Certified CO2-Neutral Lamborghini Plant in Italy has More Sustainability Features Up Its Sleeve

The Lamborghini factory in Italy has other environmentally friendly characteristics in addition to being certified CO2-neutral.

Even though it's the topic that gets the most attention right now, sustainability encompasses much more than just having no emissions from tailpipes. Sustainable business practices have real effects that are felt throughout a product's entire lifecycle, from development all the way to manufacturing to disposal.

Efforts by Lamborghini

The two areas that Lamborghini can directly control are development and manufacturing, on which they are focusing the most intensely.

Green Fields. The Lamborghini plant is similar to most other auto assembly plants and was certified as a CO2-neutral facility in 2015. To the naked eye, there isn't anything particularly noteworthy about it.

One of the company's biggest sources of sustainability pride is located, however, at the exit of the Urus paint shop: a sizable, green field next to another and yet another after that.

Biomethane Gas. The pipeline that delivers the biomethane gas that will, in place of natural gas, power 50% of the manufacturing operations in the Lamborghini plant in 2023 runs underneath the chain of fields.

Two trigeneration plants are located at the other end of the pipeline, and they utilize a closed system that transports nearly 4 million cu. m of gas to generate electricity, heat, and cooling. Utilizing biomethane will cut the company's annual carbon emissions by 11,400 tons, or up to 80%.

Taking the Rails. As a result of the company switching to rail transportation for Urus body shells, process emissions were cut by 85%.

Water-Based Paint. Changes to the complex's operations that are centered on sustainability are already in place. In the company's paint shop, water-based paint makes up 95% of the paint used.

Solar Panels. Vehicle parking lots are covered and shaded by solar panels. Buildings classified as Class A sustainable, which have low energy consumption and maintenance costs, are used to manufacture cars.

Upcycled Leather. As part of new initiatives, leather and cabin fiber are recycled and used again. Unused leather is delivered to a nearby business that hires people from underprivileged backgrounds. These people produce the wallets and keychains that are sold in Lamborghini stores around the world.

Recycling Carbon Fiber. Lamborghini strives to use carbon fiber circularly. Although there is still a long way to go, the company has made progress by producing promotional items like bracelets from recycled carbon fiber. Between 2020 and 2021, 27 tons of material composites from Aventadors were recycled.

Read also: Recycling Old Freezers, Refrigerators in El Paso Reduces Energy Consumption, Pays $70 - Texas 

Lamborghini Park. Sustainable plant operations are not where Lamborghini draws the line. Just down the road from the complex, they are dedicating time and resources to more biological projects.

Another one of the sustainability programs of the company is located at Lamborghini Park. There, over 10,000 oak trees coexist in ecological balance with a wide range of other plant and animal species. Local university scientists are monitoring their growth to determine which types of plots are most advantageous to the environment.

13 Hives, 600K Bees. A bio-monitoring project is also housed there, with 13 hives holding 600,000 bees. The project produces data as well as honey, which is highly prized by the company's employees and a very small group of friends. The apiary opened its doors in 2016.

According to Lamborghini, the beehives are technologically advanced because they have equipment that can remotely monitor whether the bees are gathering enough nectar and pollen to grow as predicted, as well as instruments to monitor the internal and external temperature, humidity, and wind speed.

Hybrid Cars. Lamborghini's "Direzione Cor Tauri" plan, which is supported by the largest investment in the company's history-€1.5 billion over four years-integrates these environmental projects.

Carsales also reports that by 2024, all of the luxury automaker's models will be hybrid, and by 2030, a fully electric version is expected to be available

Pushing Boundaries

Lamborghini is approaching sustainability holistically, not in a trendy way. They aren't just bragging about their meager efforts to electrify vehicles or to recycle in the office and calling it a day. The business keeps setting new standards in both sustainability and the vehicles it provides to customers, Newsweek reports.

Related article: Nestle Gets Recyclable Packaging for Quality Street Brand, Keeps 2.5B Wrappers Away from Landfills