This is How Toyota Helped the Environment in 2018
Toyota has released its 2018 North American Environmental Report, an annual outline of its positive impacts across the continent. The report offers a look into the company’s progress into the Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050, which represents a “long-term commitment to support and foster a more inclusive and sustainable society” by addressing key environmental issues around the world, including resource depletion, water scarcity, climate change, and habitat loss.
Toyota compartmentalized its challenge into six areas. The first three focus on carbon and eliminating (“not just reducing,” Toyota emphasizes), greenhouse gas emissions not just from vehicles but also from the manufacturing process. The fourth challenge is about improving water quality and availability, the fifth about moving society toward recycling, and the sixth about protecting nature.
Related: Why you should buy a Toyota hybrid
Toyota’s 2050 goals are pretty ambitious, but so far the automaker is making good progress. It installed an 8.79-megawatt solar array at its new Plano headquarters, which supplies a whopping third of the entire campus’ daily electric needs, reduced water use by 32 percent at its assembly plant in Mississippi by using recycled water, maintained 1,000 acres of wildlife land across 12 sites, and decreased the amount of PVC sprayed onto Sienna minivan underbodies by 24,000 pounds.
The automaker is also making extensive use of sustainable materials in its vehicle. For example, it uses post-industrial garment clippings in floor mats, door panel insulation, and floor silencers. And those are just some of Toyota’s many efforts to reduce its environmental footprint. As of July 2018, it become one of the top 10 companies with the most LEED-certified retail locations in North America, the only automotive brand to do so.
Related: Learn more about the history of Toyota
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