April Editorial | FAAS Chair

By Louise Wohrne

Dear aftermarket stakeholders, dear members of FAAS,

March has marked yet another key milestone towards sustainability in the automotive aftermarket. With the signature of the authentic deeds, the Forum on Automotive Aftermarket Sustainability has officially been launched as an International Non-Profit Association under Belgian Law.

In this context, it is a pleasure for me to share with you my first editorial as newly elected (first) Chair of FAAS. For me and the company I work for, MEKO, it was a natural choice to seek a place on the Board. I am convinced that FAAS has an important role to play in the sustainable transformation we all need to be part of, and collaboration in the value chain is key for this to happen. We need to work more together, and I am happy that the working groups we have in place are proving successful already.

Over the past months, some important progress has been made by the four Working Groups, which form the core pillar of our initiative. We are happy to share that 11 April, the Global Remanufacturing Day, will mark the beginning of our first concerted campaign to raise awareness and knowledge on remanufacturing of components. Remanufactured parts have the same quality as new parts, while being on average significantly more efficient in terms of resource use and carbon footprint, as shown in a study by Oakdene Hollins in 2021.

Working Group 2 has produced a video as well as infographics that will be shared by FAAS stakeholders in a joint effort to promote the remanufacturing sector and its contributions - engaging with the content, resharing and reposting, is an excellent way to support the outreach and contribute to a circular economy!

Moreover, FAAS is about to launch a study to assess the environmental impact of repair and maintenance of vehicles, to define clear scenarios and draw guidance on when repairing a vehicle is more efficient than replacing it with a new one. This assessment will be based on different technologies, repair cycles and geographies, and will be the first of its kind.

On the legislative side, the past few weeks were marked by the trilogue agreement on the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D), one of the building blocks of the EU’s sustainability policy, together with, among the others, the recently adopted Forced Labour Product Ban and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). The CS3D, entering into force in 2027, has seen significant improvements along its political progress, and now provides strong recognition of industry initiatives for stakeholder engagement. Coupling human rights protection with environmental activism, the new directive will foster close collaboration across the value chain and put into practice the climate strategies to comply with the targets of the Paris Agreement.

As we move into spring, I look forward to seeing more of what will come out of our working groups this year; together we make a difference!