Olive stones, almonds and argan nutshells are fuelling the Alliance's goal of carbon-neutral production in Tangier

As the Renault-Nissan builds new factories around the world, great attention is being paid to making them more sustainable. The shining example is the Alliance’s new plant in Tangier, Morocco, which is the only automotive plant in the world to have had its CO2 emission reduction program recognized by the United Nations’ Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

 

CDM is part of the Kyoto Protocol and is guided by the UN’s Framework Convention on Climate Change. As well as helping to fund emissions reduction projects, CDM assigns Certified Emission Reduction units, which can be sold to industrialized countries allowing them to fulfil part of their emission reduction objectives.

Opened in 2012, the Tangier plant today builds the Lodgy and Dokker entry-level models for sale in Morocco, as well as for export under the Dacia and Renault brands. The plant’s ultimate objective is to have zero carbon emissions and zero industrial effluent discharge. It is almost there already.

More than 90 percent of the plant’s energy needs is generated by renewable energy. All the electricity supplied to the plant is generated via wind generators and hydroelectric turbines, while most of the thermal energy generated on site comes from a biomass boiler. Each year, the plant uses more than 15,000 tons of wood residue, olive pits, argan nut shells and even almonds for fuel, making it the biggest user of biomass in Morocco.

It is estimated that the plant’s use of renewable energy has resulted in a reduction of 80,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions in 2014 when compared with a similar plant using natural gas.
In addition, about 40% of the water used in the manufacturing process is recycled from industrial effluents.