The Shift to Sustainable Manufacturing: Challenges and Innovations

The global manufacturing industry is responsible for roughly $8 trillion worth of industrial waste each year. The path to sustainable automotive manufacturing is fraught with challenges, but the opportunities for innovation are immense.

Making the shift to sustainable automotive manufacturing is far from simple and requires industry-wide strategies to overcome a variety of persistent and complex challenges.

Manufacturing vehicles at scale has always been resource-intensive, with the production of heavy metals like steel and aluminum consuming vast amounts of energy and impacting the environment. Additionally, materials used throughout the manufacturing lifecycle are frequently wasted, further increasing carbon emissions and releasing harmful chemicals into the ecosystem.

Similar challenges exist regarding the management of materials at the end of a vehicle’s lifecycle. Manufacturers often struggle with inefficient and eco-unfriendly disposal processes, hindering the recovery and reuse of materials. This inefficiency increases the energy required to produce the next generation of vehicles.

These challenges are compounded by the complexity of global supply chains. Manufacturers must ensure that their suppliers worldwide engage in sustainable practices while adapting to evolving regulations and compliance obligations associated with each supplier’s location.

At Magna, sustainability is embedded into every aspect of our global business. Our ECO50 sustainability initiative, aimed at creating annual savings through energy reduction projects and on-site renewable energy generation, saved 260,000 megawatt hours of electricity last year—the equivalent of planting more than 4.6 million trees or powering approximately 24,000 homes for a year.

To reduce emissions, we have heavily invested in sustainable energy sources. In the past year alone, we tripled the number of our divisions using solar panels. In 2024, 135 divisions are using renewable electricity, and we’ll go to 150 divisions by the end of 2025. For context, it was only 29 divisions in 2021 and 61 in 2022.

One example of our energy-saving efforts is the automatic control of roof hatches at a Magna Mirrors facility in Europe. By adapting the control system to stop heating and cooling when the domes are opened manually, we saved more than 14,000 kilowatt hours per year, the equivalent of charging nearly 800,000 smartphones.

These programs underscore the importance of automotive innovation in addressing sustainable challenges and maximizing outcomes. As a testament to our efforts, Magna’s goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 was verified by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), confirming that our sustainability targets align with the latest climate science.

Maximizing our use of sustainable materials and reducing waste has also been a significant focus at Magna. We’ve developed a next-generation door carrier for vehicles using up to 90% sustainable materials, achieving a 40% reduction in material weight while enhancing impact resistance to improve operator safety. Additionally, our sustainable EcoSphere seating solution leverages only recycled and bio-based materials, promoting a circular economy and setting a new standard for material recovery and reuse in the automotive space.