According to The Rise of Conscious Design, a new report issued by Volvo Cars in collaboration with leading trend forecasting company The Future Laboratory, two-thirds of consumers consider a brand’s environmental policies as a critical factor when purchasing luxury products. The same percentage of buyers would like to see carbon labelling on products as a way of providing greater transparency on the environmental impact of products and materials. The publication of the report coincides with Volvo Cars’ announcement that all of its new fully electric models will be completely leather-free. The newly launched C40 Recharge is the first model to be fully devoid of leather. Volvo is working actively to find high-quality and sustainable sources for many materials currently used in the wider car industry.

“We have a vision of where we need to go in the future, with the first step to ensure we harness sustainable, natural and recycled materials,” said Robin Page, head of design at Volvo Cars. “The next challenge is to change what we do with these materials, whether that’s making car parts that last forever, re-enter the circular economy or go back into the earth.”

By 2025, the company is aiming for 25% of the material in new Volvo cars to consist of recycled and bio-based content, as part of its ambition to be a fully circular business by 2040. Instead of leather interior options, Volvo Cars will offer its customers alternatives such as high-quality sustainable materials made from bio-based and recycled sources. For example, Nordico, a new interior material created by Volvo Cars will consist of textiles made from recycled material such as PET bottles, bio-attributed material from sustainable forests in Sweden and Finland, and corks recycled from the wine industry. This material will make its debut in the next generation of Volvo models.