BMW was the first company to use matte paints made from biomass instead of crude oil. The process of replacing precursors like ligroin with organics has been developed by BASF, and such colors are already used in European factories of the brand. In addition to this, the BMW Group plants in Leipzig and Rosslyn (South Africa) have switched to an environmentally produced anticorrosive coating.

In an effort to reduce the negative impact on the environment, BMW uses almost the entire arsenal of available solutions. The company is gradually switching to renewable energy sources. Moreover, this applies not only to assembly lines but also to the production of individual components, for example, aluminum wheels. By the way, today up to 50 percent of the raw materials for the foundry of the plant in the German Landshut are obtained using solar energy.

BMW is also actively exploring the advantages of recyclables, biocomposites, and other innovative materials. Plus produces tires from ethically obtained natural rubber and viscose fiber. And the latest initiative of the brand is the use in the production of matte body paints made not from crude oil, but biomass and waste from sewage treatment plants.

So far, only cars in European factories are painted with such paints. The innovative process of replacing precursors like ligroin with organic has been developed by BASF, and these paints are chemically identical to those used before — they are even produced on the same line. For this reason, in order to determine exactly how much color is considered to be produced entirely from environmentally friendly raw materials, it is necessary to use the mass balance method.

On this basis, BMW buys exactly as much paint as it needs in terms of biofuel and biomethane for completely oil-free production. According to preliminary data, the switch to tints from waste will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 40 percent. And the cumulative CO2 savings by 2030 could be as much as 15,000 tons.