How Voi contributes to the UN Sustainable Development Goals – SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

Of the UN’s 17 sustainable development goals that make up the agenda for 2030, this one is aimed at ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns that minimise the use of resources and energy. Voi is championing a transition away from the privately-owned internal combustion engine and towards shared electric mobility as part of a circular economy. 

Shared vehicles, rather than privately owned ones, significantly reduce the material footprint of mobility and the space needed for parking. We have invested heavily in improving the lifespan of our vehicles to improve our resource efficiency and we work with suppliers who responsibly manage materials and waste. 

What we have done so far

We work hard to ensure our vehicles are produced sustainably and designed to last. 

• Using recycled materials: We use recycled materials in our scooters and parking infrastructure, while also working to make sure every component can also be recycled again after its useful life in our scooters. 
• Responsible material use and retirement: 
  • Doubled lifespan of scooters to 5+ years
  • With our partner Nortical, we use machine learning to better understand battery performance and health over time in order to improve battery use and design, as well as get the most out of the materials they are made from. 
  • 93% average recycling rate of material in scooters
  • Processes implemented for responsible recycling of materials. 0% of our scooters end up in a landfill at the end of their lives. 
• Pushing battery recycling forward: In collaboration with Fortum, Voi has not only ensured an 80% recycling rate of battery materials at end-of-life, but is working to establish new methods for traceability of the recycled materials that re-enter the market.

Our targets

Voi continues to work on designing out waste and pollution from production processes and closing the loop on material flows. We aim to achieve:

• Local and clean production:  Cut battery production emissions by 30% by developing a battery pack with producers in Europe by 2022 
• Traceability and responsible mining: Fully audited origins of the minerals in our batteries, full traceability of our recycling and annual reporting on material consumption by 2022 (SDG 12.5)
• Zero waste: at all warehouses by 2023
• Recycled materials: 95% recycled content in the scooter by 2025, 30% in our batteries (SDG 12.2)

If you want to find out more about all our work with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, take a look back at our 2019 Sustainability Statement when we began aligning to the goals. We’ve come a long way but there’s so much more to do. 

This blog post is part of a series on how we work with nine of the 17 sustainable development goals. You can find the other blog posts in the series here:

SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
SDG 9: Sustainable Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
SDG 13: Climate Action
SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
SDG 5: Gender Equality
SDG 3: Good Health and Wellbeing
SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals