Combating major environmental issues facing the global community, such as climate change, water scarcity, resource depletion and habitat loss, in a widespread, meaningful way often starts with small steps.
Toyota affirmed its commitment to meaningful environmental contributions through a television commercial showcasing iconic moments in Olympic and Paralympic history. The commercial, titled “Frozen,” aims to further spark the conversation on global warming and the imminent impact that it may have on the beauty, hope and heroes of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
Guided byToyota’s Environmental Challenge 2050, the company’s long-term environmental initiative, Toyota is making progress toward a net positive impact on the environment.
Comprised of six individual challenges that seek to make Toyota a net positive carbon contributor while enriching the lives of diverse communities, Challenge 2050, is a driving force behind many decisions. The first three challenges focus on carbon and call for completely eliminatingnot just reducing greenhouse gas emissions from all vehicles, operations and supply chain. The fourth challenge addresses water availability and quality, while the fifth and sixth challenges seek to move closer to contributing to a recycling-based society and protecting nature.
In the recently published2017 North American Environmental Report, Toyota outlines positive impacts made across North America. In 2017, Toyota expanded its use of renewable energy with solar installations at an assembly plant in Baja California, Mexico; Toyota’s new North American headquarters campus in Plano, Texas; and a new supplier center in York, Michigan, generating more than 590,000 kilowatt-hours of renewable electricity. Projects at four of Toyota’s North American manufacturing plants resulted in water savings last fiscal year in excess of 43.2 million gallons, equivalent to the annual water use of 394 average American families.
“Our environmental goals are ambitious, but keep us attuned to our ultimate aspiration of contributing to global environmental sustainability,” said Toyota Motor North America Regional Environmental Director, Kevin Butt.”Our success comes from thinking holistically about our vehicles, processes and people and making consistent, incremental improvements through strategic partnerships, education, and sharing our environmental know-how with others.”
Additional highlights from the 2017 North American Environmental Report include the following:
CARBON
- Toyota and Lexus have 14 hybrid electric vehicles on the roads in North America. Hybrid electric means they all use batteries plus one other fuel source, either hydrogen (fuel cell electric hybrid) or gasoline (plug-in electric hybrid or gasoline-electric hybrid).
- An 8.79-megawatt solar array at Toyota’s new Plano headquarters campus produces about one-third of daily electric needs for the campus. It is the largest on-site corporate solar installation among non-utility companies in Texas.
- Project Portal, a hydrogen fuel cell system designed for heavy-duty truck use, is operational at the Los Angeles ports. The fully functioning, heavy-duty truck has the power and torque capacity to conduct port drayage operations while emitting nothing but water vapor.
WATER
- An innovative rainwater harvesting system installed at the company’s new headquarters campus in Plano, Texas, is expected to collect more than 11 million gallons of water annually, more than enough to meet the forecasted annual irrigation demand.
- Residents from 4,800 cities across the U.S. pledged to save more than 2.2 billion gallons of water as part of the sixth annual National Mayors Challenge for Water Conservation, presented by Toyota.
MATERIALS
- Working with packaging supplier PakFab, Toyota found a way to reuse and recycle obsolete packaging from vehicle model changes. With eight plants adopting this solution, an estimated 13 million pounds of waste is expected to be eliminated annually.
- The paint shop at Toyota’s assembly plant in Blue Springs, Mississippi, eliminated 320,000 pounds of waste by improving the way they manage waterborne paint waste.
- Toyota’s new research and development campus in York, Michigan, recycled 92 percent of the waste generated during construction. That’s 461 tons of material put to productive use instead of being disposed of in a landfill.
BIODIVERSITY
- Toyota has 12 sites with Conservation Certification from the Wildlife Habitat Council. In 2017, the first two non-manufacturing sites were added to the list: the new R&D center in York, Michigan, and the proving grounds in Phoenix, Arizona.
- Thanks to support from Toyota, the Galapagos archipelago has a state-of-the-art fueling facility that is one of the most advanced and environmentally safe in all of South America.
- Thanks to team members building bird nest boxes, 137 Tree Swallow chicks were born last spring at our Cambridge and Woodstock, Ontario, assembly plants.
OUTREACH
- Toyota gave $637,439 in Public Lands Every Day grants and made volunteerism possible at 2,600 National Public Lands Day sites, including 56 sites where 1,755 Toyota team members volunteered.
- In the 2015-2016 school year, the Toyota Evergreen Learning Grounds program, led by Evergreen with support from Toyota Canada and its dealerships, helped 559 schools with their efforts to green their outdoor spaces, engaging 48,245 students and staff.
- With 58 and counting, Toyota and Lexus continue to lead the industry with more dealership facilities certified to LEEDstandards in North America than any other auto manufacturer.
To view the full report, visithttps://www.toyota.com/usa/environmentreport2017/.
