Divyank Kushagra Bansal 
Volkswagen Group-owned Seat, the only company to design, develop, manufacture, and market cars in Spain, achieved its best sustainability results to date in 2023, thanks to the effectiveness of its strategic projects in the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) areas.
The company has reduced the environmental impact of its facilities in Martorell, Barcelona, and El Prat by 53% since 2010, by improving its production processes. In 2023, the company also implemented wellness and diversity programmes that had a direct impact on the entire workforce, in addition to strengthening the governance structure.
Since 2010, Seat has reduced its energy consumption by 33% through efficiency measures and organisational improvements. Since 2012, the company’s entire electricity consumption has come from 100% renewable sources. A 69% reduction in carbon emissions was achieved since 2010. In line with the Volkswagen Group’s de-carbonisation targets, Seat will achieve carbon neutrality in all its facilities by 2040 and for the entire company by 2050. During production, the water consumption per car also came down by 45%. The latest indicators focus on waste generation, which is sent to treatment facilities for disposal, and solvent emissions. Both have been reduced, by 78% and 45%, respectively.
The Spanish carmaker also launched multiple sustainability initiatives, such as Seat al Sol 2. From 2025, its facilities at Martorell, El Prat, and Barcelona, will have 39,000 solar panels on a surface area of 233,000 square metres and will generate 29GWh of energy, tripling Seat’s renewable energy self-generation capacity. In 2023, Seat started the installation of the VW Group’s first 100% electric paint-drying oven in Martorell, which has recently come into operation. The solution minimises heat loss and reduces energy consumption by 25%, which means savings of 2,500 tonnes of CO2 per year, equivalent to more than 550 combustion cars running for a year.
Sharing his thoughts on the achievements, Markus Haupt, Executive Vice-President for Production and Logistics at Seat S.A, said, “Sustainability is a key pillar of Seat’s corporate strategy and is at the heart of the transformation process we are undergoing towards electrification. We aimed to reduce the environmental impact in the specific area of production by 50% by 2025, something we have already achieved. We are now moving forward to achieve carbon neutrality at our facilities by 2040, in line with the Volkswagen Group’s strategy.”
