As Europeans face unprecedented heatwaves caused in part by fossil fuels, Volvo Group is facing a claim of illegal greenwashing about its electric trucks efforts. Consumer watchdog Ekō filed a complaint today to the Swedish Consumer Agency (Konsumentverket) over misleading electric truck sales targets on the manufacturer’s Swedish website, which the company has abandoned in practice.
The complaint coincides with explosive YouGov polling released by Ekō today, revealing that the Swedish public expects better of the 99 year-old automotive giant.
More than three-quarters of Swedes who expressed an opinion (77%) support the statement “Volvo should be a leader in making electric trucks affordable and competitive, not risk falling behind global competitors.” Of those who expressed an opinion, more than two thirds said Volvo’s continued heavy investment in diesel technology contradicts its public sustainability claims (68%).
“Volvo’s claims are likely to give the average consumer in Sweden a misleading impression of Volvo Group’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) efforts,” said Eoin Dubsky, a climate campaigner at consumer watchdog Ekō.
"Europe pays for diesel trucks staying on the road three times over. Meeting Europe’s emission targets prevents the sale of ~60,000 additional diesel trucks, avoiding pollution equivalent to putting two million extra cars on European roads. The Swedish public deserves clarity on how Volvo is actually investing and scaling electrification," Dubsky added.
The truckmaker announced in 2023 that it aimed for 50% of global sales of new Volvo trucks to be electric in 2030. Volvo Group’s main climate webpage included that 2030 climate target, but some time after 28 September 2025, the English-language version of the page was changed to remove the target, while the Swedish-language version was left intact.
Asked via email in May about the climate claims in Swedish and English, Volvo Group said that the 2030 e-trucks sales target “will probably not be materialized”. Nonetheless, the climate claim is still published on Volvo’s Swedish website.
The discrepancy suggests that Swedish consumers, investors, and employees are receiving an incomplete or misleading picture of Volvo Group’s actual climate commitments and progress, potentially violating Swedish Marketing Act (Marknadsföringslagen) Section 10 requirements regarding environmental claims and company commitments.
Polling shows Swedes expect better
Though trucks are two in every hundred vehicles, they consume a staggering one in five litres of Europe’s road-transport oil. Transitioning to electric trucks could cut EU oil imports 22% by 2035, saving €28 billion in the European economy.
Major manufacturers including Volvo are favouring shareholder payouts over investment in the zero-emission transition. Volvo Group has given €12 billion to its shareholders since 2022. This is triple the €4 billion it spent on developing low and zero-emission technology.
“Volvo still enjoys a positive public image at home, but patience is wearing thin," said Dubsky. "With billions in annual profits, Volvo has more than enough money to lead. Manufacturers like Volvo can and should deliver the electric trucks transition, but instead are underinvesting and pushing for rollbacks on rules that have proven to speed uptake of clean and affordable electric trucks.”
A YouGov poll released by Ekō today shows there is clear public backing in Sweden for stronger leadership on electrification–including stronger action from Volvo’s shareholders.
Of those who expressed an opinion, more than three quarters (78%) of Swedes agree that “large shareholders should urge Volvo to invest in long-term competitiveness, even if it means lower short-term profits.”
Action from Volvo’s shareholders
Volvo Group is behind a series of lawsuits and regulatory rollbacks in the U.S. and EU:
At Volvo Group’s annual general meeting (AGM) this year, the Danish public retirement fund Akademiker Pension filed a resolution highlighting the growing “risk that lobbying activities may undermine, rather than support the Company’s own targets”, which raised concerns over “governance, credibility and long term value creation,” gained strong backing from other major institutional investors including Nordic asset manager Lannebo, Danish retirement fund Sampension and the Church of England Pensions Board.
Ekō joined with other International clean air advocates and Indigenous leaders for a protest outside Volvo Group’s AGM in Gothenburg on 8 April, calling on Volvo Group to end its alignment with efforts that weaken climate and clean air protections and to accelerate a truly global transition to electric trucks. Almost 50,000 Ekō members have backed a petition to Volvo and Daimler on the matter.
Ekō is formally requesting that Konsumentverket investigate whether the selective presentation of targets amounts to greenwashing.
"The signals from Volvo are all heading in the wrong direction," said Dubsky. "As one of Sweden’s flagship companies, Volvo needs to be transparent. Swedish people deserve clarity on how the company is actually delivering for their clean air, technological innovation, and long-term future."
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Editor’s note:
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