Citroen wins gold at the Apple Green car awards.

Citroën has just been awarded a Gold trophy at the prestigious International Green Apple Awards, held at the Houses of Parliament in London. Citroën scooped the top accolade in the Automotive Industries category for Environmental Best Practice. 

The award recognises the brand’s investment in minimising the environmental impact of its cars, LCV’s and its manufacturing operations.

Citroën impressed the organisers with its green philosophy, which has seen the organisation focus on reducing the environmental impact of production, through customer operation, to end of life disposal and recycling. 

Citroën’s green philosophy extends from initial design, manufacturing in energy efficient production facilities, to delivering emission reductions and improved fuel efficiency throughout the vehicle’s operational life, with a 95% end of life recyclability. 

As part of the PSA Group, Citroën manufacturing facilities are ISO 1401 certified, indicating their efficient use of energy and material resources. This also applies to the majority of the production facilities used by its joint venture partners. 

Citroën’s continuous improvement process has achieved significant reductions in energy usage and this has seen the amount of energy used to produce a vehicle reduce by around one third. Also, water consumption per vehicle manufactured has seen a near two thirds reduction.

Citroën has also been innovative in the use of the latest material technology to reduce weight (without compromising strength) and increasing the use of sustainable materials. This includes raising the percentage of green polymers used in its vehicles to 30% by 2015. Citroën LCVs also utilise an increasing amount of high tensile steel and plastics to deliver weight-saving efficiency benefits.

Roger Wolens, Managing Director of The Green Organisation, remarked; “The standard of entries for these awards has never been higher, so Citroën’s achievement is that much greater. The manufacturer’s holistic approach to green manufacturing is evident in the range of green initiatives it has undertaken. Citroën’s continuous improvement process has achieved significant reductions in energy usage, both in the manufacturing process and on the road.”

Jeremy Smith, Citroën’s Head of Commercial Vehicles & Business Sector Operations, commented; “Our success in this category reflects the dedication of our research and development staff to make our vehicles even greener. To succeed, when organisers say entries have never reached such a high standard, is an even greater achievement.”