Sept. 25, 2007 The Volvo Trucks' plant in Ghent, Belgium, has become the first vehicle manufacturing plant in the world that operates without emitting any carbon dioxide, Environment News Service reports.

The plant has shifted from natural gas to three on-site wind turbines, which provide about half the energy necessary to power the facility. The remaining electricity is purchased from a certified green energy provider. Heat is provided by a solar-powered biomass plant and by burning biofuels.

"Our ambition is to make all our plants CO2-free plants and Ghent is the first," says Volvo CEO Leif Johansson. "It is not an easy undertaking, but we are prepared to try different alternatives to achieve our goal for CO2-free production in our plants."

Volvo is now retooling its plant in Umea, Sweden, to become CO2-free.