Bosch Thailand is contributing to this strategy with the installation of a 1 MW solar photovoltaic (SPV) system that was built in January 2020 onsite at its smart factory, located at WHA Industrial Estate in the country's Eastern Economic Corridor in Rayong. The smart factory, which manufactures connectors and injectors for the company's Mobility Solutions business sector, is also equipped with a research and development center to meet the needs of the global automotive market.
"Increasing the consumption of renewable energy at our plant in Rayong is an important step to strengthen our sustainability leadership in Thailand and the automotive industry at large," said Joseph Hong, managing director of Bosch Thailand. Solar modules installed on the rooftop of Bosch's 10,000-square meter WHA factory in Thailand are expected to generate over 23,500 MWh of clean energy, thereby reducing carbon dioxide emissions by over 15,000 tons during its 20-year lifetime, or 760 tons per year. The onsite SPV system began operating in January 2021.
Bosch is also systematically refining combustion engines to bring particulate emissions down to a level roughly 70 percent lower than the standard. In addition, Bosch is committed to renewable fuels, since legacy vehicles will also have to play their part in cutting CO2 emissions. Renewable synthetic fuels can make the combustion process carbon-neutral.
To make carbon neutrality a reality, Bosch is applying four levers: investing in energy efficiency, increasing the proportion of renewables in its energy supply, buying more green power, and offsetting unavoidable carbon emissions. The share of carbon offsets will be significantly lower than planned in 2020, at just 25 percent instead of nearly 50 percent. In other words, Bosch is making faster progress than expected in improving the quality of these measures. By 2030, the company will achieve a significant increase in the share of energy from renewable energy plants. "Our project in Thailand is an important contribution to this," said Hong.
When it comes to climate action, Bosch is taking two new approaches to ensure its own efforts have a multiplier effect in the economy. One goal is to make upstream and downstream activities along the value chain as climate neutral as possible, from "purchased goods" to "use of products sold." By 2030, the associated emissions (Scope 3) are expected to fall by 15 percent, or more than 50 million metric tons per year. To this end, Bosch has agreed on a target with the Science-Based Targets initiative, making Bosch the first automotive supplier to commit to a measurable target. In addition, the company plans to pool the knowledge of nearly 1,000 Bosch experts worldwide and experience from more than 1,000 energy-efficiency projects of its own in a new advisory company, called Bosch Climate Solutions. "We want to make our experience available to other companies, to help them progress to carbon neutrality," added Hong.
About Bosch in Thailand
Bosch?s history in Thailand started in 1923. Bosch has diversified businesses in the country in all four of its business sectors of Mobility Solutions, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods, and Energy and Building Technology. The company has two manufacturing plants for mobility solutions, a research and development center for its mobility solutions division, plus a drive and control sales and services facility in Rayong. Bosch Thailand employs approximately 1,500 associates. Additional information is available at www.bosch.co.th and https://www.facebook.com/BoschThailand.
The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services. It employs roughly 395,000 associates worldwide (as of December 31, 2020). The company generated sales of 71.5 billion euros in 2020. Its operations are divided into four business sectors: Mobility Solutions, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods, and Energy and Building Technology. As a leading IoT provider, Bosch offers innovative solutions for smart homes, Industry 4.0, and connected mobility. Bosch is pursuing a vision of mobility that is sustainable, safe, and exciting. It uses its expertise in sensor technology, software, and services, as well as its own IoT cloud, to offer its customers connected, cross-domain solutions from a single source. The Bosch Group's strategic objective is to facilitate connected living with products and solutions that either contain artificial intelligence (AI) or have been developed or manufactured with its help. Bosch improves quality of life worldwide with products and services that are innovative and spark enthusiasm. In short, Bosch creates technology that is "Invented for life." The Bosch Group comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and its roughly 440 subsidiary and regional companies in 60 countries. Including sales and service partners, Bosch's global manufacturing, engineering, and sales network covers nearly every country in the world. With its more than 400 locations worldwide, the Bosch Group has been carbon neutral since the first quarter of 2020. The basis for the company's future growth is its innovative strength. At 129 locations across the globe, Bosch employs some 73,000 associates in research and development, of which nearly 34,000 are software engineers. Additional information is available online at www.bosch.com, www.iot.bosch.com, www.bosch-press.com, www.twitter.com/BoschPresse.
Source: ABM