The auto industry is a global business, perhaps the largest single industry when you consider all the upstream and downstream activities. Over time, the carmakers at the top of the industry chain have benefitted from the business, making big profits (but also losses too at times) for their shareholders.
Understanding that their success and continued growth depends very much on support from customers who buy their products and services, many companies have initiatives to give back to the communities in which we operate. These initiatives – often referred to as Corporate Social Responsibilities – may take various forms and focus on different sectors in different parts of the world.
Volvo Cars, well known for saving millions of lives with the many safety technologies it has developed for its cars over almost 100 years, has now started a new philanthropic fund with the ambition to positively impact a million lives in years to come.
Known as the Volvo For Life Fund, it’s not directly related to its car business and will focus initially on social and environmental initiatives. These initiatives will centre around People, the Planet and providing Protection.
By working together with global and local partners, and channeling the engagement of communities and the company’s employees, the Volvo For Life Fund will continue the heritage of care and safety.
“We have a long history of social, environmental and community engagement, and I’m proud that we continue this tradition through the launch of the Volvo For Life Fund,” said Jim Rowan, CEO of Volvo Cars. “It will enable us to work alongside expert global and local partners to address global challenges close to our company’s values, and help create lasting, positive change.”
People, the planet and protection
The Volvo For Life Fund will be organised into three focus areas, themed around people, the planet and protection. Guided by local voices and insights, and delivered through trusted partners, many of the fund’s initiatives will be tailored to address the challenges of the different communities where Volvo does business.
With regard to People, the aim is to create safer, more empowered and socially mobile environments in marginalised communities. This will see a focus on creating and increasing educational and socio-economic opportunities for young people and children.
For our Planet, Volvo will invest in local and global projects dedicated to the restoration and preservation of natural ecosystems and biodiversity, and supporting the fight against climate change. There will be an initial emphasis on reforestation and ocean health, as well as community engagement.
To provide Protection, Volvo will support emergency response and relief efforts that help to meet immediate humanitarian needs when natural disasters occur in countries linked to its value chain. The company will also support longer term work to ensure that education and learning remain a priority even when natural disasters strike.
The first partnerships
The Volvo for Life Fund’s first partners are Girls Who Code, One Tree Planted and Save the Children, each connected to one of our focus areas.
The partnership with Girls Who Code will help address the current underrepresentation of women in computer science and software engineering roles, with the ambition to equip young women with the coding skills and confidence necessary to excel in this field.
For the work with One Tree Planted, support is being planned for reforestation and urban tree planting projects in 7 countries across 5 continents, with the aim to plant over half a million trees and restore over 450 hectares of land each year. Trees are vital to the planet’s eco system and there is an urgent need to replace all those that have been removed through clearing for other forms of development.
By partnering with Save the Children, Volvo will help build the resilience of educational systems in countries prone to natural disasters, provide temporary learning spaces in emergency situations and make sure that children can return safely back to learning after an emergency – all to help safeguard and sustain children’s education.
With this fund, we recognise its modest size and prioritise continuous learning and development. We appreciate the power of well-designed small-scale initiatives, whether they’re local or global in scope. Our approach emphasises progress one step at a time, understanding the importance of every contribution within the broader context of positive change, the company explains.
“At Volvo Cars, our goal is clear: to create scalable, long-term impact, just like we did when we shared the 3-point safety belt for all to use,” said Mr. Rowan. “We know we can make real change – every action counts, big or small, as it brings us closer to a safer world.”
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