PLANO, Texas, Dec. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Toyota
Environmental Challenge 2050 is part of Toyota's long-term
commitment to support and foster a more inclusive and sustainable
society. Consisting of six individual challenges, Challenge 2050
addresses the major environmental issues facing the global
community, such as climate change, water scarcity, resource
depletion and habitat loss.
The first three challenges focus on carbon and call for
eliminating—not just reducing— greenhouse gas emissions from new
vehicles, operations and supply chain activities. 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.
Challenge 2050 is inspiring Toyota team members, partners and
customers and connecting them with the company's core commitment to
sustainable mobility. Guided by the six challenges, Toyota is
making progress towards creating a net positive impact on the
planet.
In the recently published 2018 North American
Environmental Report, Toyota outlines positive impacts made
across North America. In 2018,
Toyota announced it is building the world's first megawatt-scale
tri-generation plant, which will supply Toyota's vehicle logistics
operation at the Port of Long
Beach with three key components of the operation: 100
percent renewable power, 100 percent renewable hydrogen fuel, and
clean water. Additionally, Toyota's North American manufacturing
plants recycled or reused 148 million gallons of water, the
equivalent to the annual water use of 1,351 average American
families.
"The Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050 is the most demanding
and most inspiring environmental commitment this company has ever
made," said Toyota Motor North America Director of Environmental
Sustainability, Kevin
Butt. "Our success will come from a combination of
continuous improvement and new ideas. And it will come from
strategic partnerships, education and sharing our environmental
know-how with others."
Additional highlights from the 2018 North American Environmental
Report include the following:
CARBON
- Toyota and Lexus have 16 advanced technology vehicles on the
market in North America, with
cumulative sales topping 3.3 million.
- Toyota's 8.79-megawatt solar array at our 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.
WATER
- Toyota's assembly plant in Mississippi has reduced absolute water use by
32 percent in the last two years. Last year, the plant began using
1.4 million gallons of recycled water in the cooling tower.
- Toyota continued to sponsor the National Mayor's Challenge for
Water Conservation with the Wyland Foundation. Since launching the
national campaign in 2012, U.S. residents have pledged to conserve
12.3 billion gallons of water.
MATERIALS
- Toyota uses a variety of sustainable materials in our vehicles,
including post-industrial denim and other cotton and synthetic
garment clippings in door panel insulation, floor silencer and
floor mats.
- A team at Toyota's Indiana
assembly plant made a significant reduction in raw material use by
decreasing the amount of PVC sprayed onto Sienna underbodies, with
zero impact to quality. The amount of PVC per Sienna was reduced by
0.16 pounds, but with 150,000 Sienna minivans assembled annually,
that's a 24,000-pound per year material savings.
- For several years, Toyota sites have hosted household waste
collection events for team members and surrounding communities.
These sites have invested close to $1
million to ensure more than 2 million pounds of material
were either recycled or properly disposed.
BIODIVERSITY
- Toyota has about 1,000 acres at 12 sites engaged in
conservation programs certified by Wildlife Habitat
Council® (WHC).
- Toyota planted a new 11,000 square-foot pollinator garden
outside the Visitor and Education Center at the Texas assembly plant. The plant is also
partnering with the San Antonio Zoo to plant pollinator gardens at
six local high schools.
- Toyota's Woodstock plant in
Ontario opened the Wetland Trail,
which meanders to the north of the assembly plant through 200 acres
of wetlands and woods. The trail is a gift to the community to mark
the 30th anniversary of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada.
OUTREACH
- In 2017, Toyota's support for National Public Lands Day made
volunteerism possible at 2,100 sites, where 169,000 volunteers gave
680,000 hours of service worth $16.7
million.
- Toyota is proud to join the ranks of the top 10 companies with
the most LEED®-certified retail locations (excluding
financial institutions with retail bank locations). Toyota is the
only automotive brand to be included in the top ranks (as of
July 2018). In the U.S., Canada and Mexico, 61 Toyota and Lexus dealers have been
awarded LEED certification.
- Toyota is working with logistics suppliers to reduce
CO2 emissions from transport activities. Ryder has
replaced 29 diesel trucks that move goods for Toyota's assembly
plant in Kentucky with trucks that
run on renewable compressed natural gas (CNG). By 2021, Ryder hopes
to convert one-third of its Toyota-dedicated fleet to renewable
CNG.
To view the full report, visit
https://www.toyota.com/usa/environmentreport/
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in the
U.S. and North America for 60
years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation
mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands. During that
time, Toyota has created a tremendous value chain as our teams have
contributed to world-class design, engineering, and assembly of
more than 36 million cars and trucks in North America, where we operate 14
manufacturing plants (10 in the U.S.) and directly employ more than
47,000 people (more than 37,000 in the U.S.). Our 1,800 North
American dealerships (nearly 1,500 in the U.S.) sold more than 2.7
million cars and trucks (2.4 million in the U.S.) in 2017 – and
about 87 percent of all Toyota vehicles sold over the past 15 years
are still on the road today.
Through the Start Your Impossible campaign, Toyota highlights
the way it partners with community, civic, academic and
governmental organizations to address our society's most pressing
mobility challenges. We believe that when people are free to move,
anything is possible. For more information about Toyota,
visit www.toyotanewsroom.com.
Media Contact:
TMNA Corporate Communications
Russ Koble
469-292-4530
Russ.Koble@toyota.com
Brian Lyons
469-292-3573
Brian.lyons@toyota.com
View original content to download
multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/toyota-releases-2018-north-american-environmental-report-300767388.html
SOURCE Toyota Motor North America