Indigenous leaders from the Brazilian Amazon and clean air campaigners in the United States and Europe gathered yesterday outside Volvo Group’s AGM, calling on the truck manufacturer to end its reliance on diesel and accelerate the global transition to electric vehicles.
The coordinated action, organised under the Idle Giants network, highlighted concerns that Volvo’s lobbying activities undermine climate and clean air protections.
Volvo dominates the global truck market and while the company promotes a 2040 net-zero ambition, its earlier target of achieving 50% electric truck sales by 2030 has been quietly dropped.
In practice, electric trucks account for less than 2% of Volvo’s global sales and the company is suing California over an agreement to advance truck electrification goals.
Mary Peveto, Executive Director of Neighbors for Clean Air in the US, said the issue is more than abstract climate policy: ‘In my community in Oregon, nearly 20,000 trucks pass my daughters’ school every single day. This is not abstract, it’s happening outside our schools and homes.
‘Heavy-duty truck makers are responsible for around 80% of freight pollution. They have the technology to fix it. Volvo calls itself a climate leader. But you cannot market climate leadership while siding with attempts to dismantle the rules that make climate progress possible.’
The campaigners also criticised Volvo’s role in the US EPA’s recent rollback of the ‘endangerment finding,’ a foundational rule for federal greenhouse-gas regulation.
Voices from the Amazon emphasised the human cost of diesel dependence. Sila Mesquita Apurinã, Indigenous leader and coordinator of Rede GTA said: ‘Truck companies speak about zero emissions globally but here in the Amazon, we still see only diesel. Nearly half of Northern Brazil’s transport emissions come from trucks serving one industrial zone.’
Chief Jonas Mura of the Mura people added: ‘This is a health and human rights issue. Respiratory illnesses are rising while companies talk about climate leadership. If zero-emission targets are real, they must reach our territories. But to date, there is not a single electric truck in the Amazon.’
The protests coincide with Volvo’s AGM, where shareholders and environmental advocates are urging the company to match its public sustainability commitments with tangible action in both policy and product strategy.
Volvo are also facing pushback within the AGM itself, where they face a shareholder resolution, filed by Kapitalforeningen MP Invest, requesting that Volvo Group’s Board publish an annual review of the company’s climate-related policy engagement. This includes both direct lobbying by Volvo and indirect influence carried out through industry associations it belongs to.
The supporting statement argues that aligned policy engagement is critical for Volvo to achieve its net-zero by 2040 strategy. Without transparency, lobbying could undermine the company’s own climate targets. The proposal notes that many global peers already publish such reviews, which are considered good governance practice by investors.
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