Niklas Wahlberg: Partnerships key in realising the transformation
Volvo Group is aiming to be fossil-free by 2040 and has a key role in being an early adopter of fossil-free steel for future products. But meeting the growing demand from customers is not without its challenges. The whole value chain, from mine to steel to end-customers, need to continue collaborating closely together to make the transformation happen.
Watch the full interview with Niklas Wahlberg.
Volvo Group was one of the first companies to sign up for delivery of fossil-free steel from the HYBRIT initiative and the first vehicle, a load carrier, has already been unveiled. Niklas Wahlberg is VP of System solutions and partnerships at Volvo Group and took part in a Deep talk to discuss the journey towards fossil-free steel making, and why Volvo is so keen to be a part of it.
In an interview after the session, he shared some of his thoughts with us.
”We see a great opportunity here, not only for [Volvo], but for the country of Sweden. We really need to stay on this first mover’s journey and make it happen!”, he said. ”We will be fossil-free by 2040. Steel is a very important element in our products, so we want to be quick in transforming to fossil-free steel. It’s as simple as that”
We can confirm the demand, the supply is there and now it’s about the infrastructure to make it possible
A lot of challenges remain however, like the availability of green electricity and quicker permitting processes, and key in solving those will be collaboration and partnerships, both between companies, like in HYBRIT, and together with politicians and other decision-makers:
”A lot is dependent on partnerships and ways of collaborating, not only through the value chain as we’re showing here today, but also together with policy makers on a national and european and global level.”
