Volvo Group dominates the global truck markets: in Europe, Volvo has 18% market share and in North America it has 15.8% market share (as of Q1 2025 and Q1 2026 respectively). While it promotes a 2040 net zero ambition, it no longer references its earlier commitment to reach 50% electric truck sales by 2030. In practice, electric trucks make up less than 2% of its sales, it remains heavily reliant on polluting diesel vehicles linked to significant harm, and has actively worked to weaken climate regulations in both the U.S. and in Europe.
Under the Idle Giants network banner, #VolvoSplitFromDiesel unites frontline voices from the United States and the Brazilian Amazon who say Volvo cannot claim climate leadership while pushing back on policies that delay or dilute environmental safeguards. Groups were joined by XR Gothenburg and climate campaigners from around Europe.
“That’s not leadership. It’s a contradiction,” said Mary Peveto, Executive Director of Neighbors for Clean Air (US), “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.”
Peveto warned that truck manufacturers, including Volvo Group, are supporting political efforts to weaken clean air and climate standards in the United States and that similar industry pressure is now surfacing in Europe, shaping policy decisions on both sides of the Atlantic.
“If Volvo truly believes in electrification and public health, it should defend strong climate and clean air laws everywhere it operates,” she said.
Peveto also expressed concerns about Volvo Group’s role in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) endangerment finding, the foundational climate rule for federal greenhouse-gas regulation, including pollution from heavy-duty vehicles. The finding was recently repealed by the Trump Administration, marking the most far-reaching rollback of U.S. climate policy to date and undermining the Paris Agreement.
While Volvo Group has publicly stated that its lobbying activities are aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement, advocates say that how the company responds to efforts to weaken or overturn these EPA standards will be a defining test of that claim.
“Zero-emission promises must reach our territories.” From the Brazilian Amazon, Sila Mesquita Apurinã, Indigenous leader and general coordinator of the Amazonian working group, Rede GTA, and Chief Jonas Mura, Indigenous leader of the Mura people, highlighted the human cost of diesel dependence in their region.
“Truck companies speak about zero emissions globally but here in the Amazon, we still see only diesel,” said Mesquita. “Nearly half of Northern Brazil’s transport emissions come from trucks serving one industrial zone. I grew up in the Manaus Free Trade Zone and on the highways of the Brazilian Amazon- diesel trucks cross our territories every day. They bring pollution, noise, and health problems to our communities.”
The leaders stressed that the issue is not only about climate, but about rights and survival.
“This is a health and human rights issue,” said Mura. “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.”
They emphasized that electrification would mean less toxic pollution, less noise, and reduced risks of fuel spills contaminating forests and rivers. Citing findings from Rede GTA’s report on diesel trucks in the Manaus Free Trade Zone, they noted that with just 12 fast-charging stations, the region could support 300 electric trucks, cutting travel times by 15% and saving an estimated 5.4 million liters of diesel per year. For Amazonian communities, they said, electrification is not a distant vision, it is a practical and achievable step that could deliver immediate health, climate, and environmental benefits.
Tens of thousands of people across the globe have signed petitions asking Volvo to accelerate a transition to electric trucks worldwide, ensuring 100% sales of zero emission trucks by 2040.
The Idle Giants network are calling on Volvo Group to:
- Advocate for policies that will drive industry-wide transformation and market certainty, fully aligning its lobbying and policy engagement with its stated climate commitments.
- Refrain from any efforts to roll back enabling policies and publicly reject efforts to weaken or roll back clean air and climate regulations.
- Prioritize electric sales and charging infrastructure investments where there is highly concentrated truck pollution and the potential for significant and immediate health benefits in all of the markets where they operate, from US ports to frontline regions like the Amazon.
“Real leadership means accelerating the transition, not slowing it down,” said Peveto.
“If Volvo is serious about electrification, it must prioritize the Amazon, not leave it running on diesel,” added Mesquita.
“Fossil fuel-burning trucks are a major driver of the climate crisis,” said Eoin Dubsky, a campaigner for Ekō, a global consumer watchdog. “And every diesel truck that Volvo Group sells today will be paid for by generations to come.”
The protest coincides with international efforts surrounding Volvo’s Annual General Meeting, where clean freight advocates and shareholders are asking company leadership to ensure that Volvo’s political influence matches its public sustainability commitments.
