A Greenpeace East Asia report ranking global car makers on their environmental credentials has placed Australia’s biggest-selling car manufacturer – Toyota – at the bottom of the pile, while another damning Greenpeace report has exposed the carmaker’s anti-climate lobbying efforts.
The initial report – the Auto Environmental Guide 2022 – found that 499 out of every 500 Toyotas sold is powered by fossil fuels. The report found that while global sales of EVs doubled in 2021, Toyota’s zero-emissions vehicles made up just 0.2% of total sales in 2021, amounting to the lowest proportion of overall sales out of the top 10 largest car makers around the world.
In contrast, General Motors ranked number one for its decarbonisation efforts, with EVs making up 8% of total sales, while Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen ranked second and third, respectively. Nissan also came in low in the rankings, one of only two companies (alongside Toyota) whose annual growth in EV sales was well below the global average.
The ranking is based on the manufacturers progress towards decarbonisation, phasing out of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, and resource reduction and efficiency.
The report noted that as vehicles electrify, even those manufacturers committed to decarbonising their engines must place increasing focus on decarbonising their supply chain – otherwise the overall emissions across the life-cycle of a vehicle may remain high.
That’s a particular concern when it comes to steelmaking, an industry that’s notoriously difficult to decarbonise, because the level of heat required is typically generated by the combustion of natural gas.
The ranking has been announced alongside a new Greenpeace Australia Pacific report that suggests Toyota has a history of lobbying against measures to reduce vehicle pollution, as well as ‘greenwashing’ and advocating hybrid technology – that combines electricity with traditional fossil fuels – over pure EVs.
The second report sees Greenpeace joining InfluenceMap in identifying Toyota as the third most influential negative climate lobbyist globally, after Exxon Mobil and Chevron, accusing it of lobbying against vehicle pollution standards as well as working to slow the uptake of EVs.
Greenpeace Australia Pacific Campaign Manager Violette Snow said Australians were likely to be shocked by the news.
“Toyota is Australia’s largest and most trusted car maker, but its international track record of aggressive global lobbying against measures to lower climate pollution from transport has seen it ranked in the world’s top three most influential fossil fuel lobbyists, alongside Exxon Mobil and Chevron,” she said.
“Toyota is a global roadblock to electric vehicles, lobbying to weaken fuel efficiency standards, greenwashing its image and promoting electric vehicle disinformation while making big profits from polluting internal combustion engine and fossil-fuelled hybrid cars.”
The Federal government is currently considering the introduction of fuel efficiency standards which could regulate pollution from cars and aid the push towards zero-emissions vehicles in Australia – a nation with ample mineral and industrial resources that could fuel the EV boom.
It’s long overdue: Australia lags well behind other so-called ‘developed’ nations on fuel efficiency standards, a reticence that has allegedly cost motorists some $5.9bn in missed savings.
Snow warned that Toyota may lobby to weaken any fuel efficiency legislation.
That warning came on the same day that a damning Sydney Morning Herald investigation found Australia’s car industry as a whole, spearheaded by a powerful peak body called the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), had launched a wide-ranging, secretive public relations strategy to delay the transition to EVs.
“Australia is at a crossroads in its electric vehicle transition, as the Albanese Government considers the introduction of fuel efficiency standards,” Snow said.
“Greenpeace Australia Pacific believes, based on our research into Toyota’s international track record of lobbying against regulation of vehicle climate pollution, that there is a strong risk Toyota will work to weaken and slow Australia’s transition to cleaner, safer electric vehicles.
“The International Energy Agency says to get to net zero by 2050, all new cars must be electric by 2035. If Toyota and the petrol car industry don’t support this timeline, how do they think Australia can meet our climate goals?”
The Auto Environment Guide 2022 made several recommendations for manufacturers and the transport sector to improve its climate efforts, including speeding up the phase-out of ICEs, promoting renewable energy charging and resource reduction along the supply chain, as well as fast-tracking the decarbonisation of steelmaking, and encouraging more efficient public transport systems to reduce reliance on personal vehicles.