India will be better than Europe in innovation, says Alice

Alice de Brauer effortlessly drives all green policies at Renault. Her environmental strategies are conditioned by climate change, air quality, public health, waste and natural resources. She seriously thinks that cars can influence sustainable development. Alice is Vice-President, Strategic Environmental Planning of Renault. She spoke to Percy Fernandez about clean fuels, CNG, responsibility of car makers and affordable technologies.
Q. What is ISO 14001?
An international standard, to define and put in place a policy, a quantified target, to reduce the impact of manufacturing plants on environment, detailed analyses, impact on water, atmosphere and the society at large. All these would constitute 1SO 140001. It is an international body that defines standards for products in various fields. For some time they have been preparing environmental standards: the 14000 series. ISO 14001 certification is granted by external certifiers based on how products are made from an ecological stand point.
You have to decrease solid wastes, packaging of components, reducing of dangerous wastes, everything that has an impact on natural resources - energy and water. You should ensure reduction of noise around your plant and reduce the impact on biodiversity wherever you are located.
You have to put action plans after policy measures are in place. Communication is vital, both internal and external. What you do, how you control, what kind of management you put in place for a review are all important for standards like this. Everything has to be quantified and auditable. The government has to define legal organism to certify and so they decide iso14001. This certification is developed around work.
We always want to use a national organization, a government organization and sometimes an international organization to ensure there are different levels of accountability.
Q. Can cars be completely recycled?
Today's cars are recyclable, or more precisely 85% reusable by weight. In Europe we need to achieve 95% reusability by 2015. We are now designing cars so that they can be recycled in 10-12 years at 95% reusability by weight. It will be crazy for the economy if you want 100% reusability. Laguna uses 45 kilos of recycled plastic.
My dream is to make a long progress with India. I think India will be better than Europe in innovation of materials. India uses international standards and the current requirement of Euro 4 for cities and Euro 3 for other places is a realistic plan. But in a booming economy the government will have to put systems in place to decrease very old cars. Today in Europe very old cars are on the rollout. If you want to accelerate progress, you have to make a clear difference between cities and non-cities. You have to increase the price of cars for the rich, eliminate old cars and make them buy new cars.
Q. What do you think is the future of clean fuels?
Resources depletion and oil costs will be major problems in the coming years. I don't believe absolutely you will have a magic technology that will sell everywhere. In fact that will be very difficult to develop but a lot depends on the country. In India, the main question is development of people. India will find its own ways, more diesel but clean diesel, but also bio-fuels for diesel and gasoline. You have a lot of natural gas and resources in India but India will find its own way of using them. India has a lot of productivity in terms of solutions. In my mind, I am convinced the next step in environmental innovation will happen in India. India will find a way for new mobility. I think we will find low-cost and high-tech innovations in India. May be not in the near future but in the far future we will find a better way for natural gas. Indian people are very creative.
Q. What is your assessment of CNG in New Delhi?
I think it is a very interesting story for the environment. It talks about the awareness of the government and people who have organized themselves to fight pollution. They got the support of all environmentalists in the world, got their claim and the consensus from the highest court of law. I think it is unique and a remarkable story. The surprise is about Mumbai and it is a mystery
Q. What about Flexfuel?
Renault has committed targets. We are committed to sell cars with low emissions with double offers for biofuel. We are committed to transform all diesel engines to be able to work with 30% biodiesel. In Europe, it is 85%. We launched two midsize cars last year. By 2009, all our vehicles will meet our public commitments made in 2006.
Q. What is Renault Eco2?
There are three criteria that Eco2 vehicles will have to meet. They are quantified and auditable.
- It is produced in a factory with ISO14001 certification
- It emits less than 140g of CO2 per kilometre in Euriope or it uses bio fuel
- Finally, it is 95% reusable but already contains parts made of recycled plastic.
Eco2 is simple: it's both ecological and economical. Ecological due to the 3 criteria we just discussed, and economical because there is no added cost to the customer.
Q. What about Hybrid vehicles?
Hybrid is a successful technology. But it is a lot complicated. We lose a lot of time in Europe on Hybrid vehicles. It is a lot expensive but it is changing. In Renault, it is a commitment to produce affordable hybrid vehicles. If you don't make affordable technologies, people will not afford. It is necessary to have a market, a price with a value.
Q. Are car makers concerned about sustainable development?
It is difficult to talk about other makers. The last ten years, there's a change within the company. We are changing at Renault. We thought sustainable development was a constraint but now we have changed. It is easy to say that the future is hybrid and all others. Each country will have a way to finding solutions to problems. You need to do marketing in a good way. Marketing is an educational tool, to explain to the customer.
Europe is a leader in reducing co2 emissions and against fuel consumption. Globally, there is a move to decrease the range of models. We are specialists in the family and small cars. I think in India will find a better way than in Europe.
Q. A word to conclude.
I think for the next 20 years the automobile industry will witness great changes not just technology changes. I think we will have to open mobility models and start to experiment. The auto industry, government and customers will have to change. But we need to have the decision of these three actors. At Renault we don't think cars, it is mobility and cars have a place. Renault sees opportunities for all of us. We took 10 years to organize the recycled plastic. It is not possible in every country but you need to develop solutions based on countries.