The Seven Main Trends
Automotive Sustainability
Managing the Conflict Between Climate Neutrality and Energy
Security
The world must rise to the challenge of radical decarboniza-
tion. Many countries and regions have already announced
their goal to become carbon neutral. However, achieving car-
bon neutrality comes with many challenges. On the downside,
the COVID-19 pandemic and armed conflicts have shown
just how fragile the global energy supply system is. Addition-
ally, renewable energy sources like solar and wind power are
associated with lower availability – due to daily and seasonal
intermittency – compared to their fossil counterparts. On the
upside, Environmental Social Governance (ESG) regulations
as well as carbon taxation and carbon trading systems are
driving sustainability by establishing stricter rules. The Carbon
Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) of the European
Union, for example, regulates carbon taxation on imported raw
materials, promoting a global green material trading system.
Future Global Trade with Green Chemical Energy Sources
The EU imports 57 % of its primary energy from outside
Europe but plans to shift to renewable energy in the future.
Renewable energy projects are being developed in regions
such as North Africa and South America, with electricity being
transferred to Europe. Long-distance transport routes rely on
hydrogen and e-fuels. Synthetic energy sources will be prior-
itized for sectors where replacing fossil fuels is challenging,
such as in aviation and shipping. Initial pilot projects in South
America, North Africa, and Australia show the urgent need for
molecular-based energy carriers in the future global energy
trading system. Hydrogen-based energy sources will be crucial
for long-distance energy distribution, despite conversion loss-
es. They enable transportation with ships or pipelines, like in
the fossil distribution and storage structure of today.
Martin Rothbart has been responsible for business development in
the areas of energy, hydrogen, and alternative and synthetic fuels, as
well as sustainability in the product life cycle at AVL for more than
four years. He summarizes the main trends.
Trend 01
Trend 02
SPECIAL EDITION