Sustainability

In May 2023, Bentley launched two key initiatives in its mission to become the global leader in sustainable luxury mobility. The Bentley Sustainability Council is a team of international experts created to simultaneously challenge and aid the company’s pursuit of sustainability excellence outlined in its Beyond100 strategy. This announcement came alongside Bentley’s first-ever Sustainability Report, launched on the same day.

Beyond100 is the title of the strategy Bentley presented in 2020 – just one year after the company’s 100th birthday. The goal is to be carbon neutral and fully electric by 2030.

With its current range of models, the opulent brand is a leader in the luxury hybrid vehicle segment. Bentley has further consolidated this position with the launch of the Flying Spur Hybrid in 2022 to complement the current Bentayga Hybrid. The move seems to appeal to Bentley customers’ tastes: the company expects hybrid vehicles to account for more than 20 percent of its sales this year.

To implement Beyond100, Bentley will invest £2.5 billion (approximately €3 billion) in the transformation to become a provider of sustainable mobility. The announcement is an important boost for the workforce at the headquarters in Crewe, England, and for the location, as the investment fundamentally renews the local manufacturing infrastructure.

Crewe will develop into a digital, climate-neutral and flexible production facility that meets the highest standards. In June 2023, Bentley announced the launch of the Bentley Environmental Foundation. The Foundation supports a wide range of initiatives. The initial launch partner projects include Project Drawdown, the Biomimicry Institute, and Sustainable Surf, with more partners to follow.

40,000 solar cells on the factory roofs

The company has made significant progress in redesigning its headquarters in Crewe, creating an industry-leading plant with certified carbon neutrality. In 2021, factory CO₂ emissions were down by over 70 percent compared to 2020 figures, thanks to the introduction of green gas and biofuel facilities for onsite logistics. It reduced energy consumption per vehicle by more than 17 percent in the same period. The site has now firmly exceeded its original target of reducing its production-related environmental impact by 75 percent over the 15 years from 2010 to 2025. Bentley aims to be completely climate neutral by 2030.

Other recent initiatives include the expansion of local energy production in Crewe. To this end, the number of solar cells on the company’s premises has increased from 30,000 to 40,000 over the last two years. Bentley is also involved in the use of sustainable biofuel in fleet vehicles.

After being certified for its climate-neutral production from 2018 to 2019, the company plans to reduce water consumption, landfill waste, and all other environmental pollution to an absolute minimum by 2030. In 2022, Bentley became the first company to secure “Net Zero Plastic to Nature” certification after completing a plastic stewardship assessment focusing on logistics and packaging.