Bentley Motors' plant the U.K.'s first carbon neutral luxury automotive factory

Bentley Motors has achieved carbon neutral certification for its factory headquarters in Crewe, England, taking another important step on its journey to become the world's most sustainable luxury automotive manufacturer.

The certification from the Carbon Trust, which confirms that the company meets the internationally recognised PAS 2060 standard for carbon neutrality, reflects measures taken by the company to reduce the carbon emitted in its operations, including the use of renewable electricity.

All of Bentley's electricity is generated by either on-site solar panels or purchased as certified green electricity, while all emissions that cannot be eliminated are compensated with high quality offsets.

Earlier this year, the U.K.'s largest solar car port, comprising 10,000 solar panels, was installed at Bentley's factory site in Crewe. The installation has a capacity of 2.7MW and covers 1,378 car parking spaces - an area of 16,426m². Adding to the 20,815 roof top panels already fitted, it took the total on-site solar panel energy capacity to 7.7MW, enough to cover over 1,750 homes.

The achievement reflects almost two decades' work to make the historic Crewe site as energy and carbon efficient as it can be.  Although parts of the site have existed since the 1940s, in 1999 Bentley was the first U.K. automotive manufacturer to achieve the ISO 14001 environmental management standard and sees upgrading the site to maximise energy efficiency and reduce emissions as a continual process. 

To secure the PAS 2060 certification, Gold Standard carbon credits have been purchased to offset the emissions that occur during the manufacturing process. The quantity and quality of these credits have been independently verified by the Carbon Trust, the world's leading independent certification body for carbon footprints.

Bentley is now accelerating its push towards electrification with the introduction of the first fully electric Bentley slated for 2025. The luxury British marque has also just brought to market the first luxury plug-in hybrid, the Bentayga Hybrid, and aims to have hybrid variants of all models by 2023 and a battery electric vehicle by 2025.