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Driving Decarbonization at BMW

By: Shirley Lu, George Serafeim, Michael W. Toffel

The case describes BMW's electrification and decarbonization strategy, and how the company measured carbon emissions throughout the life cycle of its vehicles and used tools like carbon abatement…

Length: 34 page(s)
Publication Date: Oct 6, 2022
Discipline: Accounting
Product #: 123008-PDF-ENG

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The case describes BMW's electrification and decarbonization strategy, and how the company measured carbon emissions throughout the life cycle of its vehicles and used tools like carbon abatement cost curves to evaluate decarbonization opportunities. In mid-2022, automakers, consumers, regulators, and investors were focusing on the transition from internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles to electric vehicles (EV). While this would reduce tail-pipe emissions, the production of EVs-and especially their batteries-increased emissions in the supply chain. Under CEO Oliver Zipse, BMW was focusing on life cycle emissions and was pursuing a flexible powertrain strategy by offering vehicles with several powertrain options: gasoline and diesel-fueled ICE, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), and battery electric vehicles (BEV). Meanwhile, competing automakers were announcing deadlines by which they would stop selling ICE vehicles, buoyed by investment analysts and favorable press. BMW's approach was receiving a frostier reception in the stock market. Facing these pressures, how should BMW communicate and convince its stakeholders that its strategy was sustainable for both the environment and BMW's financial performance?

Learning Objectives

To introduce the fundamentals of carbon accounting and highlight key qualitative characteristics of these carbon emissions metrics. To examine the tools that firms use to manage and reduce carbon emissions. To identify the institutions involved in enhancing credible communication of corporate sustainability performance.

Oct 6, 2022 (Revised: Jun 21, 2024)

Discipline:

Geographies:

China, Europe, Germany, United States

Industries:

Automotive industry, Electric power, Transportation and distribution

Harvard Business School

123008-PDF-ENG

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CASE STUDY BMW NORTH AMERICA

Generative AI in the driver’s seat

Accenture and BMW teamed up to create a new platform that uses generative AI to drive decisions across North America, accelerating productivity and experiences.

2-MINUTE READ

Turning enterprise data into knowledge entails sharing deep subject matter expertise between many people and sources. This process takes a considerable amount of time—days, weeks or even months.

But thanks to the power of generative AI (gen AI), we’re now able to shorten that time frame, going from data to knowledge to real-time insights in just minutes.

That’s what we’re doing with BMW North America, using our gen AI platform EKHO (Enterprise Knowledge Harmonizer and Orchestrator) to collect and analyze its enterprise data. The platform uses large language models to intelligently answer complex questions across business functions and use cases.

The heart of the platform contains multiple AI-enabled applications (GPT agents) that intelligently choose the right data source and pull information based on the user’s question and enterprise-specific data.

When an employee asks a question through the platform’s simple interface, it selects the right knowledge base and continues to refine answers based on the user’s feedback. EKHO solves new issues by learning from and applying past scenarios and pulling any new information added to the knowledge bases in real time.

productivity surge with EKHO

Gen AI: The reverb effect

Thanks to the platform’s flexibility, EKHO can be applied to a vast number of tasks across the company—and on the showroom floor.

Imagine a BMW customer walks into a dealership, ready to buy their dream car but not prepared to make lots of decisions. Between the paint, tech, interiors and accessories, there are nearly 10 million possible configurations. Each variable has its own set of rules, which means some features aren’t compatible.

In the past, a BMW salesperson would have to consult manuals—spending hours cross-checking different features and customizations. Using EKHO, salespeople can cut the time consuming process to a matter of minutes.

No limits, all speed

With its customizable architecture, EKHO use cases are virtually limitless across organizations and business functions. For example, in manufacturing, it can be used to optimize supply chain processes by answering inventory and logistics questions.

The EKHO platform also can be integrated with marketing and sales, providing real-time data and customer insights to optimize campaigns.

Regardless of industry or use case complexity, EKHO’s flexible architecture and real-time analysis capabilities have the power to help companies like BMW use data and insights to stay in the fast lane.

We are making bold moves, together

NBCUniversal partnered with Accenture to launch and scale Peacock, the company’s premium streaming service, that has been the fastest-growing streaming platform in the U.S. for two consecutive years.

Accenture and Fortune transformed the iconic Fortune 500® list into an AI-driven platform that gives business leaders access to insights like never before.

BBVA worked with Accenture to become one of the world’s most customer-centric banks. Using digital technology to reach people where they are has helped them see massive growth.

Together, Gerando Falcões and Accenture are bringing hope to thousands in Brazil.

Changi Airport has been ranked the World's Best Airport twelve times. To take the traveler experience to new heights, we created ChangiVerse, an immersive metaverse experience.

Accenture and Marriott International created a new global HR hub that delivers employee experiences as exceptional as the guest experiences that make Marriott, Marriott.

Together, we turned finance operations from transactional to transformational. Moving BT Group’s finance function to the cloud boosted operational cost efficiency by 30%.

Outer space is full of untapped insights. e-GEOS is partnering with us to unlock the secrets of space data to help solve some of the world’s biggest challenges.

Netflix and Accenture Song teamed up to slay a monster. And turn a spaceship into a boat. Here’s how our team used visual effects to bring the ideas to life, pixel by pixel.

Car brand smart wanted to replace traditional auto sales with a direct-to-consumer experience. We brought a new platform to life—and sold out an entire line of cars in 24 hours.

We’re working with The Good Food Institute and Food System Innovations to reinvent the meat alternatives industry and bring new alternative proteins into the mainstream.

Together, we’re reinventing the places where we work, live and play. Johnson Controls and Accenture are making buildings smarter and greener using the OpenBlue platform.