, to be held in Gothenburg, Sweden, in conjunction with the final stop of the Volvo Ocean Race, on 24-25 June, 2015.
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